If Tennessee’s defense had a midseason report card with coach Jeremy Pruitt performing the critiquing, there would be no shortage of C and D grades.
The Volunteers had some defensive moments during the opening win at South Carolina, when Henry To’o To’o had a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown and Deandre Johnson was the Southeastern Conference’s defensive lineman of the week after collecting 2.5 sacks. Tennessee’s best overall team performance occurred the following week, when the Vols routed Missouri 35-12, but bright spots became few and far between in the ensuing losses to Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama by the combined score of 126-45.
“We have not played very good in the secondary for five games and really not very good defensively,” Pruitt said Saturday night after the 48-17 loss to visiting Alabama. “Deandre Johnson has played pretty good, but then he was out against Georgia (due to a targeting penalty). Henry has been pretty consistent.
“I see a lot of guys improving, so we’ve got to figure out why we gave up big plays today and how they kept running the counter and we couldn’t get it stopped.”
Tennessee does not rank in the upper echelon of the SEC in any major defensive statistical category, checking in at eighth in total defense (407.0 yards per game), ninth in pass defense (254.0) and eighth in run defense (153.0). The Vols are 12th in scoring defense, having yielded 33.0 points per game, but Jarrett Guarantano’s two interceptions returned for touchdowns against Kentucky and Eric Gray’s fumble that was returned for a score against the Crimson Tide count toward that total.