KNOXVILLE - University of Tennessee defensive line coach Tracy Rocker is the target of occasional jokes about his age from his co-workers, who are mostly in their 40s.
But even at age 52 and in his fifth stop as a defensive line coach in the Southeastern Conference, Rocker's playing career still resonates with his colleagues and, more importantly, his players.
The Atlanta native won the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award at Auburn in 1988 and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
"Tracy Rocker has been great, especially him being such a great college football player and NFL player. For me as a college football player, it's really exciting to have a coach who had so much success playing," Tennessee senior defensive end Kyle Phillips said. "He's really brought fire and energy. For our defensive line, it's really been helpful."
Rocker is tasked with helping the Volunteers cultivate depth behind Phillips this season in their new 3-4 scheme. Former ends Deandre Johnson, Jonathan Kongbo and Darrell Taylor are now technically outside linebackers.
During spring practices, Rocker demonstrated drills himself, evoking flashbacks to his playing days with Auburn and the NFL's Washington Redskins. With Phillips and senior defensive tackle Shy Tuttle, Rocker has two proven veterans enjoying the best health of their college careers.
Behind them there are questions. Sophomore ends Kivon Bennett and Matthew Butler will compete for playing time when preseason practices begin Friday. Junior college transfer Emmit Gooden and redshirt senior Alexis Johnson will challenge for a rotation with Tuttle at the lone defensive tackle slot.
"We have a lot of new faces," Phillips said. "So I'm expecting for me personally just to step up and get these guys going, especially with a lot of new faces, some freshmen and junior college transfers. I believe it's definitely a big adjustment coming from high school or junior college to Power Five conference level, especially. So I believe it's going to be tough at first. But we're going to get through it."
A quartet of freshmen - Greg Emerson, Kurott Garland, Kingston Harris and John Mincey - could each benefit from a new NCAA rule that allows players to appear in up to four games in a season and still be redshirted. For now, they will try to emulate Phillips, who is poised for a team leadership role this season, even as he adjusts to a new head coach and new defensive line coach in his final year of college football.
"Since I came on campus, people have always just been telling me they think I have good leadership qualities," Phillips said. "I tried to do a little bit of that last year. This year I just know that I can influence a lot of people on this team. I've just been told that I need to speak up more and be more vocal. I believe that I've always been a lead-by-example guy. But just being more vocal this upcoming season will help a lot."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.