Here’s why Tennessee football’s biggest problem vs Missouri happened before the snap

Tennessee football players said the wrong things or said them too slowly.

Believe it or not, that was the crux of the problem when the Vols defense was blistered by Missouri for 530 yards.

UT linebackers had a noticeably bad game in that 36-7 loss. On Tuesday, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary pinpointed “pre-snap communication” as the biggest issue, which led to compounding problems in that game.

“I thought going into game 10, we were great at pre-snap communication,” Jean-Mary said. “That’s one of the reasons we felt like we started playing better on defense.

“But I thought that didn’t go well, particularly in the second half as far as recognizing formations and being able to adjust to them. And that’s at all three levels – from the d-line to linebackers to secondary – where we weren’t on the same page.”

It’s a bad time for a new problem to pop up. Not only are the No. 19 Vols (7-3, 3-3 SEC) deep into the season, but they play No. 2 Georgia (10-0, 7-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) at Neyland Stadium.

‘Starts with us as coaches’

Before the snap, UT defenders must receive the play call from the sideline, identify the opponent’s formation, make adjustments and perform individual assignments to stop the offense.

Players make calls for each step of the process. But the Vols were sometimes wrong and often too slow in their calls, and it showed once the ball was snapped.

UT defenders were a step behind in meeting the ball-carrier or chasing receivers. They were susceptible to blocks and diversions because they were slightly out of position. When they tried to compensate, their angles were poor in pursuing the ball-carrier. And when they reached the play, they missed tackles.

It all stemmed from the poor communication before the play. And Jean-Mary said Missouri didn’t do a lot out of the ordinary with its offense to confuse the Vols.

“Obviously, it always starts with us as coaches,” Jean-Mary said. “We didn’t get the adjustments that we needed done at the level we needed to.

“… We always start with what we can do better, and I’m always going to start with what I can do better. That’s why I keep mentioning the pre-snap communication.”

Who didn’t make the right calls?

Linebackers took much of the criticism, especially Elijah Herring.

“He didn’t play extremely well,” coach Josh Heupel said.

As middle linebacker, Herring makes many of the pre-snap calls. And he was often responsible for keeping track of Missouri running back Cody Schrader.

Schrader became the first player in SEC history with 200 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in the same game.

“(Herring) was part of the problem. He wasn’t the only problem,” Jean-Mary said of Herring, who leads UT with 65 tackles.

Elijah Herring wasn’t helped by veteran Vols

Youth and inexperience, which UT had managed reasonably well all season, finally had a negative impact.

Senior Aaron Beasley started, but he missed several tackles and got out of position. The rest of the linebacker rotation included sophomore Herring, sophomore Kalib Perry and freshman Jeremiah Telander.

Senior Keenan Pili has been out since suffering an injury in the season opener, and freshman Arion Carter had a season-ending shoulder injury.

At Star position, senior Tamarion McDonald left the Missouri game with an injury. Sophomore Jourdan Thomas replaced him and played a career-high 74 snaps as Missouri gashed the Vols with a ground attack and intermediate passes.

Jean-Mary said experienced players should’ve picked up more slack when pre-snap communication was sluggish. Nine seniors start on UT’s defense, and Herring is the youngest player in the lineup.

“You have to be able to help them,” Jean-Mary said. “Our veteran guys have to be able to recognize the formations, alert them, help them with checks and those things. And that’s not letting them off the hook at all. But we didn’t do that as a whole team, and I think that was part of the struggle.”

How Georgia will attack UT’s new weakness

The task won’t get easier against Georgia.

The Bulldogs rank No. 5 nationally in total offense (504.8 ypg) and No. 6 in scoring offense (40.6 ppg).

Georgia uses a steady stream of fresh running backs to power a ground game that’s scored 28 rushing TDs, tied for the SEC lead.

ADAMS Georgia can’t run over Tennessee any worse than Missouri did

Quarterback Carson Beck and tight end Brock Bowers have both garnered Heisman Trophy consideration. And they’ll try to exploit UT’s issues that arose in the Missouri game.

“(Beck) recognizes pressures, and he’s athletic enough to get out of the pocket and extend plays – which is something teams are going to struggle with because of (Georgia’s) athletes on the perimeter,” Jean-Mary said. “And (Beck) recognizes the defense’s intentions pre-snap.”

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.