James Pearce is here and he’s here to stay, Tennessee fans.

The redshirt freshman did terrible things to the right side of Virginia’s offensive line Saturday afternoon, finishing with 3 tackles, 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Most importantly, he led the Vols in both sacks and tackles for loss.

Some were surprised by this development. As for Pearce’s teammates, they weren’t surprised at all. Tennessee defensive back Wesley Walker explained why Pearce’s hot start was almost expected Saturday:

“I’m honestly not surprised at all about what he did,” Walker said. “In the offseason, he made huge jumps both with character and physically. His body’s changed. He’s like a man-child out there and he got a lot of ability, man, for real, so I wasn’t surprised at all. I’m just going to keep encouraging him to keep going, don’t get satisfied. Keep doing because we’ve got stuff that we’ve got to do, for sure.”

Tennessee does indeed have “stuff to do” on defense. The Vols’ were good, not great on defense last season and need a step up in production if they want a real shot at cracking the 4-team CFP field this year.

And, yes, it was just Virginia. But the Vols’ defense played lights out Week 1, especially up front. The Vols totaled 4 sacks and an incredible 11 tackles for loss in their 49-13 dismantling of the Cavaliers.

Let’s see if they can keep it up.