KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee football defensive line has put together an outstanding 2026 campaign so far. The Vols lead the country with 23 sacks on the season and are fifth in the nation with 42 tackles for loss, which also leads the Southeastern Conference. A huge part of that is due to three players across the front in Mariyon Dye, Xavier Gilliam and Tyree Weathersby.
None of that would be possible without total buy-in and the understanding that nobody in the program is bigger than the T. On Tuesday, defensive line coach Rodney Garner spoke with the media. Garner quickly became my favorite coach to listen to. He has coached in the SEC for 37 years, with a couple of stints at Tennessee. Since his return to Knoxville in 2021, the Tennessee defensive line has been a major reason for any success the defense has had.
Two things are clear when listening to Garner: “It’s the G way or the highway,” and “Nobody in this program is bigger than the T.” One freshman has already found that out. In Saturday’s 24-14 win over Auburn, we got a chance to see some of the depth in that group make plays. Freshman defensive tackle JJ Finch made a smart play that showed he’s bought into the preparation.
When Byrum Brown dropped back to pass, Finch saw that nobody was blocking him. Instead of chasing Brown for a sack, he redirected to play the screen perfectly and got in on the tackle along with Arion Carter and a host of Vols. The freshman out of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis has carved out an early role, seeing snaps in four of Tennessee’s five games so far this season.
Garner didn’t hide that Finch’s start was a learning curve. When I asked him about the freshman on Tuesday, he talked about the jump from high school to the SEC and what it takes to earn snaps in his room.
“JJ’s a very talented young man,” Garner said. “Obviously, he had to grow and understand what’s required to make the transition from high school to college. Early part, he felt like it was a lot like high school, where he didn’t really have to practice, but he could just show up and play, and that’s not the way it works.”
Plenty of talented freshmen deal with that reality. What matters is how they respond to it, and the play against Auburn showed that Finch has started responding the right way. A freshman who thinks talent alone will carry him chases the sack. A freshman who has put in the work in the film room reads the screen and adjusts accordingly.
“So obviously, him buying in more, understanding what’s required and knowing that, hey, you can’t polish your craft if you don’t work at it,” Garner said. “Like I tell them all the time, and I know it sounds cliché, if I could spray paint them great, I would. But that ain’t the way it works. We gotta get out there and we gotta have iron sharpening iron, and every day we’ve got to improve from a fundamental standpoint, from a mental standpoint.”
Leading the country in sacks hasn’t made Garner comfortable. Even with a defensive front putting up those numbers, he kept it real at what he didn’t like on the Auburn tape.
“I’m pleased with how hard my guys are playing,” Garner said. “I’m pleased with how violent they’re trying to play and the selflessness that they’re playing with as a unit. But one of the areas that I’m probably most disappointed in is that we’re not playing as smart as we need to play. So we’ve got to improve in that area, and that’s one of the things that we’re really trying to stress this week.”
That’s what makes Finch’s screen read stand out. On a day when Garner felt his group gave up plays by pulling out of gaps and lining up wrong, the freshman made a smart play. Garner also made clear that there’s no shortcut to success. Being detailed oriented is a major thing across the program.
“When you look at the plays that we gave up on Saturday, it was guys not playing smart, not being in the gap, pulling out of their gap, not being lined up correctly,” Garner said. “All those little things, they matter. It truly is a game of inches, and we have to stress that every day, how important those minute details are.”
Tennessee’s depth will be tested over the rest of the season. Finch has shown that he can be trusted on Saturdays. If he keeps buying in the way Garner demands, he could become a bigger part of what’s already one of the most productive defensive fronts in the country.
No. 15 Tennessee heads to Arkansas this week. Kick off is Saturday, Oct. 10, at 4:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. CT at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The game will be televised on SEC Network with Matt Schumacker on play-by-play and Aaron Murray as analyst. Taylor Davis will report from the sideline.
