Rodney Garner named defensive line coach of the year

#1
barney

barney

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#1
Let's all take our hats off to the nation's defensive line guru for another great season! Been coaching up future NFL defensive lineman for 34 years!

FootballScoop is proud to announce that Rodney Garner (Tennessee) is the 2024 FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.

Tennessee reached its first College Football Playoff in 2024, thanks in large part to a defensive line that consistently controlled the line of scrimmage.

The Vols allowed 103.9 rushing yards per game and 2.97 per carry, numbers that both ranked in the top 10 nationally. None of Tennessee's 13 opponents reached the 180-yard mark on the ground, and six failed to crack triple digits. In fact, each of Tennessee's first four foes failed to reach 75 yards in the game, and only one averaged two yards per carry.

Oklahoma (36 yards) rushed for a season-low against the Vols, while Chattanooga (74), NC State (39), Kent State (54), Alabama (75) and UTEP (81) were also near season-lows. Tennessee also excelled at making plays on the opponent's line of scrimmage. The Vols were one of 10 FBS teams to record 100 or more tackles for loss, and ranked eighth with 7.69 TFLs per game.

James Pearce, Jr. led Tennessee's efforts, collecting 7.5 sacks and 13 TFLs. Seven Vols recorded at least four TFLs on the year, with junior Joshua Josephs and senior Bryson Eason trailing Pearce at nine and seven, respectively. Senior Omar Norman-Lott was second on the club with four sacks, with eight Vol defensive linemen posting at least 1.5 sacks on the season.

As a unit, Tennessee finished the year seventh in yards per play (4.56) and eighth in scoring (16.1 points per game). The 2024 campaign marked the first time since 2008 that Tennessee held opponents to less than 20 points per game. Tennessee was also in the top 10 nationally on third down (30.3 percent) and red zone touchdown percentage allowed (46 percent).
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#6
#6
Chitlin&theDude said:
He's done a great job, and is responsible as any one for our record this year. His unit single-handedly won games. The offense was a no show for most of the year. One of the few staff members identifing and DEVELOPING players. Thank you RG!
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Yep. He attracts the talent and coaches them up, in reality, giving JH some grace to figure out how to get the offense humming again.
 
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#12
#12
Congratulations and well deserved. He has really improved that unit. If you look at these guys as recruits, we had Big O who was highly recruited, Eason was a MLB, Simmons was a 3-4 Nose, ON-L was an okay player at ASU and finished as the best interior pass rusher in the country, and RG made them all into really good players while reloading for the future. His rotation is such a blessing to us in the future. The next batch is ready.
 
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#13
#13
JohnWardForever said:
HE is the Defensive coach we have to worry about getting poached, but RG loves UT , Wife & Daughter are connected to the Vols, so He is likely not going anywhere.
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He isnā€™t going anywhere, unless he retires. They have to get Harbin a position at some point or he leaves; heā€™ll be who takes over for Garner and heā€™s a great coach and recruiter.
 
#15
#15
His group met those lofty preseason expectations. A handful around here were tossing around "best DL in America" claims. Without that group being elite for us, we possibly lose some of the OU, UA, VU, UF, UK group. We were manhandled by UGA and OSU, but controlled the pace of all 11 other games.
Imagine the difference in our year with 8-4 or 7-5 with some bowl game? It would be quite a different narrative around here. šŸ˜³
 
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#16
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