Tennessee hasn’t let too much backtracking overwhelm them in the past two seasons. Some ridges have gone around them, but few have passed through them, and none have passed recently. The Vols are eighth nationally in fast defense.
Kentucky’s Christopher Rodriguez Jr. He came as close to running on the Vols as anyone, finishing with 109 yards in 22 carries. There were no bounce games like the Pitt star. Israel Abanikanda He made it against Tennessee this season. Abanikanda had 154 yards against the Vols, but 76 of those came in one game. He averaged 3.1 yards in his other 24 carries.
Rodriguez didn’t make a single 20-yard run against the Vols last season, which means he methodically hit three-figures. That wasn’t enough to beat the Vols at Lexington last season, but the big back is taking the 19th-placed Wildcats to Knoxville this weekend, giving the third-placed Tennessee a loss at Neyland Stadium to reverse that scenario. hopes.
Tennessee knows the physical challenge that comes with tackling the 5-foot-11, 225-pound Rodriguez, who missed the first four games of the Kentucky season and has come back in style in the past three seasons, a 19-time 72-yard, 22-poll 5-foot-11. 126 yards and 31 times 197 yards.
Vols top edge defender Byron Young said he and his teammates haven’t “really” faced a back like Rodriguez since they last played… well… Rodriguez.
“I played against him last year. Young said after his practice at Haslam Field on Tuesday morning. “You have to deal with him. No arm in arm with him. You really need to wrap it up and deal with it fully. We just need to bring it this week and play our keys right.”
Tennessee centerback coach Brian Jean-Mary rainy Kentucky senior quarterback Will Levis with praise. The former Michigan resident said he’s been really impressed with Levis since seeing him at Penn State.
But Jean-Mary said that Rodriguez was really the player who made Kentucky play that side of the ball.
“I think he’s the catalyst for what you did on offense,” said Jean-Mary. “Obviously Will is a tremendous quarterback and a tremendous skill set as we’ve mentioned before. But I think his whole identity is managing football and I think he’s honestly one of the best comebacks in the SEC. He’s a downhill who doesn’t mind running with the sleeves and creates yards for himself. down runner. it’s not [player who will] jump out and try to make you miss. You know where it will be and you know how it will be when it shows up.
“He’s running angry. He’s running with authority, and we’ll have to do a great job of countering his aggression with our own strength.”
Jean-Mary said Kentucky’s entire offense is a group that plays with physicality and it takes physical and mental toughness to beat him.
“It’s a mentality,” he said. “You have to be ready for any attack. If you asked me when I played a hundred years ago, of course you would want to meet people at the phone booth and see who will come. Being able to win in a phone booth. But nowadays you have to be prepared for any offense. Frankly, as centre-backs, you’re equally equally good at passing and running. But we’re proud to stop the run, so it’s a team that comes in and rolls up their sleeves and you know they want to lead football, you have to be excited as a defender.
“But I think you should be excited as a whole defense, because we want that to be our identity on the defensive, but also to be able to stop the run.”
Young said Tennessee was a confident defense despite the Vols losing lots of points and yards in their 52-49 win over Alabama, but conceded that he and his teammates needed to be ready for the challenge of facing the blocking line for Rodriguez and him. .
“Really, the challenge is that we need to fit in our gaps,” he said. “The kind of O-line we play is a really big O-line. They are disciplined. They’re trying to get blood on your nose and beat you up, so we’re going to have to play solid defense and play behind our pads.”
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