Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Making Monsters Draft Series: Tennessee's Jermond McCoy, Colton Hood & Joshua Josephs
Transcript
- 0:09[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to another episode of Making Monsters.
- 0:11[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Taylor Doll, we're joined by today by Ryan Silvia covers the volunteers, Tennessee for Rocky Top and cider.
- 0:17[SPEAKER_01]: Ryan, thanks for hopping on with me.
- 0:18[SPEAKER_01]: A few of these guys we want to talk about on the defensive side of the ball, so we appreciate your time.
- 0:23[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thanks for having me on.
- 0:24[SPEAKER_00]: It's spring balls over, so now it's really from the college perspective, turning the page to the NFL draft.
- 0:29[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a fun time to talk about the guys graduating.
- 0:32[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, especially because that second portal's gone now, normally you're kind of talking about that portal number two, but that no longer exists.
- 0:39[SPEAKER_01]: So I do want to say I was rooting for Tennessee this last year just because of the whole quarterback story line with Nico leaving and Aguilar getting there and I'm a highball fan.
- 0:48[SPEAKER_01]: So there was a lot of things that I was kind of rooting for Tennessee.
- 0:52[SPEAKER_01]: And offensively things went well that when it comes to some of the things you saw positive when yards per game and score per, in the SEC at least.
- 1:00[SPEAKER_01]: with some tough, tough competition, but defensively there were some issues at times for an insert and aspects of it.
- 1:07[SPEAKER_01]: So chat a little bit of overall about that defense, what went wrong, where the strengths were, what probably you guys looked at the most of the softsies into try and fix.
- 1:16[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's funny, because personnel wise that there were some superstars, obviously, you have the two projected first joint quarterback.
- 1:23[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Jamad McCoy didn't play a snap this past season because he was recovering from that ACL injury, but Goldenhood was fantastic.
- 1:29[SPEAKER_00]: The entire season, even opposite of him at cornering for some growing pains early, but true freshman ty Redmond.
- 1:34[SPEAKER_00]: was really good.
- 1:35[SPEAKER_00]: You look at Joshua Joseph says an edge russia.
- 1:37[SPEAKER_00]: He had a really good season.
- 1:38[SPEAKER_00]: The lineback room was really good.
- 1:40[SPEAKER_00]: But the defense as a whole didn't perform well.
- 1:43[SPEAKER_00]: And the result of that is it's a new defensive coordinator at Tennessee now.
- 1:46[SPEAKER_00]: And Josh Hypo hasn't been someone to to mix up his coaching staff too much unless it's someone like you
- 1:52[SPEAKER_00]: losses running back coach the NFL and things like that.
- 1:54[SPEAKER_00]: But this is the first piece gone out and fired, you know, a coordinator.
- 1:58[SPEAKER_00]: So it it says a lot.
- 1:59[SPEAKER_00]: I think about how disappointed he was with that side of the ball, especially given the talent that was there.
- 2:05[SPEAKER_00]: And now you're looking at a complete retooling under Jim Knowles.
- 2:09[SPEAKER_00]: But
- 2:10[SPEAKER_00]: Last year when you look at the defense, it's the big names as far as the director are those three, it's Colton Hood, it's Dramad McCoy and it's Joshua Joseph, so you all individually stood out and again, I think it just says a lot about how, you know, poorly called I guess the defense was last year considering there was this much NFL talent on the roster and it just didn't go as planned.
- 2:34[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is interesting.
- 2:35[SPEAKER_01]: I want to start with those corners.
- 2:36[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, Jamad McCoy.
- 2:39[SPEAKER_01]: And when you look at the PFF big draft board, he is ranked 17th on the big board and then Colton Hood is 34th.
- 2:45[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to start with McCoy, obviously, because like you just mentioned he didn't even play this last year.
- 2:50[SPEAKER_01]: He unfortunately tore his ACL.
- 2:52[SPEAKER_01]: in early 2025 and so you didn't get to see him last year, which I guess beneficial for Colton Hood got a little bit more attention and got his stepped into a bigger role in that defense, but start with him because I read some stuff about a wider fever for the most part of high school, no more as a track athlete, the football player coming out of high school,
- 3:11[SPEAKER_01]: started with Oregon State, obviously transferred to Tennessee after that, having his breakout season in 2024, followed by an unfortunate ACL injury.
