Elijah Simmons had a standout game against UConn on Saturday since his return from injury.
Simmons got a late start to the season, playing his first game of the year against South Carolina after suffering an injury in fall camp. He picked up a new number over the offseason in hopes of elevating his play.
Defensive line coach Rodney Garner has seen improvement with Simmons since his return.
“I think he’s more dialed in,” Garner said. “He’s more in tune to what he’s trying to accomplish. And so he’s been more attentive to details, and hopefully, that’s just going to carry over and continue to build that he’s given the body of work that he wants to build upon — I know he feels good about himself. I think he felt good about how he played this past Saturday, so hopefully, he’ll go and start stacking good on top of good. That we don’t ride the rollercoaster.”
Simmons played the second-most snaps on Saturday and chipped in four tackles and a tackle for loss. The return from injury has been a journey for Simmons.
Saturday sounded a big return for the 6-foot-2, 340-pound defensive lineman.
“Just trying to keep the same exact mindset that I had when I was going throughout camp,” Simmons said on Tuesday. “Not feeling down on myself. I knew I was going to come back eventually, so just trying to maintain weight and be way better when I get back.”
Simmons returned to one of the most dominant defensive lines in college football. The Vols lead the SEC in run defense and are No. 13 in the nation.
They hold other teams to just 2.86 yards per carry and just 97.3 yards per game.
“I think that’s a compliment to the young men in the program that had bought into what we’ve been preaching,” Garner said. “We were blessed to have some really good young men. I think the guys have been beaten down.
“It’s been a long time since Tennessee has been back to the elite status that Tennessee’s used to, so obviously, for those guys to start out with us the first year, for us to win seven games, I thought that was great.”
The defensive line will have another tough test on Saturday against Missouri. Cody Schrader, a 5-foot-9 running back, has led the Tigers offensively this year. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry.
The Tigers are seventh in the SEC in rushing with 149.
“We’ve got to do a great job of playing vertical, creating knock-back,” Garner said. “We got to be able to tear up blocks. We got to keep a pad square, and we just gotta tackle. We can’t miss tackles, all the little things when it comes down to playing in this conference. Just play a great sound, fundamental game.”
Tennessee has had success against talented rushers this season, holding Ray Davis to under 50 yards on the ground. Garner’s group will need to do the same on Saturday to slow the Tigers’ rushing attack.
“We got a long ways to go,” Garner said. “I mean, we all know that, and we got to continue to improve in all facets of our game. And we just can’t ever become satisfied. Not like we did anything to be satisfied with, but, you know, we’ve gotta keep working hard to try to improve every day.”
