Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims met with the local media Tuesday morning ahead of the Vols’ rivalry showdown at Alabama on Saturday afternoon. The Vols are looking for their second straight win over Alabama but their first on the road since 2003.
Ahead of the matchup, Sims discussed DeSean Bishop’s big last few games, Peyton Lewis being ready for his opportunities and much more. Here’s everything Sims said.
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On DeSean Bishop’s production
“I think he just got in his groove early in that game on Saturday. You saw him get hot early on in that first drive, in that same situation in that second drive. I think he got really, really comfortable early on, and then he did a really good job just being patient and allowing the game to come to him, and you just saw him progress as the game went along, and he felt really, really good.”
On patience from his group as runners
“Yeah, that’s one of those deals we constantly talk about. I think they’ve gotten better as the season went along because early on you could see them kind of rushing a couple of things and out running their blocks a little bit, but as the season went along, they’ve gotten really good and better at it. Still gotta continue to work on that. That’s just as a running back, naturally, sometimes you want to outrun your blocks. You got to understand that you’ve got to slow it down at times to allow things to be able to set up. And our job is to bring the linebackers and defensive linemen to the offensive linemen. So they’ve done a better job of that in the second half of the season so far. So we just got to keep it going.”
On Peyton Lewis staying ready for his opportunities, excelling against Arkansas
“Same deal he always does. He’s prepared. Like all those guys do a really good job from a preparation standpoint, but he stayed in tune, he stayed locked in. I think a lot of times what helps is sometimes you get to see the game, how it’s being played out until you get your series in the game. And then you kind of understand how they’re playing, how they’re trying to fit the run. He just did a really good job of staying locked in. His preparation has always been good throughout the week. And then once he got in the game, it was like, okay, this is just like it’s always been. And he got in his rhythm, he got in his groove and did a really good job of closing the game out.”
On what makes Lewis a good short yardage runner
“I think you look at overall, like, he’s a hard guy to get wrapped up because of his frame and how low he runs. Now, we all got to continue to run lower to the ground. And then you saw it on the first touchdown, that lower body strength that he has. He goes in there, he’s flattening the run off, and he’s got guys hanging on him, and he’s got that second effort. He does a really good job from a second effort standpoint of being able to strain and find a way to get it across the goal line.”
On Star Thomas having more quiet games as of late, where he’s at
“I think it’s just overall just being more patient, you know what I’m saying? Just allowing it to set itself up. A couple of times, like it’s some things that he can’t control from the game standpoint, but the things that he can control on his end, make sure his eyes are in the correct spot and just being more patient. It’s nothing that he’s doing wrong. I just think, man, going back to if stuff gets cloudy for me a little bit, just allowing me to work myself out and allowing myself to be more patient with my eyes.”
On what he wants guys looking for while on the sidelines during games
‘Yeah, so with those guys, they do a really good job of staying in my hip throughout the drives and the series and they point out stuff that we talked about during the week. As they’re seeing it as the game is progressing. Seeing how the defense is playing, seeing the different types, because we understand we’re going to get a lot of different structures week to week as teams try to play us defensively. And then the biggest deal is how are they fitting the run? Are they fitting it in from the top down or are they fitting it hard from the linebacker, second level standpoint? And then now they’re able to give pointers to those guys that they’re coming off the sideline. Same situation in blitz pick up. Little tips and giveaways that defenses are giving to be able to help each other out. So those are the things they do a really good job of.”
On DeSean Bishop creating long runs
“The biggest deal is he’s delivering the blocks to the OL and then his vision is taking over. He’s doing a really good job. He’s having a break a tackle which all running backs do, but he’s allowing his vision to be able to take over once he set those blocks up. And then he’s doing a really good job, like the one before half to where he pops that one, like you see the patience and then you see the acceleration. That’s the thing that I think with him, he’s done a really good job of growing it.”
