By Matt Dixon
Correspondent
MEMPHIS – Tennessee’s Malik Jackson said earlier this week that he didn’t like moving from defensive end to defensive tackle at first.
He even refused the position change the first time defensive line coach Chuck Smith asked him to, but he decided to make the change to help the team.
The junior transferred from Southern California to Tennessee this summer after playing sparingly as a pass rushing specialist.
He slid inside to tackle midway through the season and has been the Vols’ most, consistent and best defensive linemen.
“He played well, it looked like. I think he’s playing a little better every week. And that’s going to come in time,” Volunteers head coach Derek Dooley said after the game. “Don’t forget, he’s inexperienced. He didn’t play at USC – he wasn’t good enough – so he’s our best guy and he’s playing pretty good.”
Saturday night against Memphis, Jackson led the team with eight tackles, two sacks and an interception.
“He made a good play right there. It was good, fun to see those kind of things,” Dooley said of Jackson’s interception when he dropped back in pass coverage.
Seven of his tackles were solo stops, and three were for losses, and he added a quarterback hurry.
“This is when a D-tackle looks great,” the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Jackson said. “… Coach Chuck has been in my ear about that the whole week, so I’ve just been working real hard and it paid off now.”
His interception and 44-yard return set up a UT touchdown on the next play.
“It happens. That guy was fast,” Jackson said of being caught at the Memphis 21. “Whatever, I got an interception.”
He said even his mom texted him after his first interception at any level.
Defensive end Chris Walker, who returned an interception for a touchdown last season, said he joked with Jackson about not being able to accomplish the same feat.
“I told Malik he looked really slow out there, but I was happy for him,” Walker said. “Malik had a really good game. He just played really well and I was happy for him.”
Walker said it isn’t surprising to him that the defensive front four have been getting more pressure on the quarterback since Jackson’s move inside.
“Malik is an end playing three technique, which means he brings, you know, different matchup problems with a guard on an end as quick as he is, as fast as he is, has great hands like he does,” Walker said. “I think it’s a big mismatch for some other guards that he’ll be going against.”
Walker, a senior captain, was the last Vols player off the field following the game because he was talking with family, friends and former coaches in the stands.
“It felt great,” Walker said of playing in his hometown. “I told some of my teammates that every time I stepped on this field in high school I played well. I didn’t want anything to change, and it was a good night for me.”
Walker recorded three tackles and notched his first two sacks of the season.
“It took forever, man,” he said. “I was joking around, I said, ‘It took me till the ninth game or whatever it is to get them,’ but it felt good just to kind of break that seal and just keep it going the whole game and play really well.”
Memphis took the opening kickoff and went on an eight-play, 62 yard drive to a touchdown. The Vols defense kept the Tigers from scoring again until the last minute of the game.
UT held its state rival to 308 total offensive yards and forced five turnovers.