- 3:19[SPEAKER_01]: But talk about that 2024 season because that's what obviously people are at the film they're going to be watching.
- 3:23[SPEAKER_01]: What did he do best when he was out there outside corner type of guy, but when he was on the defense plane and healthy.
- 3:31[SPEAKER_00]: his twenty twenty four season was lights out but like he was someone that as a sophomore and that's one that no one was talking about going into the season like you said you know two star three star recruited you could find a three star on on one of the sites I think he was a three star from White House Texas same high school's Patrick Mahomes actually but he was uh some of the no one was talking about going to that twenty four season and by the end of that sophomore year there was buzz on hey if he was draft eligible he could be the first
- 4:01[SPEAKER_00]: all the questions in the reason he's falling is obviously because he hasn't played football in over a year now.
- 4:06[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he silenced a lot of that doubt about his health at the pro day, at 10 o'clock, didn't do much at the combat, but he did stuff at pro day in Knox, so I think that helped his case a lot, but in 2024,
- 4:17[SPEAKER_00]: He was someone that really shut down his side of the field.
- 4:21[SPEAKER_00]: In man coverage, there was, you know, you weren't even really looking that way by the end of the season.
- 4:26[SPEAKER_00]: You were trying to find other ways to spread out the ball.
- 4:29[SPEAKER_00]: His worst game was probably that playoff game against Ohio State.
- 4:34[SPEAKER_00]: But there might have been.
- 4:35[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's not a cover.
- 4:37[SPEAKER_00]: He was on that roster and he still held his own.
- 4:39[SPEAKER_00]: It was just probably his worst because you look at he went up against Ryan Williams.
- 4:44[SPEAKER_00]: Alabama in his true freshman year when he was fantastic.
- 4:47[SPEAKER_00]: And Ryan Williams had, you just know where to breed that entire game.
- 4:50[SPEAKER_00]: She might come up with a pick on a target on a poorly thrown ball that Jail Noara, but it was a great one-handed catch.
- 4:57[SPEAKER_00]: kind of the double thing about him is on one hand he doesn't give you many options to fit the ball in.
- 5:03[SPEAKER_00]: So he's someone that it's tough to target when he's in coverage.
- 5:07[SPEAKER_00]: But one quarterback did decide to go his way.
- 5:10[SPEAKER_00]: He showed the ability to be a playmaker.
- 5:11[SPEAKER_00]: He came up with some ridiculous catches probably with help of having that background as a receiver in high school.
- 5:17[SPEAKER_00]: And so when you have someone that's able to come up with those turnovers, able to
- 5:21[SPEAKER_00]: to be athletic and make really difficult catches while also just not giving you many options though to that field in the first place.
- 5:27[SPEAKER_00]: That's why, you know, he's just kind of the the prototypical, you can put him on a island, you can feel confident even without safety help that he'll be fine over there.
- 5:35[SPEAKER_01]: Are you surprised at all that not playing last year?
- 5:38[SPEAKER_01]: He's still mocked as high as he is at times in the straft.
- 5:42[SPEAKER_00]: I think it makes sense that because like I said, there was people talking about, and maybe it was a little bit weaker of a defensive draft class, and you know, it changes year to year, but there was the buzz after last season.
- 5:51[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this could be the first guy off the board.
- 5:53[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think you make sense that you go from, hey, this is a consensus top 10 pick to, all right, yeah, we haven't seen you play.
- 5:59[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're going to drop to the 10 to 20 range.
- 6:01[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe someone really likes you and good goes up and grabs you at eight or something like that.
- 6:05[SPEAKER_00]: But
- 6:05[SPEAKER_00]: to me it feels pretty appropriate that he would be kind of a mid first round pick just because of those injury questions and again I think he really helped himself at pro to he ran the 40 well he he moved well the scouts seem to like what they saw and it kind of I think cemented him as that mid first round pick topic I maybe you know just takes one team to fall in love with eating the top 10 pick.
- 6:24[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for people that don't know 444, 40, 38 verticals.
- 6:28[SPEAKER_01]: So those are numbers when you talk about that.
- 6:30[SPEAKER_01]: Frame, I feel like a little smaller 6188, but I feel like you see that happening now and then they get into the NFL and that frame fills out a little bit more.
