With Tennessee having moved past the midway mark of preseason football camp, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Da’Jon Terry has experienced plenty of “Wizard of Oz” moments.
“This is very different from Kansas,” Terry said Saturday in a news conference.
The 6-foot-4, 325-pounder from Meridian, Mississippi, began his college career at Kansas before committing to the Volunteers in May. In Knoxville, he has encountered defensive line coach Rodney Garner, who has a history of showing tough love to players.
Terry is one of two defensive linemen who transferred in this past offseason, with fifth-year senior Caleb Tremblay from Southern California the other.
“They’re great guys and have definitely brought some positive energy,” Garner said, “but I think they would be the first to tell you that this league is a little bit different with the intensity and the accountability and what we’re expecting out of practice. They’ve still got to get acclimated to the standards of intensity and how we’re going to form and how we’re going to attack the day.
“I’m never going to be satisfied with them being average, and I’m not going to apologize to them for pushing them.”
Terry amassed 14 tackles and two sacks on a Jayhawks team that went 0-9 with six losses by 30 or more points. When asked about having to endure Garner’s wrath this month, Terry said, “He’s tough, but that’s what you want in order to be the best player you can be.”
‘Self-accountability’
Redshirt sophomore nose tackle Elijah Simmons is 6-2 and 350 pounds, which Garner believes is a bit too big.
“Elijah is working, but obviously he’s got to get himself in a lot better shape,” Garner said. “If you search our league and all the rosters of guys who are playing, there probably aren’t many 350-pound D-tackles in the SEC. Those Mount (Terrence) Cody days are gone and over with, so he’s got to get himself in position to where he can help this team, because he definitely has some talent.
“He’s got to have a lot more self-accountability, and we’ve got to help him get there.”
Simmons played in all 10 games last season, including early starts against South Carolina and Missouri. He finished with 10 tackles and a pass breakup, with four of those stops in the 44-21 loss at Georgia.
Quarterback update
The order of quarterback drills in Saturday’s portion of practice that was open to the media had Michigan graduate transfer Joe Milton going first, followed by Virginia Tech grad transfer Hendon Hooker and sophomore Harrison Bailey. Redshirt sophomore Brian Maurer was not in attendance.
On the offensive line, left tackle Darnell Wright, left guard Jerome Carvin, center Cooper Mays, right guard Javontez Spraggins and right tackle Cade Mays comprised the first team during media viewing.
Cliché barrage
Garner is beginning his 29th straight season as an assistant in the Southeastern Conference, so he has racked up the coaching clichés through the years. In his nine-minute, 30-second news conference Saturday, these six were uttered within the first two minutes:
“For the most part, the guys are trying to buy in.”
“We’re a work in progress, and there is room for improvement all across the board.”
“We’ve all got to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
“There are no short cuts to success.”
“We’ve moved the needle a little bit in the right direction, but it’s not far enough.”
“It’s like climbing Mount Everest. You don’t do it in a day.”
Odds and ends
Terry on his new college home: “I love Knoxville. They’ve got a lot of good chicken places. I love wings, and they’ve got a lot of good wings around here.” … The Vols will take Sunday off before resuming Monday. … Garner on his defensive line during Thursday’s scrimmage: “I thought we started out really, really good, but then we died. We didn’t finish, and we didn’t strain.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.