Florida Football: Cam Jackson, Caleb Banks key to stopping Tennessee

Ahead of its matchup against Tennessee, there is a hint of hope for the defense for Florida football. After resembling a train wreck last season, Florida has cleaned up its tackling to start the season and looks far more organized than it ever did last season.

But with the high-powered Tennessee offense coming to town this Saturday, there is a pathway to slow the Volunteers down and keep points off the board.

Florida Football: Meet me in the middle

Much of the hype surrounding Tennessee coming into the season was around Joe Milton. The 6th year college QB has a rocket of an arm that can effortlessly travel 40-plus yards to take the top off of defenses.

But, two games in this season, there is something off with Tennessee’s offense as a whole.

Against Virginia, Tennessee scored a touchdown on its opening drive before floundering its next four drives. The Volunteers eventually kicked it into gear to pull away for the easy win.

Against Austin Peay, Tennessee’s first five drives went as follows:

• Punt
• Punt
• Field Goal
• Turnover on downs
• Field Goal

Milton’s accuracy has been way off when Tennessee’s offense is struggling. Through two games, he has a completion rate of 63%, a barely acceptable rate given the opposition.

When Tennessee has been humming, their running game up the middle has bulldozed through the opposition. Jaylen Wright had 118 yards rushing, and Jabari Small had 95 yards last week against Austin Peay.

The core of Tennessee’s offense is running between the tackles.

This is where the defensive tackles for Florida football are going to be massive factors in slowing down this offense.

Cam Jackson and Caleb Banks transferred to Florida in the offseason, with Desmond Watson and Chris McClellan still in the program.

Against McNeese State, Banks led the way in snaps among defensive tackles after Jackson led the way against Utah.

If this unit can find a way to hold the line of scrimmage and even push back a little to allow Shemar James to make the run-stopping tackles, it is going to force Milton to beat the Gators with his arm.

And with Florida’s improved secondary, that is probably the pathway they would like Tennessee to try and take.