Willie Martinez talks about Kamal Hadden and injuries to Tennessee’s defensive backs on “Vol Calls” Tennessee’s defensive backs coach made an appearance on “Vol Calls” on Wednesday night prior to the Vols’ game versus Georgia, the No. 1-ranked team.
Willie Martinez, the defensive backs coach for Tennessee, spoke about the Vols’ secondary and their performance this season on the Vol Network’s “Vol Calls” radio programme on Wednesday night. The next-to-last game of Tennessee’s regular season is scheduled for Saturday against Georgia, the team rated highest.
At 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, the No. 18 Vols (7-3, 3-3 SEC) will square off against the undefeated Bulldogs (10-0, 7-0), the two-time defending national champions. CBS will broadcast the game nationwide.
Martinez spoke on the radio programme on Wednesday, following head coach Josh Heupel. Martinez spoke for around 13 minutes about the ailments Tennessee’s secondary has seen this season, including the players who are hurt after the
Martinez used the opportunity to talk about the depth Tennessee had in the secondary entering the season and how the Vols’ abundance of alternatives, especially at cornerback, has helped them deal with the position’s ailments.
Prior to sustaining his season-ending injury last month, Tennessee senior cornerback Kamal Hadden demonstrated growth this year, which he also discussed.
Here are all of Martinez’s remarks from his appearance on “Vol Calls” on Wednesday night.
Yes, everything will work out. It’s the mindset of the next man. Everyone manages it. It’s something that everyone in the nation deals with, you know? Probably more in specific circumstances given your current location.
But our group is excellent. Indeed, we have. We’ve been having fun with our football. While there have undoubtedly been moments when we’d prefer to have performed a little bit better—a better play, a better quarter, etc.—as a team, we’ve been really steady this year.
We have produced more. Production is increasing in all areas, including the corners, the safety, and the Star.
However, it goes without saying that this week presents another fantastic challenge, and we’re revved up. We’re excited about it.
The boys have been practicing some really excellent physical skills for the past two days. I adore our current location.
Regarding Tennessee, which employed a wide range of players during the season and had a deep secondary going into the season,
“We tried very intentionally to play more guys,” the player said. We have some talented players, men who are plainly better than us.
Take Kamal Hadden, for example, with his wealth of experience. It’s unfortunate that he’s not playing any more, obviously, as he had an amazing year.Nevertheless, it’s amazing to watch how he played and how much effort he put into the job as he grew into it.
However, we also had a few individuals who recovered from serious injuries, like Warren Burrell and Brandon Turnage, as well as Neiko Slaughter at the corner position.
Along with Wes (Walker) and “Tank” (Jaylen McCollough), who has returned, the men at the safety position at the back end have been excellent.
T-Mac (Tamarion McDonald), of course, is in the star position. All we need to do is continue working, and we truly are looking forward to it.
We can shift guys around because we have some versatility, so that has been advantageous.
