“Defense is a little bit like offense was a year ago,” Dooley said at Southeastern Conference media days last week. “In this league, as we all know, if you don’t have a good front seven, a productive front seven, you’re going to have a tough time week in and week out.”
Malik Jackson is the lone proven player back on the Vols defensive line, a group that’s depending on significant contributions from junior-college transfer Maurice Couch and converted offensive lineman Daniel Hood at tackle and a handful of unproven commodities at end. Hood needed barely half a spring practice to stake his spot in the rotation, and Couch comes in with plenty of hype. Ends Jacques Smith, Willie Bohannon and Marlon Walls have played before, but now their roles are expanded.
Regardless of the who, the 6-foot-5, 270-pound Jackson, the Southern Cal transfer who flourished after a midseason switch from end to tackle last year, knows the what: he and the Vols really need a player or two to step up and provide some help.
“I need that a lot,” Jackson said. “I’m trying to get these young guys to understand that I can’t be the only one out there making plays, and I won’t be. I’m trying to get these other guys to step up and be playmakers too so it makes it a little bit easier on me.
“If you don’t have a strong defensive line, you’re going to be back with the safeties on run plays, and that’s not good for anybody.”
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