Via The Tubes: Volunteers' Defense

Now that we have studied up on the Volunteers time to take a stroll through the tubes. We will start with their defense. Their defense starts with Mr. All Everything Eric Berry. Take a look via our friends at Rocky Top Talk:

He is just an amazing athlete.

He is a game changer.

And he is not alone in that backfield.

As mentioned before he anchors the Tennessee secondary with Demetrice Morley, who himself is another great safety. These guys have the ability to dominate and change the complexion of the entire game.

With these two guys in the backfield, I think Tennessee defense will come in with the intention of shutting down our running game, forcing us to win it with our passing attack. They will probably have 6 guys in the box and might mix in run blitz packages to shut down our backs. Last year with athletes like Eric Berry and Jarod Mayo, Tennessee had games when they completely dominated great running backs, as evidenced by their performance against Darren McFadden and the Razorback’s prolific running attack:

Once again HT to Rocky Top Talk for that video.

Obviously Mayo is gone. But Tennessee defense still has athletes such Robert Ayers and Ben Martin, who can cause trouble.  

If I were them, I’d imagine I would dare the UCLA offense to look downfield. The laser speed, athleticism, and ridiculous range of Berry and Morley gives them the luxury to cheat a little bit in trying to disrupt our short routes.  

The key again will be for Craft (or if anyone else steps in for him) to stay as composed as possible, and not try to take the bait by forcing the issue. Bruins will need to stick with the game plan Neuheisel and Chow prepares for the offense, and stick to it as long as they can. Otherwise, if they allow the Tennessee defense to force the issue, and do things that is not in their game plan, it will be a long night. The offensive highlights (gulp) are next.

GO BRUINS.