UT's defensive front proved to be one of the strongest units in Thursday's scrimmage, drawing praise from head coach Josh Heupel afterwards.
"I thought the defensive side of the football was extremely physical and changed and disrupted the offensive front, played on the other side of the line of scrimmage," Heupel said after Thursday's scrimmage at Neyland Stadium.
Despite the impressive showing on Thursday, Garner was quick to point out that his group still has plenty to improve on before the season opener in less than three weeks.
"There's room for improvement all across the board, including coaching. We've all got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and understand what that standard is, just understand that there are no shortcuts to success," Garner said. "It's going to happen through adversity and how you handle adversity when you put yourself in adverse situations.
"Are you going to find a way to fight and win, or are you going to find a way to lose? That's what we've got to change, that mentality. Where we're going to find a way to win when the game is on the line."
The Big Orange will get back to work on Sunday and Monday at Haslam Field before holding another closed scrimmage on Tuesday.
Tennessee opens the 100th year of Neyland Stadium, Shield-Watkins Field on Sept. 2 against Bowling Green at 8 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Tickets are on sale now at AllVols.com.
Video and the full transcript from Garner's media availability as well as select quotes from defensive linemen LaTrell Bumphus and Da'Jon Terry can be seen below.
On his assessment of the defensive line compared to spring camp…"I think for the most part, guys are trying to buy in. Obviously, we're a work-in-progress. There's room for improvement all across the board, including coaching. We've all got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and understand what that standard is, just understand that there are no shortcuts to success. It's going to happen through adversity and how you handle adversity when you put yourself in adverse situations. Are you going to find a way to fight and win, or are you going to find a way to lose? That's what we've got to change, that mentality. Where we're going to find a way to win when the game's on the line. It's a process. They've got to embrace it, and we've got to do a better job of holding everybody to those standards."
On the development of accountability in the defensive line room…
"Obviously, I've seen growth out of the room, but we still have a long way to go. That's the thing that everybody needs to understand. Yes, we've moved the needle a little bit in the right direction, but it's not far enough. It really will never be far enough. We've just got to understand, we've got to set goals. If we achieve a goal, then we've got to reassess, reset our goals and work to keep moving that needle. I equated it to them, it's like climbing Mount Everest. You're not going to do it in a day. It's a process. They've got to embrace every step of that process and understand what they are working for, what's the end goal. My whole mission is to try to put them in the toughest situations during the week so they'll be able to handle it on gameday, on Saturday. I want to know who's going to quit on me Sunday through Friday. I don't want to find out on a Saturday that I can't count on this guy, alright? So, we're trying to put them in those difficult situations to see how they can handle them."
On transfer linemen Caleb Tremblay and Da'Jon Terry becoming acclimated at Tennessee…
"They're great guys. They definitely involve some positive energy, but I think they would be the first to tell you that this league's a little bit different. The intensity, the accountability, what we're expecting out of practice, how we work every day. They still have got to get acclimated to the standards, intensity, how we're going to perform and how we're going to attack the day. I'm never going to be satisfied with them being average, and I'm not going to apologize to them for pushing them to try to strain and be great. That's something I will never apologize to them for, because when they all came to Tennessee, they didn't say they wanted to come to Tennessee to be average. Not one of them said, 'I want to come in and be an average player.' They all had goals, dreams, aspirations, and it's my job to try to help them reach that."
On the defensive line's performance in Thursday's preseason scrimmage…
"There was good and bad. I thought we started out really, really good, and then we died. We didn't finish, we didn't strain. We have a little motto in our room that we're always grinding for greatness. The only way you're going to achieve greatness is you have to grind for it. You've got to strain. Like I've told them, we all have to become comfortable (with) being uncomfortable. That's what we're trying to do. We started out really good, did some real, real good stuff. Then at the end, we sort of tailed off. That's where we've got to learn how to strain and fight through."
On if any players set an example in Thursday's preseason scrimmage…
"When we win or lose, it's together. So when one of them's not doing it, shoot, we all aren't doing it. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link, right? Like I told them out there today, they can kill us off one-by-one. If we're splintered off like that, we've got zero chance. We've got to stay together as a unit, and we've got to finish together. We've got to learn to finish the Tennessee way. It's not the Matthew Butler way, it's not the Byron Young way, the Tyler Baron way. We want to do everything the Tennessee way, and that's the right way."
On what he's seen from Tyler Baron and Byron Young…
"Obviously, they've gotten better. We've got to get better with the technical aspects. We've been spending a lot more time working on pass-rush technique. Obviously, pass rush starts with your get off. It's all about feet and hands, then learning how to flip your hips. Just doing those technical things that it takes to be successful to get on the edge, and then learn how to dip that inside shoulder, point that knee and toe, accelerate through and finish on the quarterback. It all starts with your get off, so if you've got bad get off, that's the difference between a pressure and a sack. We've been spending a lot more time here the last four-day block of practice focusing on pass rush. Now we're going into our third four-day block and we're trying to split it up. First four was mostly run emphasis, now we're trying to balance it up, run and pass, because obviously we've got to get good in both areas. Leos, ends, they're all interchangeable. Obviously, when we're running our pass rush games, those guys are interchangeable, and then when we also get into our rabbits, we're going to take some outside guys and put them inside, we'll do vice versa, we're going to do everything. So, everybody has to know what to do in every position."
On how Omari Thomas has looked and where he still needs to progress…
"He's got to get better at playing in good football position, being a natural knee bender. Obviously, he struggles as a taller guy (and) he's got to learn how to play behind his pads. That's something that I'm stressing to him every day. Obviously, having Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud and Derrick Brown, I've had taller guys. They have to be very, very conscientious of their pad level. Even when he thinks he's low, he's not low, he needs to get lower and it has to become more natural. He can't be a waist bender, he has to be a knee bender, so now he can move, change direction and do the things in a football functional position that (defensive) linemen can do, and then change all the different directions and do all the things that we ask them to do."
"As a defensive line we are a really tight group. I noticed that we've hung out a lot more, we talk about anything, you know, whether that's personal or whatever. I think just having those conversations have helped us grow a whole lot and that has carried onto the field and we've come a long way."
On going against the o-line…
"Cade (Mays), I think he's trimmed down a little bit and I think he is moving a lot faster, but I would say all of them have (played) really well with their hand placement and movement and such. I think we've got a very good o-line no matter who is playing."
On defensive coordinator Tim Banks…
"Coach Banks is great. He is always there motivating and stuff. He's there, you know, like if we're doing wrong, he can tell us in a different way that not everyone (can do). I feel like he reaches down to us where we can all understand what he's going for."
"On the field we've got coach G (Rodney Garner), coach Heupel, coach Banks and they push us every day. Off the field has been amazing too, this is way different from Kansas, like there is a lot more stuff. I wanted to get closer to home, I wanted my family to be able to come to more of my games because it was a 12-hour drive to Kansas (from Mississippi), so this is a lot closer."
On getting to play under coach Garner…
"It's amazing, it's a dream come true. He's tough, but that's what you need to be the best player you can be."
On getting used to Garner's coaching style…
"I know he is a tough coach but I mean, it's coaching, that's what you expect. He's the best d-line coach in NCAA football. Hard coaching is going to bring the best out of you, you've just got to stick to it. Don't give up, just keep grinding every day."
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