- 6:39[SPEAKER_01]: For people that don't know that 2024 season, 44 tackles, nine passes defended four interceptions.
- 6:44[SPEAKER_01]: Three of those four interceptions came inside the three, the opponent's three yard line.
- 6:48[SPEAKER_01]: I saw that interesting step because to me, when you're talking about a player making a,
- 6:52[SPEAKER_01]: a game-changing play in a moment you need it.
- 6:55[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of teams about to score and you take the ball away.
- 6:58[SPEAKER_01]: So some good numbers from there when it comes to that, we will see, I think it's a little too high.
- 7:02[SPEAKER_01]: The bears obviously pick up 25 in the first round, so unless he fell a little bit, I also don't know exactly how high the bears want to draft a corner because there's a...
- 7:11[SPEAKER_01]: They're technically their corner room is full, but there's a contract, some contracts coming up, that I think they may be worrying about the future.
- 7:17[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll talk about other the other coroner Colton Hood, who I mentioned, they really have the opportunity this year with McCoy.
- 7:23[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, getting injured, it may have benefited him in certain ways because he really got to kind of come out and be that guy and show that he can play that corner back one,
- 7:33[SPEAKER_01]: roll at times if you needed to, interesting when it comes to him right, I was talking about he did everything in high school and when he played football, he played quarter, wider silver, quarterback, running back, he also played baseball and he ran track.
- 7:44[SPEAKER_01]: So when you talk about a guy that's just a full-on athlete, sounds like that's called to-hood.
- 7:49[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and he's someone too, where we talked about the spring transfer pool or window that doesn't exist anymore.
- 7:53[SPEAKER_00]: He was someone that came in last spring.
- 7:55[SPEAKER_00]: And part of the reason for that was you saw the writing on the wall of the remote McCoy when he tore his ACL in January, there was optimism that he could be back before the year.
- 8:05[SPEAKER_00]: I think as spring camperaged on it was like, all right.
- 8:07[SPEAKER_00]: probably have to miss the front half for the season or the front portion of the season and then as the you know you got to the seasons like a man it doesn't look like he's going to be able to play it all this year which makes sense I mean it was a very quick turnaround from tearing your ACL so it always kind of felt a little unrealistic and obviously doesn't that playing but so in that spring portal Tennessee said hey we need to go out and grab another quarterback that we feel good about at least until
- 8:29[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if anyone at Tennessee expected Golden Hood to have the season he did though, and especially with Ricky Gibson, who was one of the other cornerbacks projected to start opposite of Dremont McCoy last season.
- 8:41[SPEAKER_00]: He got injured like seven snaps into the season and missed the rest of the season.
- 8:45[SPEAKER_00]: So, Golden Hood went from someone where
- 8:48[SPEAKER_00]: I you're just going to be a bridge guy.
- 8:49[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have you come in here and you know kind of hold things down on one of the corner spots told your mod gets back and then be more maybe a rotational piece to corner back one you have the toughest assignment and you need to go out and make a big play or shut down again that side of the field every single snap and that's exactly what he did especially early in the season when the other side Ty Redmond.
- 9:09[SPEAKER_00]: was a true freshman trying to get his footing got Georgia throwing on his plate pretty early and they just said hey we're going to throw that tie rabbit every time because Colton hoods playing really good football.
- 9:18[SPEAKER_00]: And that continued throughout the season.
- 9:20[SPEAKER_00]: He's another guy that just had a nose for the ball had a bunch of turnovers whether that was fumble recovery, scooped and scored, whether that was coming up with interceptions and returning those.
- 9:28[SPEAKER_00]: He was just really a big play machine and that was kind of how Tennessee's defense will live for a while was
- 9:35[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to bend a lot, just don't break.
- 9:38[SPEAKER_00]: And the way they weren't breaking was coming up with at times it almost felt lucky.
- 9:42[SPEAKER_00]: Turnovers, but Colemanhood was always a guy who's named was in that mix.
- 9:46[SPEAKER_00]: So that's why he's jumped up towards the top of the board, as well as he was a bright spot on that Tennessee defense last year that just wasn't very good overall.
- 9:54[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it's interesting because sometimes it's hard to fully rate unless you go back and watch film of corners because if they're not getting targeted, they're not getting those passes defended, they're not getting the intersections and sometimes it's hard to separate those things, but when you go back and you see that people are avoiding a certain area of field because of a corner, I think you have to.
