Kentucky Wildcats offensive coordinator makes it clear how he feels about Tennessee Vols defensive coordinator Tim Banks

The Tennessee Vols' defense hasn't been nearly as dominant this season as it was in the past two years.

In 2023, the Volunteers finished with the No. 23 scoring defense in the nation. Last season, Tennessee had the No. 7 scoring defense.

Through seven games in 2025, the Vols have the No. 110 scoring defense in the sport.

But while Tennessee is giving up more points and yards than in recent years, the defense is still making game-changing plays (the Vols are No. 2 in the SEC, behind the Oklahoma Sooners, in total sacks with 26).

Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan shares thoughts on Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks and the Vols' defense

Tennessee will head to Lexington this weekend for a matchup against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Earlier this week, Wildcats offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan met with reporters to preview the game against the Vols, and he was asked about Tennessee's defense.

Hamdan was quick to point out that the statistics don't tell the whole story when it comes to the Vols' effectiveness on defense.

"I think statistically, what's interesting about them is they defend more plays than most people," said Hamdan. "But if they did not, you're looking at a defense, even right now, who is leading the conference in negative plays and sacks and doing a great job of getting turnovers. They're extremely disruptive. And so again, we think from a personnel standpoint, this will be as good a defense as we'll see."

Hamdan went on to say that he thinks Tennessee does a great job of mixing up coverages.

"I think they do a really good job of mixing a lot of coverages," said Hamdan. "And so, I think Coach (Tim) Banks is one of the hardest guys to go up against -- because it doesn't matter what the situation is. You do the breakdowns as we look at it, and there's 18 clips in this situation, and about five of them are this coverage, five of them are that coverage, four are this coverage. And then there's man [coverage] sprinkled in there. And so, it's got to be a game where, again, conceptually, we're not throwing too much at [UK QB Cutter Boley], things he knows so he can go and play fast, recognize coverage, and just continue to play fast."

It's clear that Kentucky's offense has a lot of respect for Tennessee's defense. So, unlike the last two weeks, it sounds like there won't be any trash talk directed toward the Volunteers' defense ahead of this matchup.

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