Isaiah Mack spoke recently of the "standard" set before him by previous University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive linemen.
His message was clear: Nothing's changed.
The names of defensive linemen on this year's UTC roster don't initially jump off the page. No Josh Williams. No Davis Tull. No Derrick Lott. No Keionta Davis. No Vantrel McMillan. All of those players were named to All-Southern Conference teams during the past five seasons, with four of them either drafted, invited to training camp or signed to a free-agent deal by an NFL team.
Yet with new faces in place, a new scheme being implemented and experienced players returning to the line, "the standard has been set," Mack said.
"We want to dominate," he said after a recent practice. "We want to win at the line of scrimmage and make all the plays. In the past, it's been the defensive line that's set the tone, and I feel that we as a unit don't want to let the former players down, because they set such a high standard that we've got to set the standard higher and higher each year."
Mack has shown signs of being that dominant force in his two-year career. The former Northwest Whitfield standout has 11 sacks and 23 tackles for loss as a Moc, and he was at his best in the 2016 Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, when he had four sacks in two games.
With Mack joined by Taylor Reynolds - a two-year starter with 3.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss to his credit - and Derek Mahaffey - who after a strong finish to last season came back in better shape and had standout moments during the spring - the Mocs will still be able to attack the quarterback. Throw in senior D.J. Prather, redshirt freshman Jonathan Decker and sophomore Telvin Jones, and there is depth that should help them avoid a precipitous drop-off at the position when backups take the field.
"What we believe in terms of being a successful football program is to play excellently on defense, and excellence on defense starts with dominating defensive line play," Mocs coach Tom Arth said. "We have a number of players at that position that are capable of winning one-on-one battles - play with great energy, be relentless and try to get to the football whether it's the run or the pass game.
"We've seen their ability to be dominant - there's been some practices where it's been tough offensively to get plays repped because the defensive line is in the backfield every play, and I think that's a critical part to winning. If you have those type of players on the defensive line, it's going to make your defense and your team that much better."
Defensive line coach Brian Cochran has been working to get everyone playing their best at the same time. Adjusting to a scheme change under the new staff, though, has led to linemen playing slower than their coaches' desired pace at times.
But the potential is there for the team to have an "outstanding D-line," Cochran said.
"Oh yeah, you see glimpses of it every day," he added. "We need to see more consistency from all of them. We're trying to get where we're all on the same page on the same day. We haven't seen that yet. Obviously, we want to see them all play at their peak at the right time, but we still have to cut down on mental errors and mistakes."
The defensive line has perhaps been the single most impressive unit in preseason camp, which enters its fourth and final week today. Their coaches believe they can get better, however, and that may be scary for opposing offenses.
If this year's defensive linemen reach that potential, Mack believes past UTC players should garner a bit of credit.
"Those guys helped a lot," Mack said. "They're amazing football players, but at the same time, they also taught us a lot.
"Now that we've learned from the best, we've got to perform like the best."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.