- 10:14[SPEAKER_01]: take that into account.
- 10:15[SPEAKER_01]: Colton had obviously started at Auburn Transfer to Colorado and then like you said, hit that spring portal and came to Tennessee.
- 10:21[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like it benefited him.
- 10:23[SPEAKER_01]: He also, I know was one of the guys talked about a lot in the senior bull also and so I think that when you talk about being able to
- 10:30[SPEAKER_01]: have things go your way in the sense of driving up these draft boards between two unfortunate injuries you never want to see other guys get injured but in a way it benefited him because he really got to show he can be the guy but then also the senior bowl and by and being able to be talked about coming out of that I think it's beneficial for some of these corners who want to kind of drive that their draft draft value a little bit.
- 10:52[SPEAKER_00]: I think with Colin Hood, like, when you look at the senior ball, when you look at what he did at the NFL Scouting Combine in Pro Day, sure, it's showing you have the ability to win one on ones at the senior ball and either player on the field, but it's also just shows how well like the guy is.
- 11:07[SPEAKER_00]: Like you've never heard a bad thing about him out of Tennessee as teammates loved him as coaches loved him.
- 11:12[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like he's kind of asing those interviews with NFL teams in their front offices.
- 11:16[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that goes to show too.
- 11:18[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you want a good player.
- 11:20[SPEAKER_00]: You also want a good guy.
- 11:21[SPEAKER_00]: You want a good teammate.
- 11:21[SPEAKER_00]: And it seems like Golden Hood fits that billing pretty well as far as the guy you can bring in.
- 11:26[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to work hard.
- 11:27[SPEAKER_00]: He's not going to complain much.
- 11:29[SPEAKER_00]: He's just going to kind of put his nose down and get along with his teammates and do those types of off the field things that you want to see from a potential first or in traffic.
- 11:37[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that any teams would be a little hesitant just in the kind of like one year, one season of true production?
- 11:44[SPEAKER_00]: I think there could be some weariness of that, like how much, you know, is this a flash in the planet?
- 11:49[SPEAKER_00]: Is this lightning and a bottle type of situation?
- 11:53[SPEAKER_00]: I still, I would be pretty surprised if he slipped into the second round.
- 11:56[SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, we talked about Dremont McCoy, and maybe being a,
- 11:59[SPEAKER_00]: 10 to 20 type of guy, Colin Hood feels maybe like a 15 to 32 type of guy that second half of the first round, but he still feels like someone that someone, you know, will like what they've seen in that one year of table.
- 12:11[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like he was bad at Colorado.
- 12:12[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't merely as good as he was this past year, but he still made some big plays at Colorado.
- 12:17[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason Tennessee targeted him out of the transfer portal.
- 12:20[SPEAKER_00]: It was a highly recruited guide of high school, which is how he got to Auburn in the first place.
- 12:23[SPEAKER_00]: So,
- 12:24[SPEAKER_00]: Was it one year that really put him on a fall draft boards, yes, but he does have a good, you know, kind of two years of tape before that default back on between that true freshman year at Auburn that next year at Colorado.
- 12:37[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one of the things when you talk about cornerbacks, the he obviously multi-sport athlete, so your athleticism is there.
- 12:43[SPEAKER_01]: The mental side is very important when it comes to cornerbacks, especially in a Denis Allen defense.
- 12:48[SPEAKER_01]: He disguises a lot of things.
- 12:49[SPEAKER_01]: He does funky stuff, and we saw a lot of some of that last year.
- 12:53[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you just didn't quite have the personnel to where he could fully run his defense.
- 12:56[SPEAKER_01]: And I was some of the issues last year.
- 12:58[SPEAKER_01]: But you see when it comes to Colton Hood, versatility and different coverage games, you've seen the run support.
- 13:03[SPEAKER_01]: at times struggle but at other times looked good so those are things that you can hope kind of can be developed at the next side but the mental side would you say that's there with Colton when it comes to just being able to understand offenses too.
- 13:15[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and he's a confident guy as well.
- 13:17[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to say that like he's a cocky, but he's a confident guy.
- 13:20[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly what you want from a corner back.
- 13:22[SPEAKER_00]: You want them to want that biggest match up and to want to go out and to make those plays.
