Field Pass: Tennessee overwhelms Chattanooga, plus Lady Vols

so Chattanooga's defensive tackle Marlin Taylor says he's sick of hearing Rocky Top play and if the game goes anything like it did for them when they played Alabama a year ago where they lost 66 to 10 they're going to get sick of it pretty quickly how Tennessee's Up Tempo offense is going to keep those mocks on their heels for game one of the 2024 season I'm paig dard this is the field [Music] pass now Marlon Taylor someone we highlighted earlier in the week but to reiterate he's tabed to win the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and as much as he says he doesn't like the playing of Rocky Top he's almost as equally as excited to play in a venue that plays Rocky Top quite a bit and I guess who could blame him one you just look at the simple scale of nean stting with 100 plus thousand fans that fill it and then the eyes and attention that a tene football team has been getting as of recently it's a good place to Showcase your talent and that's exactly what he wants to do and he does have a bit of talent and he showcased that specifically a year ago he started all 13 of the games for Chattanooga he registered 30 tackles nine were for loss 5 and a half sacks and a fumble recovery so definitely able to cause damage in the FCS and in the Southern Conference will he be able to do that against the Tennessee offense and specifically the offensive line that I'm not as confident about but seeing the stats from a year ago listening to his press conference I also just had to go look at his roster like how big is this guy uh he says comes in at 62 317 lbs which uh is on the smaller end for Tennessee's offensive line though they are about 6'4 65 330 is pounds is what I was finding the average for the offensive line to be so how often will a double team happen I'm not sure and I bring up double team because he says he loves to get double teamed he takes it as a massive compliment when he gets double teamed of course he would and he says it's rare that he doesn't get that double team I'm not sure how often he's going to see that against the Tennessee offensive line unless there's a specific run design play that you know Josh hypo and Joey Hosley draw up so that is someone I'm definitely keeping an eye on just to kind of see how that goes and of course when you're that loud in a press conference it's going to get you some attention and one other player for Tennessee that I think is going to have a lot of attention and has had a ton of attention since his high school days now here at Tennessee is Nik malava who we've heard nothing but great things since the Citrus Bowl and the main thing that we can take away from the Citrus Bowl you know maybe why it wasn't sound like Air Raid Offense he never put the ball In Harm's Way and that's the biggest compliment right if we're talking about compliments that you can give Nico while he wanted more explosive plays wanted more of you know those deep balls yeah he did that didn't happen but he also didn't put the ball In Harm's Way and I think that showed a lot of his intellect and his maturity and his vision to you know not try and thread the ball deep downfield to maybe potentially get a deep pass to RL Keaton or squirel white instead those were times where maybe it was you know kind of those rpos QB keeper type moments where all right let's just see what you can do with your legs he did do damage getting a couple of rushing touchdowns against Iowa so that's something that I need to see take the next step especially in this first game it kind of is like that tuneup for Oklahoma you never want to look past your opponent but this is definitely a chance you know have confidence in your studies have confidence and the connections you've made with the receivers and backs that will allow you to get those big plays we need to see those big plays in this game open up the Playbook just a little bit more I think it'll be really important to see Nico air the ball out two or three times to at least solidify those connections a bit more before they move on to SEC play and maybe even against NC State who of course they'll see next and kind of what I've noticed from Josh hyp and how they orchestrate the offense when Nico's in play is it kind of has been safe it's been reliant on the Run game or you know quick pass in the flat I think it'll be really important in this game specifically in the first half because hopefully we don't see much of him in the second half indicating that there's a big and sizable and expected lead over Chattanooga I think it is very important to have you know two three big 20 plus yard plays from Nico to his wide receivers it's like what getting a brand new car you can't Redline it right away you got to to get a little bit of miles on it before you do rev it before you do Redline it and I think those games where you are going to have to maybe Redline it are going to be your Oklahoma your Alabama your Florida so you need a couple of games for your tuneup to put a couple of miles in there test the waters see how good those connections really are I think we really need to see that to continue to have confidence in this team and you know build conversation and notoriety around this niiko Le 20204 now on the defensive side for Tennessee we've talked at length full disclosure about the secondary but I really want us to zero in on the linebackers and what we could expect new linebackers coach William in says we can expect a very active very aggressive linebacker unit someone who will be making all kind of plays and everyone will know where number 11 is on the football field that's kind of our vision that we want to create in him and the one thing that allows us to be able to do that is that's what he shown um th thus far and he's got the capabilities of being able to do that and it's our responsibility to push him to where he can be one of the best linebackers in the country and he can be that and do that for sure and of course at any position on defense tackling is key it's a top priority for every single player on defense but especially true for the linebacker crew which since coming to Tennessee coach William in has made that a top priority anytime they're in shelves or pads they simulate some type of tackling or learning how to