KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Sal Sunseri and John Palermo have seen plenty of different defensive schemes in their combined 64 years of coaching. That should come in handy as they try to transform the Tennessee defense into a more multiple unit capable of competing with the top Southeastern Conference teams.
"In this day and age you have to be multiple," said Palermo, who is the Volunteers' new defensive line coach. "You can't line up in one thing. The offenses are too good. The development from what (the Vols coaches have) done so far and looking at what Sal has done (in the past), it's going to be pretty multiple."
As Tennessee's new defensive coordinator, Sunseri has plans to install a 3-4 defensive style. Sunseri said Wednesday in his first appearance at Tennessee that he wants to form a defense that plays tough no matter what kind of defensive scheme they're in.
Sunseri and Palermo are among six new coaches on Derek Dooley's staff heading into the 2012 season. The final addition came Friday when Dooley added Derrick Ansley as cornerbacks coach.
The group has just over six weeks to mesh as a staff before Tennessee's spring practice session begins on March 26.
Though the process of transforming the defense may take time, Sunseri feels the Vols can do a lot with eight starters returning. Sunseri, who spent the past three seasons as Alabama linebackers coach and previously was an assistant with the NFL Carolina Panthers, replaced Justin Wilcox, who left in January to become the defensive coordinator at Washington.
"I'm watching tape and we just looked at a game this morning," Sunseri said. "If they clean up their techniques and do what they're supposed to do, they have a chance to be pretty darn good. I put a lot of faith in my coaching ability. I put a lot of faith in the rest of the coaches that are here right now. Derek did a great job of getting the guys here."
Dooley was tasked with rebuilding Tennessee after back-to-back coaching turnovers left the program in shambles. After a disappointing 2011 season that saw the Vols finish 5-7 and lose to Kentucky for the first time in 26 seasons.
Tennessee underwent a brutal schedule that included consecutive games against BCS national champion contenders Alabama and LSU.
"It's the closest thing to the National Football League, being in the SEC, than any other conference in the country," Sunseri said. "In my mind, any week you can get beat in the SEC. Any week in the NFL, you can get beat. My whole thing is every week to get them ready to go psychologically, get them in that disposition that we're not going to be denied and then go out there and play big-time college football."
Palermo has two years of experience coaching the NFL Washington Redskins' defensive line and has coached at 11 other college programs.
"This is going to be my 38th year of coaching here coming up," he said. "I've been around the block a few times. I've always thought of myself as a fundamental football coach, a teacher, not necessarily the guy who was worried about how many sacks we had and that sort of thing, but are we playing good football? I think I can bring that to the players."
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Comments » 10
volfaninutah writes:
Sounds great. We had become pretty predictable the last 2 yrs. Maybe we can throw some curveballs back the other way for a change.
TitanandVolfan4life writes:
Bouncing back and forth from a 4-3 to a 3-4 will keep the other teams confused and wondering what they're going to see next and I love that.
Learning everything about a 3-4 will take a couple of years because it's so complicated and you can do so many different things with it but I have no doubts we're going to see a much better D this next season.
I really like the upgrades CDD made this offseason and the next 2 years of learning and improving are going to be fun to watch.
VFL...GBO!!!
BigVolFaninSC writes:
Sounds like with these multiple sets and alignments that they are trying to get the best 11 defenders on the field! I look forward to seeing what new and hopefully improved things these coaches have in store for the VOLS and hope they can adjust quickly!
BamaVol writes:
Its going to take more than one year to get it down, I think in the second year if all the coaches hang in there we can be very good.
VFL
johnlg00#206211 writes:
As fans, we always look for reasons for optimism whenever there are new coaches, new players, new schemes, or what have you. As always, the final story will only become when they hit the field.
On another note, I don't like the way the videos in the articles work. When a player or coach is being interviewed, I don't have to see their faces through the whole thing, I like to scroll on down to read the article while listening to the audio. Yet, after I scroll down a certain distance the video stops, and even if I scroll back up, I can't get it to play again. I find that very annoying. I don't expect any reply on this, since the GVX staff doesn't seem to take too kindly to criticism of how they run things, but it would be nice if they could fix this.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
"only become KNOWN when they hit the field"
dvhill100 writes:
Our defense wasn't bad last year. Not great, but not bad. There is a pretty solid core to work with and hopefully the new coaches will improve the fundamentals, techniques and attitude.
Please, tackle and wrap, not just try to knock them out.
VolGrad writes:
Sounds like an intense guy, the kind you need to have on that side of the ball. I hope his attitude will rub off on some of these guys to become better leaders on the field. The best ones to hold others accountable are the ones you are playing next to on the field.
Go Vols!!!
SummerfieldVol writes:
If we just play 4 quarters of good solid football, not like 2010 and some of 2011. We played the 1st 2 quarters as well as any team in the SEC,but we didn't make very good adjustment at half time, or we didn't make any at all, because we fell apart. I don't think it was from being out of shape or a physical problem we were in the wrong places on the field and the very good coordinators took advantage of this. Just play good ball the entire game.
shipperman#280095 writes:
Need to become more multiple on offense, or these coaches are one year wonders
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