- 13:26[SPEAKER_00]: But I think when you look back to how we got to Tennessee, he only had that spring or that fall window after transferring in the spring to learn the defense, to integrate himself in that locker and figure out what everything's going on as in Knoxville and just adjust to everything that's changing.
- 13:40[SPEAKER_00]: And by game one, he was a big factor for Tennessee and you could tell after that Sarah, he's game to open the season that, okay, this guy is someone you can really rely on.
- 13:50[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think so I think it's fair to say that he's a smart guy.
- 13:53[SPEAKER_00]: He's able to adjust on the fly.
- 13:55[SPEAKER_00]: He's able to...
- 13:56[SPEAKER_00]: You know, not just smart as in book smart, but smart as in football smart and able to to read offences and do those types of things you want to see from a type of first round pit corner back.
- 14:06[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's fair to say and I think, again, that's part of the reason why he's acing these team interviews and you know, putting himself in the favor of these from offices.
- 14:15[SPEAKER_01]: The next guy want to talk about Edge Joshua Josephs.
- 14:18[SPEAKER_01]: He's on the PFF ranks at 63.
- 14:21[SPEAKER_01]: So that second round, right around where the bears are picking in the second round.
- 14:25[SPEAKER_01]: They have two picks.
- 14:26[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to, they try to DJ more to the Buffalo Bills.
- 14:28[SPEAKER_01]: So they got a second round pick out of that.
- 14:30[SPEAKER_01]: But he spent all four seasons at Tennessee of his college career nine and a half sacks in those four years, 22 tackles for loss.
- 14:37[SPEAKER_01]: So talk a little bit about him, the development in those four years in the ball system
- 14:45[SPEAKER_01]: coordinator who you're having to get a different defensive coordinator at this point some ups and downs through that time, but also being behind a fire in young Anna, James Pierce, two names you kind of had to play the waiting game a little bit to get your turn.
- 14:56[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
- 14:57[SPEAKER_00]: They rotate a lot on the defensive line and that outside line back and they call it the Leo position.
- 15:01[SPEAKER_00]: They rotate a lot there.
- 15:03[SPEAKER_00]: But he did have to wait to turn it.
- 15:04[SPEAKER_00]: As he's on fire and young right now is one of the best outside line backers in the NFL James Pierce Jr. had a really strong on the field rookie season.
- 15:12[SPEAKER_00]: So he had to wait his turn at Tennessee.
- 15:15[SPEAKER_00]: And even though he was sometimes when he started out the third string and then had to work himself up to the second string before really taken over as that starting Leo, he showed the flashes.
- 15:25[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why Tennessee was patient with him and let him kind of progress through his career.
- 15:30[SPEAKER_00]: And by the time he was a senior this past season, he really looked like he put it all together at times.
- 15:34[SPEAKER_00]: And that was,
- 15:36[SPEAKER_00]: You know, at first they knew he was a good pass for us or he had to develop as someone that could step up in the run game as well.
- 15:42[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what it felt like he did last season to really put himself on these draft boards.
- 15:47[SPEAKER_00]: Is he became that all around type of outside lineback or edge rusher that it's not just, hey, put them on 39 put them in because you know, you can get after the quarterback you can trust them on all three downs.
- 15:57[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's the reason I think that he's talked about right now is, you know,
- 16:01[SPEAKER_00]: You can find a mock draft out there that has them, like, as one of the last picks in the first round, it feels more realistic.
- 16:07[SPEAKER_00]: He's probably, like you said, a mid to late second, maybe sneak into the third round type of guy, but someone that, you know, certainly will be a day to pick, it definitely feels like.
- 16:17[SPEAKER_01]: So explain that Leo.
- 16:19[SPEAKER_01]: It goes, did you guys run?
- 16:21[SPEAKER_01]: Did they run a 34?
- 16:22[SPEAKER_01]: Is it based off of that?
- 16:24[SPEAKER_00]: So they call it a four to nickel where that fourth lineman's kind of that Leo position most of the time they're just an Eddrosser, but occasionally they'll drop into coverage like you saw
- 16:47[SPEAKER_00]: responsibilities that they need to be athletic enough like enough on their feet that they can drop back into coverage like a linebacker.
