KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 11 Tennessee football’s offensive line has improved tremendously over the last couple of games. The run game for the Vols carries the identity of putting on more steam as the game goes on, so that has never been a major concern. However, the pass protection has made a noticeable difference.
Quarterback George MacIntyre has taken only one sack each against Arkansas and Alabama. That’s a huge difference from Faizon Brandon’s 10 sacks that he took against Texas Sept. 26. While not all of those sacks were the fault of the offensive line, the overall performance is better.
After first-team All-SEC lineman Wendell Moe Jr. went down for the year, many wondered how the Vols would manage losing his presence on the field. That has been answered greatly with Nic Moore stepping up in the spot that Moe held down, alongside left tackle David Sanders Jr., and Sam Pendleton at center. Tuesday, offensive linemen Jesse Perry and Donovan Haslam, who have maintained the right side of the line, spoke with the media ahead of Saturday’s trip to South Carolina.
I asked Perry about the past couple of games, and what’s gone into the major improvement.
“Well, we definitely didn’t start off on the right foot, I guess, as offensive line,” Perry said. “We just had miscues as a group. So we kind of took that personal. [We] took up a challenge to play better, be better with our hands, footwork, assignments, reading out and stuff like that. And I think we took major steps. Really emphasized that in practice. And it took extra work and studied the film.”
That Texas game was a nightmare for everyone, and the offensive front took that personal. Ten sacks is something that just can’t ever happen.
“It’s a pretty, pretty gross feeling really,” Perry said. “It’s honestly one of the worst feelings you can have. You really take it to heart, like, hey, we gotta fix something, and we figured out what we got to fix, and we just kept on working on that each week in practice to make sure something like that never happens again.”
Haslam pointed to practice habits and communication. The first few weeks of the season, communication and execution were talking points for the offensive line unit. It seems they have figured that out.
“We’re just trying to practice better in practice,” Haslam said. “Make sure we practice harder. Basically practice like we’re going to play in the game. And then like I said, we got to communicate just about everything. If we communicate, make sure we’re on the same page, it’s going to be easier to pass off the twist and work better together.”
Perry also liked what he has seen from MacIntyre behind the line. With his ability to get the ball out faster, that also helps out the offensive line.
“He’s poised. He carries himself pretty well,” Perry said. “I don’t know how many games he started now. Was it three [two] or something like that? And he feels like he’s a vet back there. He comes in, he’s well communicated and we blocked for him. He throws the ball, and that’s all we need.”
The line also closed out its last game with a drive that ate up roughly nine and a half minutes. That is a great confidence boost for the unit. Tennessee bullied Alabama, and that is an identity that everyone could get behind.
“It built confidence in our O-line and just the offense in general, knowing that what we’re doing, it works and that it can continue,” Haslam said. “They can continue to be better as long as that we’re on the same page and work together, that we can really do what we want. We can run the ball however we want.”
Now the Vols head to Columbia, where Perry said the message has been to stay level. As head coach Josh Heupel says every week, “It’s a week to week league.”
“Like Coach Heupel says all the time, you can’t get too high. You can’t get too low. You got to be the same person every single day,” Perry said. “So we’re coming off a big win. We’ll have a target on our back. They’ll be really juicy coming out the gates. But we just got to be the same Tennessee offense, same Tennessee football team this week that we’ve been for the past couple of weeks.”
No. 11 Tennessee and South Carolina are set for 3:30 p.m. ET at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN, with Wes Durham (Play-by-Play) and Dusty Dvoraceck (Analyst) on the call. Taylor McGregor will have the sideline report.
