There are certainties that accompany the arrival of spring.
Daylight becomes more prevalent. Flowers bloom, and veteran Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner morphs from a comforting recruiter to an unrelenting pledge trainer.
Freshman Volunteers up front defensively annually encounter “Coach Garner” or “Coach G” moments, and these incidents tend to occur way sooner than later.
“I was running 15 or 20 sprints after practice,” Isaiah Campbell said earlier this week while breaking into a smile. “I didn’t do anything bad. That’s just how Coach G runs it. You’ve got to be tough to be on the D-line, especially mentally tough, so I’m going to be a tough dude.
“Coach G likes to mess around, but business means business, and he does that so you can get better.”
For Ethan Utley, his first Coach Garner moment didn’t happen on the field but in a meeting room.
“I was slouching in a chair,” Utley said. “I got too comfortable, and he let me know it. He is really raw, and he is really up front in how he coaches. He’s going to be really straightforward with you, and that’s how I enjoy it. I prefer the old-school style and someone shooting it to you straight.
“You have to be uncomfortable to get where you want to go, and Coach Garner does that for me.”
The Vols held their fourth of 15 spring practices on Friday, which was also their first in pads. They will have next week off due to spring break.
Campbell, Utley, Mariyon Dye and Jayden Loftin comprise Tennessee’s four early enrollees on the defensive front already learning under Garner, who is in the early stages of his 36th straight year on a Southeastern Conference coaching staff. His defensive front has been among the most consistent position groups in Josh Heupel’s five years at the helm in Knoxville, especially when adding the edge rusher spot that was held down by Byron Young in the 2021-22 seasons and by James Pearce Jr. the past two years.
This year’s defensive front contains the veteran likes of Dominic Bailey, Bryson Eason, Jaxson Moi and Joshua Josephs, but one of Garner’s biggest objectives each spring is getting his freshmen up to speed as fast as possible. Campbell, Utley, Dye and Loftin were coveted four-star prospects in the 2025 signing cycle, but that’s no longer the here and now.
“We’re giving Campbell and Utley more reps than they probably want to take this spring,” Garner said Friday. “They’re getting more of a workload, and they’re having to strain and see. They’re saying they want to play as freshmen, but now is when you’ve got to get out there and actually put that work in. You can’t talk your way on the field.
“I always tell them, ‘If I could spray-paint you great, I would,’ but that ain’t the way it works.”
Campbell was the nation’s No. 33 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, which had him as the highest-rated four-star prospect in the country. The 6-foot-4, 282-pounder from Durham, North Carolina, expected to be a defensive end with the Vols, but Garner had other plans.
“I was like, ‘I’m a D-end,’ and he’s like, ‘Now you’re a D-tackle,'” Campbell said. “I was like, ‘Noooo!’ I love it at D-tackle, though. I love the roughness and the physicality about it.
“I thought I was a speed guy when I came here at 265, but he was like, ‘Get that butt down.’ Now, I’m around 280, and I love it. I’m going to own up to it.”
The tough love Garner showed in recent years helped Pearce, Omarr Norman-Lott and Elijah Simmons earn invitations to the recent NFL combine, while Omari Thomas played in 61 career games for the Vols and was the SEC’s representative on the NCAA’s Division I Oversight Committee Student-Athlete Connection Group.
Now it’s the next wave Garner is working to develop, which is sure to include some freshmen.
“They’ve just got to get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Garner said. “That is my job as a coach to put them in uncomfortable situations to get them comfortable so we can get the good stuff to come out. They’re going to have to be ready. We really don’t have a whole bunch of choices.”
Said Campbell: “Coach G loves his players. He definitely takes that extra step to get to know you as a person.”
Odds and ends
New outside linebackers coach and former defensive analyst Levorn “Chop” Hardin said Friday that he was given his nickname (short for “Pork Chop”) as an Auburn graduate assistant by former Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville, who is currently the senior U.S. senator for the state of Alabama. … Garner said redshirt freshman defensive end and former McCallie standout Carson Gentle has produced “four really good days of practice.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.