- 16:53[SPEAKER_00]: But for the most part, you know, pretty much just an edge rusher, but you see like firing young, he's listed as an outside linebacker and then I fell just to your more listed as an edge rusher type of guy.
- 17:03[SPEAKER_00]: So it's that versatile type of role that they like those guys to play.
- 17:07[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's interesting because when you start to look so last year, he really kind of got a shot obviously after buying a young James Pierce go to the NFL.
- 17:15[SPEAKER_01]: 90 past 90 past Rush grade he had, which was third in the SEC 19th nationally.
- 17:21[SPEAKER_01]: But one of the things I think about him is he has that past Rush ability, but he can also do things on the outside when it comes to setting the edge.
- 17:28[SPEAKER_01]: And I think part of that is not Leo position.
- 17:30[SPEAKER_01]: There's some versatility when you're asking players.
- 17:32[SPEAKER_01]: to move around in that sense, 82 inch wingspan.
- 17:35[SPEAKER_01]: I never was one of the measurements that I saw, which is wild to think about because I feel like that doesn't give some offensive line and even a chance to get their hands up with the long arms that he has.
- 17:46[SPEAKER_01]: So it does feel like outside of the weight, very Denis Allen-esque when it comes to just like the long size that Denis Allen likes and also maybe not the true
- 17:56[SPEAKER_01]: pass rusher that you're asking that's going to get you 12 13 14 15 sacks but he'll get you five or six sacks and then he's going to be really good at setting the edge and stopping the run does that kind of seem like where he fits.
- 18:07[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's fair.
- 18:08[SPEAKER_00]: He's someone too that like, even at Tennessee, he didn't rack up like jaw dropping stats.
- 18:12[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, I wasn't like he went out there and had 12 sacks in the season, like, oh my God.
- 18:16[SPEAKER_00]: But as you said, move the pocket, beat a tackle and get to a quarterback and make them for the ball away.
- 18:23[SPEAKER_00]: He'll step up in the run game and really swallow up something where if you're trying to run some sort of outside zone and he's right there and you just have nowhere to go.
- 18:31[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes we'll get credit for the tackle or the sack or the TFL and other times
- 18:36[SPEAKER_00]: He was just kind of consistently in the back field, wrecking things and you said too, like what the long wingspan he has, plenty of different options to be offensive lineman.
- 18:46[SPEAKER_00]: He was big enough that he could kind of pull rush you.
- 18:49[SPEAKER_00]: And if you weren't ready for it, you could put you on your butt and just run right over you.
- 18:53[SPEAKER_00]: And he also was a black enough to,
- 18:55[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was been move or some other different types of more nimble moves to get after the quarterback, again, to the backfield.
- 19:01[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a versatile piece.
- 19:03[SPEAKER_00]: And I think, again, that's why he's considered such a high prospect is it not just, all right, you can use him on this certain situation and these certain downs that he could be a three down guy.
- 19:13[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, which I think a lot of teams in the NFL, obviously, that's a benefit.
- 19:17[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked, I go back to this situation a lot when it comes to the year where it was Jared verse and Dallas Turner coming out.
- 19:23[SPEAKER_01]: And it felt like Dallas Turner was that true past rusher, he's going to get you a bunch of stacks.
- 19:26[SPEAKER_01]: But Jared verse was a little better against the run and did some of a little bit more versatility I show.
- 19:31[SPEAKER_01]: So some people rated those guys in different areas, both good players.
- 19:35[SPEAKER_01]: But Jared verse showed why he deserved to be in the NFL, even without maybe getting those that.
- 19:40[SPEAKER_01]: 1213 sack number.
- 19:41[SPEAKER_01]: He still can do a lot of things and you can move him around.
- 19:44[SPEAKER_01]: Um, right before I let you go, a few other, uh, Tennessee prospects that are going to be on this draft, uh, is there anybody that you feel like people should be talking about more or something that you just feel like may, you know, kind of really be able to make that transfer to the NFL.
- 19:57[SPEAKER_01]: Well,
- 19:58[SPEAKER_00]: There's two other guys I think we'll see called from Tennessee this past season or from just past season.
- 20:03[SPEAKER_00]: One is why receiver Chris Brazzle and he's a guy that we talk a lot about intangibles with draft prospects.
- 20:09[SPEAKER_00]: Chris Brazzle is a guy where I think the tangibles stand out like he's just taller than most receivers you'll see.
