Tennessee Volunteers

Vols working hard to prepare their freshmen DTs for rigors of the SEC

Published Aug. 10, 2015 8:12 p.m. ET

foxsports

The biggest area of need for the Tennessee Volunteers heading into recruiting last season was at defensive tackle. After the coaching staff were able to land two elite, nationally rated prospects in Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie their job of bringing in talent was complete, now comes the hard part - getting them ready to play in the SEC.

Now that both players are in enrolled - Tuttle arrived in January for spring practice, while McKenzie arrived this summer - defensive coordinator John Jancek's main priority with the freshmen tackles is getting them into playing shape.

"We've all said that fatigue makes cowards of us all," Jancek said following Monday's practice. "You can't play hard if you're not in great physical condition. We're constantly talking about those guys practicing hard and pushing themselves so that they do get in good shape. That's been the emphasis."

While not focused on a specific weight for his star freshmen, Jancek talked about getting them into shape, specifically McKenzie who arrived later than Tuttle.

"The biggest thing is for him to start to get in shape," Jancek said. "We'll start cutting that weight down and doing some of those things as we move forward."

McKenzie may be the one with NFL pedigree and a higher consensus ranking, but Tuttle continues to shine on the practice field for Tennessee.

"Shy showed up a couple of times today," he said. "He's working hard and certainly being here for spring helped him. There's no doubt about that. We've just got to keep pushing."