Game week officially has arrived for Tennessee.
It represents the final chapter rather than the start of the Vols’ defensive preparations for next Monday night’s season opener against Georgia Tech at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Tennessee’s defense began studying and implementing a plan to face the Yellow Jackets months ago and used practices back in the spring and early in preseason camp to focus on the unique option offense awaiting them in Atlanta.
By now the Vols will have been instilled with the principles needed to succeed against Georgia Tech and certainly know one mistake or one moment of indiscipline can lead to a big play or a touchdown.
“I think they’re understanding,” Tennessee defensive backs coach Charlton Warren said last week. “I think through film study and seeing how they make big plays and how they take great defenses and shred them up and are able to use their scheme and their system to really manipulate what you do defensively — I think our guys are seeing it on tape.
“I think they’re understanding through our execution in practice, and I think you’ve got to have a certain level of accountability and discipline for this scheme way before you go into a game, because I think eye violations here really lead to big plays for that offense. Our guys are understanding that, buying into that and just day by day getting better at executing.”
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