- 20:14[SPEAKER_00]: He's faster than a lot of receivers you'll see.
- 20:17[SPEAKER_00]: And he really put it all together this past season.
- 20:19[SPEAKER_00]: He had a multi touchdown game against Georgia where he was just a downfield threat.
- 20:23[SPEAKER_00]: But like it was there was a lot of screw it Chris Brassles down there somewhere type of through us from Joey Aguilar that worked out.
- 20:31[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to eat just so much taller and faster and more athletic than a lot of the defensive backs that were on him.
- 20:36[SPEAKER_00]: He was able to make those mid-air adjustments when the 50-50 balls and really helped Tennessee defense move down the field.
- 20:42[SPEAKER_00]: So he's someone that's probably a second round pick could see him drop into the third round, but I think we'll probably be a second round guy just again to kind of
- 20:52[SPEAKER_00]: or really some of the receivers go.
- 20:54[SPEAKER_00]: There's a slide and then it all depends on stuff like that.
- 20:56[SPEAKER_00]: The other guy is Bryce and Eason, a defensive tackle.
- 20:59[SPEAKER_00]: I think whole probably a day three guy if he does get drafted probably a fifth through seventh round prospects.
- 21:06[SPEAKER_00]: If I had to guess maybe a later sixth earlier seventh round guy, but it's you know, it's so tough to project when you get that deep into the draft.
- 21:12[SPEAKER_00]: But
- 21:13[SPEAKER_00]: He's someone that, again, has played his entire career at Tennessee.
- 21:15[SPEAKER_00]: He played six years at Tennessee.
- 21:17[SPEAKER_00]: Going back to the old coaching staff, using his COVID-19 or red shirt and all that type of stuff to maintain that eligibility.
- 21:23[SPEAKER_00]: But for the past three years, he's just been a consistent piece on the interior of Tennessee's wine that's, of course, the past rush or, of course, the run stopping, but he also really progressed as a past rush or not to the level of like an orma, oh, Mar Norman lot, who the Chiefs distracted last year.
- 21:40[SPEAKER_00]: But someone that, again,
- 21:43[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you were a three tech or nose.
- 21:46[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, probably more of a three tech.
- 21:49[SPEAKER_00]: He could be a nose.
- 21:50[SPEAKER_00]: He's a bigger rounder type of guy, but not as big.
- 21:54[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you know, he lied just in into Tennessee produced the year guy.
- 21:57[SPEAKER_00]: He's not that big of a guy, but he's a big guy in someone that
- 22:01[SPEAKER_00]: But he can really play anywhere on the interior of the defensive line.
- 22:05[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just a matter of where teams would want him because he's kind of done it all at Tennessee.
- 22:10[SPEAKER_00]: He's moved around a bunch just because he's been there for six years.
- 22:13[SPEAKER_00]: You have to kind of thought what the team needs you to do, but he was really productive last season for Tennessee and someone that they were thin on the interior of the defensive line a year ago and he ate up a lot of snaps for them, which I think says a lot about how much they trusted them.
- 22:26[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a lot of snaps and a lot of space that sounds like, I was a big fan of Omar, a lot last year.
- 22:32[SPEAKER_01]: He was one of the guys that I did a podcast on for the bears last year, didn't get him obviously.
- 22:36[SPEAKER_01]: So that wasn't name actually a little bit deeper in the draft board, so I wasn't quite sure.
- 22:40[SPEAKER_01]: But that isn't, I think the bears only have seven picks.
- 22:43[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how much they, you know, where they're leaning, but defensive side of the ball is where most their needs are.
- 22:48[SPEAKER_01]: So,
- 22:48[SPEAKER_01]: I could see something like that late trying to fill in to come in in behind of Japan Dexter and a gradie Jarrett who graduated Jarrett not sure how much more time he has of the league So maybe you have that rotational level start and he's starting in a year or two could work out But right and I appreciate your time I know you guys just finished up with spring practice and now it's time to just kind of see which of these guys where they go and then get ready for camp in the summertime But I appreciate you helping on the chatting with me.
- 23:12[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, of course.
- 23:12[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me on.
- 23:13[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.
- 23:13[SPEAKER_01]: Have a good one.
- 23:14[SPEAKER_00]: You too.