KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee had a great day on defense in the 24-14 win over the Auburn Tigers, and defensive back Dejuan Lane was the leader. His performance earned him SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
He was all over the field and bothered Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown in more ways than one. Lane finished with a team-leading nine tackles (six solo), two sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a quarterback hurry.
“I think Coach (Jim) Knowles is the head of the snake, but we’re the guys in the arena,” Lane said after. “We’re the guys with the mentality, we’re the guys putting pad on pad, blood sweat and tears into this. It definitely starts with Coach Knowles, but it ends with us.”
Lane stepped up huge and picked off Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown, with the Vols leading 10-7. That set up DeSean Bishop’s 44-yard touchdown run on the next play to break the game open.
“Yeah, going into the game as a defense, our mentality is we want to win a game on defense,” Lane said. “We love games like that. It was getting late, getting to crunch time and I knew we needed a big play. And like Tevis said previously, I saw the ball and I took it.”
Lane and the Vols’ defensive mentality looks to carry them into a big day in Fayetteville this Saturday to face the Arkansas Razorbacks. On the season, he’s totaled 17 tackles, 2.5 for loss, two sacks, and two interceptions.
“Like we said previously, we have a saying with Coach Knowles: ‘Give us an inch, we’ll defend it,’” Lane said. “And that’s what we did. It’s a mentality, and we showed y’all that we can make those stops in big games like this.”
Lane and the No. 15 Vols head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face the Razorbacks on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4:15 p.m. EDT on SEC Network.