have the right form working on your body position your footwork your pad level and it continues to be a top top priority and through fall camp and practice it's really something that he's put a a top priority on and something that they've really focused on and are trying to simulate to get them ready for game day yeah from a scrimmage standpoint yes and one thing that we try to do is to make sure that we always as as well take care of our football team and that's where we've really seen I think a lot of growth and maturity happen on our football team how everybody's taking care of each other and when you have a chance to make your tackle it's literally the one shot one kill mentality to where you're making your tackle you're doing what you're supposed to do and you're making the play You're supposed to make when you're at the point of attack and I know we joked the other day about the 30 plus ores that are on the depth chart you know everyone from James Pierce Jr to Dylan Samson has an or after them but I also think it highlights one just the depth that they have on the team but also reinforces that they're going to be rotating they're going to go deep into the bench to get their guys on the field and active and I think one guy that we're going to see a lot from and who we've heard a lot from from spring camp to now now is freshman Edwin spilman who is continuing to Trend in the right direction and make those same type of plays in practice Edwin is definitely progressing very well he is someone when you talk about being able to stuff and stop the run that that his body type fits exactly just that he does not get moved when he's in there fitting uh as a player who's learning and growing is great to see the things that he does on special teams so he is someone he has a great role in our room and it's awesome to see him learning every day uh it it it is it's actually special to to see him coming on with his smile and he's learning and when when you have Keenan py and Arian Carter putting you up under their wing you can only go up so it's great to seeing him continue to Excel and before you all go into the weekend one more thing I want you all to know about the Kim Codwell era it's in full swing for the lady ball basketball program since her introductory press conference in April where she talked about the uptempo offense pressure defense it's been in full swing and has been implemented right away with the lady ball basketball program the other day they had an open practice where media were able to see about 20 minutes of their practice and from what I noticed is it's definitely run run run and if you don't think they're running enough they're running enough they are running a ton and if you uh have an idea of how much they're running maybe just add a couple more up and downs and Sprints that they're doing because what I was able to see is they would run you know a couple of sets work on a couple of skills and then it was up and downs they do that again up and down do it again up and down so they are really working on their conditioning because to have that up pace uh uptempo offense you have to be incredibly fit whether it's in transition fast breaks or just maintaining the movement on offense that has been a Cornerstone to what she's been trying to implement since April I mean I think they have embraced it incredibly well I think they like it I think they're having fun and that's just part of it you just come with a new system and you just teach it rep rep rep rep over and over and over and I was telling our staff the other day I said I promise you the mistakes we're making now like they want to run back on defense like we will never be able in January we will never be able to get them to run back and we want to call our press off we'll never be able to do it and so it just takes time and what I found to be the greatest challenge that Codwell has implemented or given to the team is not being comfortable she says when they've met a standard she raises the bar once more reinforcing that she wants practice to always be tougher than games which continues to challenge the teams in ways that they haven't been before work um I think their Fitness and their mindset has gotten like the the biggest growth and then everything else will take care of itself once you have that yeah they're learning a lot they're learning how to play offense completely differently and defense completely differently and the system that Kim Codwell is implementing will also look position lless that meaning she's going to go 10 11 players deep every single game which we really haven't seen from a Le ball program in a while with that comes the challenge of making sure that everyone really understands the defense that they have in place understands the offensive Concepts that they have and it's been a tough challenge she says there's still a lot of learning to go a lot of work that they wanted to do they've had to you know maybe sacrifice time spent on learning new skills to spend more time in the film room cuz it seems to be like it's going to be a very sophisticated offense or system that she is hoping to implement and show everyone come that November slate in the 2024 2025 season so as fall wears on we'll continue to talk about the lady ball and ball basketball program prrams a lot of excitement coming out of both of those camps but most importantly we've got Tennessee football on Saturday we'll hear from myself and Jimmy you know immediately following the game for a quick postgame recap we'll also have a recap on Sunday to dive deeper into what was going on in that game and then also if you are West High School football fans listening to this podcast I also want to mention that I call the games from the booth and for its for jackfm radio 93.4 is where you can find us they play tonight against Clinton at so I'll be in the booth calling that game but there's just so much stuff that we're doing here at full disclosure and just around town from jackfm to Sports Animal and then with five star preps so definitely make sure that you're subscribing following me on Twitter at page fdp just to stay up to date with all the things that we're doing but thank you so much for watching please subscribe please like and continue to engage with the content I'll talk to you guys on Saturday