Everything new Tennessee RB coach De'Rail Sims said in first presser
Tennessee football has a new running back coach in De'Rail Sims to replace the departing Jerry Mack.
Sims met with the media for the first time on Monday to give his thoughts on his new position.
Here's everything he had to say.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Opening statement
"I’m thankful to Coach (Josh) Heupel for blessing me and my family with this opportunity to come to the University of Tennessee. This is a rich and storied traditional program. We’re fired up to be here."
On moving up the coaching ranks, coaching in the SEC
"I think when I started coaching, you always want to have your feet where you’re planted at that point in time, but you always have your end goals in terms of the aspirations that you want to get to. And of course, being able to get to the SEC was always a dream and a goal of mine. I just worked hard every single day to be able to reach the goal."
On what he thought of Tennessee football growing up
"When I was growing up, being able to watch them on Saturdays, in my opinion it was RBU. I mean, you turn around and you watched Jamal Lewis when I was growing up, Travis Henry when I was growing up, Travis Stephens when I was growing up, seeing them run through that Power T to come in here. And they were beating up on everybody. And it was one of those deals that you had admiration for the program. It was one of those deals, I wanted to be able to come here and play, but I wasn’t good enough to play here. I had a teammate in high school that played here so I always had very, very fond memories of watching Tennessee on television."
On his first impression of the running back room
"Hardworking. They come to work every single day and they push one another. Really good young men in the room with good character and their personalities are really good, they gel together. There’s a brotherhood in that room."
On the keys to starting the new job
"Number one, having them understand me as a person. What I’m about. Kind of telling them my story and my background. And then being able to get to know them, not as a football player ,but as a person. Getting to know them from the inside out and understand what’s the trials and tribulations that they've had to go through as young men. What’s their family dynamic and background? And then what drives them and pushes them because I tell them all the time, I’m not getting on you as a person when we're out there between those white lines, I'm getting on you as a player. As a player, you’re never going to be right. We've always got to coach you hard. But as a person, I got to love you. And I got to love you as a player, as well, but I got to get on your tail, as well."
On what he remembers about playing Tennessee at Western Carolina
"Well, the number one thing I remember is we got our tail ran out the stadium. So that’s what I remember. And honestly, it’s kind of been this way my whole entire career, God has always given me a preview of places that I’ll end up. And I kind of had a little feeling when we was here that night, not knowing at what point in time that would happen, but I kind of had a feeling at some point in time it would. All I had to do was work hard and it came true."
On how the offense uses running backs
"My perception of the offense was it was always dynamic and it was always physical in terms of the run game. I mean, when you sit there and you look at all the different parts that kind of go along with it and the mechanics that make up this offense, it was always one of those ones that I felt like gave the defense issues from a lot of different areas. And I know a lot of people just look at it from the tempo standpoint, but it’s a lot of things that goes into it that makes it hard for the defense to have to defend. So it was one of those ones that I wanted to learn and get used to and get comfortable with, as well."
On what fans should expect from him
"High energy, detail-oriented. I’m going to push my guys to their full potential. The thing about us, is we’re always going to be aggressive as a unit. We’re always going to do things the right way and that’s the number one thing. We want to be detail-oriented. We want to be fast, we want to be physical, we want to play aggressive."
On how his job changes depending on the offensive scheme
"Always get our guys to play hard is number one. Being detail-oriented is number two. And make sure we’re doing a really good job of just doing our job. No matter what offense we’re playing in, we always just got to make sure we do what’s required of us to be able to go out there and execute and get our job done."
On how Dylan Sampson has helped in the transition
"Dylan (Sampson) has been really good. So me and Dylan actually had a prior relationship. So I actually recruited him when I was at the University of Louisville, so we had a relationship prior. But he’s been really, really good in terms of helping this transition. He’s actually a coach on the field and a coach in the classroom, as well, so that’s been easy."
On keeping relationships with former UT running backs
"You know what, I think that’s important to get the understanding of what made this place so special in terms of from the running back position. At previous spots, I haven’t necessarily done that, but that’s something that I definitely plan on doing here once I’m able to breathe for a little bit."
On having a young running back room
"I think that’s awesome, because you get to mold them and shape them. I think every single day is a learning opportunity and every day is a day to get better. And I think that’s the way we approach these next, you know, with spring practice coming up. Every single day is a day for us to get 1% better. And everybody in that room is young in some form or fashion, whether that’s playing experience on the field or just getting here. And I think that situation is really good so we just got to take the bull by the horns and just go learn every single day and work."
On the last two weeks of learning the offense
"It’s been drinking water through fire hose from the time that I stepped in this building. When I was blessed with the opportunity to get this job, it was all gas, no brakes. But understanding kind of the rhythm in the flow that they was in was number one. Number two is being able to understand the offense, which every single day that we’re in here that’s getting better and better. I think all offenses are the same per se in certain aspects of it. You just got to learn the language of the offense. So that’s the portion that’s been good. Every week that I’ve been here is getting slower for me, which is good. I’m talking about the whole entire transition. Learning my way around Knoxville, learning my way around the building, learning faces in the building. So the more that I’m here, the more I’m getting familiar."
On running the ball without a pass game at Cincinnati
"It’s a mentality. You understand that sometimes you’re going to have to run the ball when you want to. And you’re going to have to run the ball when everybody in the stadium knows that you’re running it. And I think that’s something that you got to work on every day. That’s something as a whole entire unit that we’ll take pride in. But I think it’s the pride in the performance piece that that comes along with that. The understanding that you’re going to have to make somebody miss, you’re going to have to break a tackle, you’re going to have to go pad plus two and be able to accelerate my feet through contact. And then still be able to get those yards after contact that we talk about a lot. So whether everybody in the stadium knows that we’re running the ball or throwing it, it’s just a mentality that you got to adjust to and adapt to be able to execute from a running back standpoint."
On traits he looks for in recruiting
"I think one is the mental and physical toughness standpoint of it. Two is football acumen, how smart are you in the retention piece of it. Then, change of direction, short area quickness. I think everybody when they look at a running back, they look at can he hit a home run? Can he take one 80 yards? Yes, you look at that, but what are the other intangibles that come with that with short area quickness, playing behind your pads, good body control, good balance? And then being able to be willing to put your face on somebody in pass protection. Those are the things that kind of make up a high school back in terms of how you're evaluating him."
On his approach to rotating backs
"I think it's all dependent upon the offense. What Coach Heupel wants to do, we just kind of flow from that standpoint. In the past, we rotate and keep guys fresh. But in different offenses that I've been in, whether it's a no-huddle or up-tempo offense, we've been able to play multiple guys and keep them fresh. It all depends on kind of how we're flowing offensively. And then who's in rhythm? That's a big piece of it. We always talk about, when you're playing running back, you kind of get in that groove to where it feels like you can just feel where the seams and holes are opening. We got from that standpoint and then who's got the hot-hand? You never want to cool off the hot-hand, you want to let him eat."
On watching film of the running backs on the roster
"Yes, I have. In terms of going along and learning the offense, that's kind of the process of learning. You're learning them as you learn the offense, as well. You look at the things they do really, really well. It's kind of hand in hand from that standpoint. I'll continue to watch film as we go along, as well."
On his impression of Sampson
"I think you see the explosiveness jump off tape. I think you see the tenacity as he's attacking defenses. The willingness to put his face on people and go in and block. I think the traits that you see and what he's shown is what jumped off to me on tape."
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