Tennessee Coach Says UK Defense is “playing extremely well”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel calls UK defensive tackle Deone Walker a "dominant player." (Vicky Graff Photo)

Tennessee has won five straight games in Knoxville and 17 of its last 18 going into Saturday night’s game against Kentucky where it is again a double-digit favorite over the struggling Cats.

Alabama is coming off a bye week following a win over Alabama when it scored 24 points in the second half behind redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel did not get asked a lot about Kentucky at his press conference Monday but was lavish in his praise of UK’s defense despite the way it collapsed against Florida and Vanderbilt the last two weeks.

Opening statement…

Josh “Huepel: Good to see everybody back. Another rivalry game this weekend. Night game in Neyland. Dark Mode. Looking forward to going and playing in this one. Need our crowd to be a huge part of the football game, and you know, this week we have to continue our preparation as a football team (and) get ready to go play our best football. You look at Kentucky, it’s a group that defensively is playing extremely well. You just look at them statistically. Defensively, we have to do a good job following the formations, and motions, and control the line of scrimmage. The quarterback run game being a part of that as well. As far as special teams, they have a dynamic returner that can change the game. We have to do a great job against him.”

On preparing for two quarterbacks and leaning on prior prep against Florida…

Heupel: I think defensively, you always have to know who the number two is and have a plan for him. It can be through injury or them playing multiple guys. Your defensive players need to understand what type of player that is. Certainly for them, quarterback running game is always a part of it. The second half of last week played the younger kid. For us, we have to do a great job of controlling the quarterback run game. That is a huge part of it. Understanding that in this game, there are limited opportunities, and I’m just talking about possessions during the course of the game. All three phases have to play that well together. For us, within the scope of what we are doing schematically, play assignment sound, have to rally, have to go make tackles in space. And certainly, when its quarterback run game, your eyes, your keys, have to take you to making those plays.”

On facing talented SEC defenders, specifically Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker…

Heupel: Your original statement is true. The difference in this league and everywhere else around the country. You are going to see elite players with great physical traits and athleticism. He is a guy that is a dominant player. As they move him around in his front, he is able to play within their scheme extremely well. He uses his hands. He is physical. He is active, disruptive. He is a really good football player. But, their D-line in general has great size and plays extremely well with pad level.”

On Kentucky’s second and third levels’ impact on the pass game…

Heupel”: They have length, athleticism. They’ll play multiple fronts — three-down, four-down, drop-eight at times. They play with great discipline, pattern reading and causing issues with windows. We have to do a great job of recognizing their rotations, feeling the underneath coverage and getting to the right spot at the right time with the ball.”