How Tennessee's aggressive defense is carrying the load as the offense finds its way

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee‘s defense under coordinator Tim Banks is loaded with enforcers this season, forming a unit that has been one of the best in college football.

That’s fitting because Banks’ initial plan after finishing an all-conference career as a cornerback at Central Michigan was to get into law enforcement.

“I wasn’t even thinking about coaching,” Banks told ESPN on Tuesday. “I wanted to go back to Detroit and be a police officer.”

But that all changed while waiting on his wife, Robin, to finish up at Central Michigan. Somebody on the Chippewas’ staff mentioned to Banks that he should go into coaching. He thought about it, and he and his wife spent the next several weeks staying up late and sending out résumés all over the country.

Only two coaches responded: Brian Kelly, who was then at Grand Valley State, and Bowling Green’s Gary Blackney. Both responses were “thanks, but we don’t have any openings.” But later that year, in 1996, not long before the start of preseason camp, Banks got a call from Steve Spagnuolo, who was then the Bowling Green defensive backs coach and is now the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive coordinator.

There was a snag with one of the graduate assistants on Bowling Green’s staff, and Spagnuolo wanted to know if Banks was still looking for a job.

Now, 12 jobs later — with coaching duties ranging from running backs, outside linebackers, inside linebackers, safeties and defensive coordinator — Banks is in charge of a blossoming defense that has flipped the script in Knoxville.

The No. 11 Vols, known for their up-tempo and high-scoring ways under head coach Josh Heupel, are still trying to find themselves on offense with first-year starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava and a line that has struggled to protect him. As a result, they’re leaning on a defense that has allowed no more than 19 points in any of its six games and ranks among the top five nationally in scoring defense, total defense and third-down defense. Tennessee has allowed just three plays from scrimmage of 30 yards or longer, which is tied for fewest in the country.

The gaudy statistics are all well and good, but Banks said all that matters is what Tennessee (5-1) does on defense from here on out, and most importantly, that it does its part to help the Vols stay in the hunt for the SEC title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

“It’s been building for us, and we’ve been ready for this moment,” Banks said. “We obviously haven’t been perfect, but our guys embrace this. They believe in our offense, and whether we need to hold a team to 10 or whatever that number is, that’s kind of our thing.

“How much better can we get?”

Tennessee’s defense faces its toughest challenge of the season Saturday with No. 7 Alabama (5-1) coming to town. Jalen Milroe is easily the best quarterback the Vols have faced and has already accounted for 23 touchdowns (12 passing and 11 rushing). Alabama (34.3 points per game) is second in the SEC behind Texas in scoring in conference games.

“It’s another chance to prove to the world that Tennessee plays a little defense too,” fifth-year senior defensive lineman Bryson Eason said. “That’s the tone Coach Banks set when he got here, playing with a chip on your shoulder. I think he’s had that chip on his shoulder his whole career, and you see it in the way we play.

“We scrap for everything and ball out for each other.”

Tennessee has needed everything (and then some) from its defense this season. For the first time in Heupel’s four seasons at Knoxville, the Vols’ offense has gone three straight games with two or fewer touchdowns in regulation. In the Vols’ three SEC games, they’ve yet to score more than 23 points.

But it wasn’t an offensive smorgasbord a year ago for them, either. They were held to 20 or fewer points in five of their eight SEC games.

“As a football team, we’re just trying to be plus-one on the scoreboard, and if we can find a way to be a lot more than that, that’s awesome,” Heupel said. “At no point since I’ve been here has it been anything other than all of us together, man. Our defense — their competitive makeup, but also their belief in the other side of the football that they’re going to go make a play — that’s what a team is about.”

The thing that’s clearly different about this Tennessee defense is the depth, playmaking ability and talent up front. Already, 12 defensive linemen or edge rushers have at least one tackle for loss, and eight have at least two tackles for loss.

“That’s where it starts and allows you to play the style of defense you want and be able to change up styles,” Banks said. “When you’re able to roll in as many guys as we’ve been able to up front, and you don’t really see a drop-off, that’s what it takes in this league to play defense at the highest level.”

One of the other keys has been the addition of Oregon State transfer Jermod McCoy at cornerback. His presence has allowed Tennessee to play more man coverage, and McCoy owns the nation’s fourth highest coverage grade among cornerbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.

