It may be hard to believe, especially given the performance Tennessee's defensive line had against LSU last Saturday, but Rodney Garner still sees room for improvement.
Garner, the Vols' defensive line coach currently in his second stint with the program, has high standards. That's likely a reason why he's coached more than 30 years in the SEC and it is why Tennessee's front has been so affective.
The Vols sacked LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels five times and limited the Tigers to just 55 rushing yards in a 40-13 win at Tiger Stadium last Saturday. Four different players had a hand in those sacks, with Byron Young leading the way with 2.5 of them.
According to Garner, though, his unit is just scratching the surface.
"I think we're still a work-in-progress," Garner said. "Obviously, the young men, they're buying in, but it's still going to come down to the details and doing the little things right. Like I told them, the reasoning behind all of the madness and all of the things that we put you through and the things that we try to stress is for moments like this. Every week it's going to get better, it's going to get bigger, and the fundamentals are going to come into play.
"It's going to come down to the team that makes the fewest mistakes. We've got to continue to improve."
Tennessee's defense as a whole has been one of the team's biggest surprises in its 5-0 start. The Vols are tied for third in the SEC in sacks with 14 and second in run defense, limiting opponents to 89 yards per game.
That all comes down to Garner's emphasis on attention to detail.
"We're playing hard, but we've got to play a lot smarter," Garner said. "We're still making too many errors that we shouldn't be doing, that we've got to clean up and we've got to understand why it's so important. If you've got that A gap, you've got to maintain it, you've got to keep it. Just playing selfless. Understand my role, do my job.
"If I do my job, the man next to me and everybody does their job, then we've got an opportunity to be successful. I think that's something that they experienced last week, so hopefully we'll continue to get more buy-in and guys to understand the importance of each individual role."
Even with the success Tennessee is enjoying, Garner is towing the line between a well-deserved pat on the back and keeping his players motivated to be better each week.
That's been especially true in the Vols' prep for No. 3 Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Neyland Stadium.
The Crimson Tide have won 15 straight over Tennessee, claiming six national championships in that span. Garner knows a virtually perfect game by the Vols' defense will be needed to snap that streak and get to 6-0 for the first time since 1998.
"One thing I always tell the guys, there's three things that don't lie: that's the film, that's the mirror and that's the Bible," Garner said. "Whenever they look at that film, no matter what they tell me or what they tell their parents, the film don't lie. Obviously, I think it's very evident to everybody that we have to continue to improve. When you're playing an opponent like Alabama or Coach (Nick) Saban, it doesn't matter who he loses, from a player standpoint or a coaching standpoint, they're sort of like a Mercedes-Benz plant. On that assembly line, everything that rolls off it is a high-quality product.
"So, we've got to be high quality so we can go out there and compete with them."
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