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Tennessee senior linebacker Aaron Beasley said Tuesday that the Vols go into every game wanting to stop the run and certainly want to do that Saturday night at Kentucky.
“That’s the mindset going into any week, no matter who it is. I feel like they do a little more of that, which is running the ball downhill. I think just being more disciplined is our focus with our eyes and stopping the run,” said Beasley.
Linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary believes Kentucky has one of the best rushing attacks not only in the SEC but in the country.
“We thought Ray Davis was one of the better running backs in the conference last year when he was at Vanderbilt, and he’s continued that over there at Kentucky. They have a big physical offensive line, great blocking and athletic tight ends. They present a real challenge for us by every measure you can imagine,” Jean-Mary said.
“They run the ball at a high clip, and they do it very well. It’s a perfect marriage of Ray Davis with their rushing attack, so it’s a big challenge for us. We have to do a great job of being in our gaps and getting off of blocks and tackling at a high level.
“If you are going to be successful and you have to tackle well. They (Kentucky) do look like a little bit of a different style because they are a little more condensed and a little more downhill, but at the end of the day, we’re going to have to recognize formations, we’re going to have to tackle well, and the most important thing is we’re going to have to get off blocks.”
Tennessee has struggled on the road in the SEC and lost at Florida and Alabama, where the Vols had a 13-point halftime lead. Beasley said the team preaches having a new mentality each week.
“Next play, snap, clear. In this case, it’s (the) next game we have to focus on. What is next, what is coming up? Which is Kentucky. I feel like it’s uber important that we do that. Forget about what happened last week and just focus on how we get better this week,” the Tennessee linebacker said.
Jean-Mary said not having a home crowd impacts the road team when adversity hits.
“Obviously, it’s their home crowd so if they do something positive, obviously the stadium is going to be a little different. When you’re playing really good defense on the road, you don’t hear the fans, you don’t feel that. That’s the challenge if you’re playing really good on defense, you kind of have a chance to take the crowd out of it,” Jean-Mary said.
The assistant coach said Tennessee’s communication was “not good enough to go win on the road in a big time SEC game” at Alabama.
“We have to be obviously a little bit better. I’m not going to say a lot there, we have to be a little bit better going into Lexington and going to go win on the road,” he said.