Another plus for Tennessee is that edge rusher James Pearce Jr., a projected NFL first-round draft pick, is coming off his best two games of the season. Against Arkansas and Florida, he had a combined 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and 9 pressures. He also forced a fumble on the 1-yard line in last week’s 23-17 overtime win over the Gators.

The Vols will be short-handed the rest of the way with captain and middle linebacker Keenan Pili suffering a season-ending knee injury against Florida. He was not only the team’s leading tackler, but also received the in-helmet communication from coaches during games. It will be difficult to replace everything that Pili did, but one thing won’t change for the Vols.

They want to attack on every play.

“We still have what we call a mayhem board, tackles for loss, sacks, passes broken up, whatever the case may be,” said sophomore linebacker Arion Carter, who is tied for the team lead with 4.5 tackles for loss. “It’s all about being disruptive. That’s our calling card. We want to wreck shop and put offenses in bad situations, and that comes down to the fundamentals and all of us having the right feel for what offenses are doing.”

Banks said his group has been as studious in watching tape and preparing as it has been aggressive on the field — and Carter sets the tone. He’s up every morning by 5 o’clock and watching tape at the football complex by 5:30.

“I want to beat my coaches in,” said Carter, who estimates he watches an average of five hours of tape a day, counting the time he puts in on his own at home. “We’re all-in on this defense, and it’s everything we do. We don’t take anything for granted.”

Early on, Banks might have been taken for granted by those outside Tennessee’s program, be it fans, media or anybody else. Offense is what sells, and in Heupel’s second season in 2022, the record-setting Vols went 11-2 and led the country in scoring with an average of 46.1 points per game. They finished seventh nationally in Heupel’s first season with an average of 39.3 points per game.

Some defensive coordinators run the other way when they hear their team’s offense is going to play up-tempo, spread it out and rarely huddle. That usually means more snaps and extra stress for the defense. And in Banks’ first season, the Vols played 1,010 snaps on defense. The only power conference school that played more was Michigan State. The number of snaps Tennessee’s defense has played since that first season has dwindled, but Banks was up for the challenge when Heupel called in 2021. At the time, Banks was the co-defensive coordinator at Penn State and wanted another shot at calling plays.

“There were a lot of people who told me not to take the job, but I wasn’t afraid,” Banks said. “I knew at that time that we would have to play a certain style of football, if I’m being honest, to be able to match up. We had to be able to adjust, and this year is no different. You’ve always got to be able to adjust.

“It always gets back to, ‘What do you need to do to win?’ So, yes, there were some things we had to go through to get to this level, and we’re still not even close to where we need to be.”

Along the way, Banks has felt the wrath of fans second-guessing him. Coordinators are oftentimes more of a lightning rod than head coaches. The Vols gave up more than 30 points in three of their four losses last season, and in the game that cost Tennessee a potential playoff spot in 2022, it was beaten 63-38 by 22-point underdog South Carolina.

“I’ve been called Belichick, and I’ve been called a high school coach,” Banks said. “I lean on my Christian faith and don’t read what’s out there. I don’t get caught up in others’ opinions and sleep well at night knowing that I’m doing everything I can to put my kids in the best situations to be successful.”

Banks might not have to wait long to get an opportunity to run his own shop. He was involved in the Middle Tennessee State head-coaching search last year before withdrawing his name, and college insiders expect him to be in the running for other head jobs this offseason, especially with how well his defense is playing.

Banks is in the final year of his contract at Tennessee, which is rare for a coordinator at the power conference level, and ranks seventh in the SEC ($1.5 million annually) among the highest paid defensive coordinators. He’s not among the top 20 highest-paid defensive coordinators nationally.

But numbers are of little concern to Banks or his players, who are proud of what they’ve built on defense and are ready for whatever role they need to play to keep Tennessee in the chase for a championship.

Eason was at Tennessee under the previous coaching staff and saw first-hand what Banks faced with the exodus of players hitting the transfer portal and the Vols having to piece things together, especially on defense. That first season might have been Banks’ best coaching job.

But this season, he might have his best defense, and the timing couldn’t be better for the Vols.

“Coach Banks has always believed in us, and we believe in Coach Banks,” Eason said. “The best thing about this whole team is we have each other’s backs, and we’re getting to where we want to be on defense.

“If you want to play with some real grit and grime, play for each other and go get after somebody, this is the place to be.”