Former Alabama QB tells what makes the Tennessee offense hard to defend

© Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Alabama quarterback, AJ McCarron recently revealed what he feels makes the Tennessee offense hard to defend.

The Vols’ offense is one of the top in the SEC, and they are averaging 527.8 yards and 48.2 points per game. Huepel’s offensive attack is balanced and includes a good mixture of run and pass.

While Joey Aguilar gets a lot of attention for his ability to throw the football, McCarron feels the Vols’ ability to stretch a defense out and run the football make them hard to stop.

“People think Josh Heupel is a pass-first guy,” McCarron said on “The Dynasty” podcast. “He’s not. In this offense, they think run first and the way they do that is by having these wide splits. And then if say you’re in nickel or dime and now you have a nickel out there that is usually tighter in the box, so, he’s a run support guy or you’re rotating the safety down to be run support. Well, now when you widen the split slits or the receivers or tight ends or whoever you have split out, now those defenders have to go. Because if you don’t and you’re throwing the ball, now they have to, as soon as the ball snap, they have to see pass and then expand out even faster. And then they’re playing out of control because they’re having to get to certain spots on the field and cover, especially in zone. And then it just causes issues. And then if you widen them out too early at the start, well, now you lighten the box and now there’s not enough dudes in the box. So, now you have great numbers from a run standpoint on the offensive side. I’m telling you, it makes it extremely hard because you will see these outside receivers for Tennessee being a yard and a half from the sideline. They really stretch the defense out and put dudes in areas on the field that they’re just not used to, and it makes it tough.”

Tennessee ran the football effectively against Alabama last season when it defeated the Crimson Tide 24-17. Dylan Sampson rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns in the win.