Tenn Truth
Fansided

Vols: Defensive Line Will Be Fine Without O’Brien

By Randy Sharber

facebooktwitterreddit

The Vols offensive line will be just fine without Danny O’Brien.

Make no mistake, I would rather have O’Brien in the line up on Saturday when the Vols tackle the Oklahoma Sooners in Neyland Stadium. That won’t happen as Butch Jones has suspended the defensive tackle indefinitely for the “undisclosed” transgression.

Is it a blow? Yes. Is it game changing? No.

Earlier in the year I wrote an article about Danny O’Brien. Read here. I described how I thought O’Brien was a very unappreciated player by Vol fans. Everyone was so caught up in the signing of Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie. The fact was that O’Brien had played a solid season for Tennessee in 2014.

Well, he won’t be there on Saturday for whatever reason. Now it will be time for Tuttle and McKenzie to tag team against the Sooners. I expect Kendall Vickers to get the start. Vickers is quite capable. He is a 6’3″ 286 Redshirt Sophomore. He played extensively in the Vols win in the Taxslayer Bowl, and was a player I was excited to see in 2015.

Yes, he is a little undersized. O’Brien is 301lb. But Vickers is quicker. That may be a key this Saturday as now pass happy Oklahoma will look to get the ball downfield on the Vols. Tennessee’s secondary looked kind of bad last week. In particular Emmanuel Moseley had a very rough day. The Sooners will take their shots, you can count on it.

I was also surprised that the defensive line of Tennessee did not get to the Bowling Green quarterback last week. They were close many times, and still made it uncomfortable for the Falcon signal caller, but it was not what I expected.

More from Butch Jones

The Falcons qb simply got the ball out of his hand quickly. I did not think it was as much the offensive line being able to keep Derek Barnett and company off of the Falcon qb as much as it was the quarterback just getting rid of it ahead of the rush.

Be that as it may, Tennessee will have to get to Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield. The Vol crowd needs to rattle this guy of course, but the defensive line must be the real cause of rattling. The Sooners run a little more traditional offense. The Falcons played a backyard “shell game” type of offense that had the Vols defensive line frustrated for much of the game.

Oklahoma will not be as “tricky” No, they will just be a lot better. They will be bigger, stronger and faster. But they won’t play quite as fast from a snap count. It is just a better match up for the Vols.

So without O’Brien, the Tennessee fans will get to see what will soon be the future of this defense. Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie will play much more. I tell you now, these guys are good. I realize they are babies when it comes to college football. They are babies when it comes to a game of this magnitude.

But they are men on that line. These guys are big. They are also explosive. They just need game repetitions, and to play confident. By that, I mean do not over think it all. Just play football. They need to trust in themselves, and in their team mates. If they just do their job, nothing more, the Vols will be alright.

The Oklahoma offensive line is good. They are not great. It is an area that Tennessee may be able to exploit. Their receivers are very good. The running backs are very good. Perine had one game of over 400 yards rushing last season. That number is hard to put up against air.

The quarterback is young but talented. So the line may be the weakest link for the Sooners. In a place that prides themselves as Offensive Line U, they are still good. Oklahoma lost two Senior tackles from last season, but they just plug another one in like the Vols plug in receivers year after year.

So O’Brien is out. Vickers, Tuttle, and McKenzie are next men up. I fully expect these guys to not only play well, but they will flash spectacularly in some situations. Don’t worry Vols fans, the young guys are here.

More from Tenn Truth

Home/Butch Jones