To have college football’s top-rated defense requires being sound at all three levels.
With Tennessee, that wasn’t a given going into this season due to the youth of its secondary.
The No. 5 Volunteers are 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play because of their productive offense and a defense that is allowing a scant 176.0 yards per contest. They held Oklahoma to 222 total yards in a 25-15 dumping of the Sooners this past Saturday night, with cornerbacks Rickey Gibson III and Jermod McCoy, safeties Will Brooks and Andre Turrentine, and “star” Christian Harrison heading a defensive backfield that is pulling its weight and then some.
“Those guys have played really good football, and they played really well the other night,” Tennessee fourth-year coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday in a news conference. “We’ve got some younger guys who are continuing to come along as well. The type of football that they’ve played in the early part of the year has been a huge part of us continuing to push forward.
“At the same time, it’s been all three levels of the defense playing well together, but those guys have been phenomenal.”