Derrick Ansley discusses the goals for Tennessee’s defense, how his unit looked in first spring scrimmage
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Derrick Ansley and Jeremy Pruitt go way back. It was Pruitt and gave Ansley his first big break in coaching helping the former Division III coach land a graduate assistant job in Tuscaloosa, then Pruitt helped Ansley return to Alabama as the team’s defensive backs coach, which led to Ansley landing an NFL job, and now Pruitt has given Ansley his first full-time defensive coordinator job.
Now the two have reunited again, this time on Rocky Top, with the goal of turning Tennessee’s defense into one of the best in the SEC. Considering Pruitt’s program generally doesn’t let its assistant coaches speak to the media, anytime Tennessee’s assistants are permitted to do so is newsworthy, as it could be the last time they are heard from publicly for some time.
Ansley was recently given one of those opportunities as he was a guest on the latest Knoxville-based WNML radio show “The Nation” on Sunday, which is hosted by Chris Low of ESPN and Austin Price of Volquest.
One of the questions asked of Tennessee’s new defensive coordinator was how the program planned to handle his assignment come game day. Will he be on the field or up in the press box observing the field from above?
“We are going to operate with the defensive coordinator on the sideline,” Ansley answered. “We can see the game, feel the game. I like being up and close with the players. I can feel their temperature and look them in their eyes and put out fires that pop up in the game that you may not be able to do when you are up in the box.”
Without getting into too many specifics, as the defense won’t be changing much from last season — Tennessee will still be running Pruitt’s defensive scheme next season, Ansley was asked what his “stamp” on the defense would ideally come the fall.
“I think the ultimate compliment for a coach, anytime you lead any particular unit, is for your peers to say your players play the game the right way,” Ansley continued. “They play with a lot of passion, they play with toughness, they play with relentless effort and they play technical and fundamentally sound football. If we can do those things, on top of, you know, putting points on the board as an offense, I think we can be very successful.”
Finally, on Tennessee’s weekend scrimmage, which was the first of the spring, Ansley offered up these thoughts on his unit.
“We didn’t do everything the right way. Like I said at the end of the scrimmage when I called them up, we have got to start faster. We didn’t start as fast as we needed to,” he said. “As an SEC elite defense, you’ve got to get off the bus ready to go play and ready to go get stops. And I didn’t think we did that yesterday.
“There’s always something to learn from and grow from. I think the next time we scrimmage, maybe we can start a little bit faster.”
Tennessee also recently shared the following video giving fans some insight into who Ansley is as a coach on the practice field.
"The guys I've been around that have been the best competitors, they work hard at what they do. They're very attention to detail orriented and do a really good job of learning from mistakes."
? [ Derrick Ansley Mic'd Up ] ?#PoweredByTheT pic.twitter.com/8e5qFl7bHm
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) March 29, 2019
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
