For the last two games, the Tennessee Volunteers have leaned on two true freshmen to hunker down the right side of their offensive line.
The results, though, haven’t exactly gone the way senior quarterback Justin Worley hoped.
In Coleman Thomas’ first career start against Oklahoma, the Sooners’ Eric Striker abused the freshman right tackle as he wreaked havoc on the Vols’ backfield and punished Justin Worley numerous times – even though he failed to get a sack, he did record three quarterback hurries.
When UT traveled to Athens, Georgia, to take on the Bulldogs last Saturday, Worley once again took a beating from his right side and was forced out of the game for an extended period of time with an elbow injury.
The test for those two young linemen, however, is just beginning as the Florida Gators come to Knoxville on Saturday.
Enter Dante Fowler Jr., the Gators’ do-everything man who spearheads the defense with 13 tackles – a team-high three of which are for a loss – one sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and, most importantly, six quarterback hurries.
Fowler is no stranger to punishing UT signal callers. Last year in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the junior defensive lineman recorded three tackles for a loss, a sack and forced two fumbles, recovering one.
“He’s a tremendous player,” offensive line coach Don Mahoney said. “He’s a one-man wrecking crew who can rush the passer and defend the run. He’s extremely athletic.
“He’s similar to (Jadeveon) Clowney in terms of I want to know where he is on the field. And that’s the thing about their defensive structure, they do a great job and put him just about anywhere. So we have to account for him.”
And accounting for Fowler and the rest of the Gator front seven will be crucial if the Vols are looking to snap their nine-game losing streak to Florida.
But while the Vols are currently riding a two-game losing streak, their confidence heading into Saturday’s contest is higher than it has been in recent memory thanks to the belief in this program’s progress.
“You’re talking about a totally different football team,” head coach Butch Jones said. “Half of our football team wasn’t here, so they don’t have that experience to rely on. All I know about this football team is we have great competitive character. It’s very important to them.
“Every week is a new season in and of itself. It’s a new week. It’s a new opportunity.”
But this opportunity carries a little more weight to it as the Volunteer faithful have waited more than a decade to see the Vols slay the Gators.
In the 43rd matchup between the storied rivals, UT will have a chance to do just that.
“It would be huge,” Worley said. “I think we’ve been searching for that win, and we might have been pressing for that win. I think we just need to go out there and play our game, not worry about what’s happened in the past between these two teams, and just go out there and execute.”
Kickoff in Neyland Stadium is slated for noon, with the game being televised on the SEC Network.
