Everything Coach De'Rail Sims Said Ahead of Tennessee vs. Kennesaw State

The Tennessee Volunteers are set for their second home game of the season following their first road victory of the season against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

To preview the game, running back's coach De'Rail Sims caught up with the Tennessee media to detail how his group performed against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and he previewed the upcoming matchup between the Vols and the Kennesaw State Owls.

De'Rail Sims on the One Thing His Running Backs Are Doing the Best

Sep 5, 2026; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback George MacIntyre (12) hands the ball off to running back Javin Gordon (6) during the second half against the Furman Paladins at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Playing together as a whole entire unit. I think they’re doing a really good job of pressing the line of scrimmage, though, and trusting their eyes. Now, there was a couple holes that we missed on Saturday night and some things, but they’re doing a really good job being able to press the line of scrimmage and attacking the defense, being decisive. There;s no hesitation right now with those guys. They’re doing a really good job. From week one, I challenged some guys about being decisive, because it was a little hesitant on some of those runs. Last week, I thought we did a better job as a group,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on If He Had a Favorite Run on Saturday Night

Sep 12, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back DeSean Bishop (18) runs the ball against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“No, I had a bunch of critiques on them because we left a ton of yards on the field. The first run of the game, we kinda overshoot the hole a little bit. He finds it back late. But overall, the touchdown runs were my favorite cause we were putting points on the board. But I had a ton of critiques off of them, so,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on Always Having Critiques Even After a Dominant Performance on Paper

“Well, it’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad as you think it is when you go back and watch the tape. So it’s all about the details in terms of how we’re executing. Because at times, it looks like it’s really, really good. But then when you get to the sideline, you’re watching the iPad, or when you come back on Sunday, and you’re watching the game, you see the things that could have made the play even better. So it’s always gonna be things. It’s never gonna be perfect on every single play. It’s always gonna be things that we gotta improve and correct,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on Daune Morris Taking the Next Step

“You could just see, Daune did a good job from the spring all the way through the summer in terms of taking ownership in terms of his responsibilities, being in the building, doing extra work. He’s kinda got that D-Samp approach, to where he comes back when everybody’s kinda gone, or he gets back over here early when people are in class and does a really good job of getting that extra film time in. He understands what he wants, and he understands the work that he has to put into it. So it was all the maturity process of coming in last year as a freshman. Now you’re going into your sophomore year, you’ve got a true understanding of what the game is like, what the expectations are like in the building. Me being on his tail every single day, I think he got tired of that a little bit, but he understands it’s coming from a good place. I always tell them, guys, I’m never gonna allow you to be average. I’m gonna push you to be elite every single day, and he took pride in that. So he’s done a good job maturing in that aspect," Sims said

De'Rail Sims on the Positives and Negatives of Daune Morris's Performance vs. Georgia Tech

“It was some positives in there in terms of in the run game. Protection-wise, we had some negatives in there. We just gotta do a better job slowing our eyes down from that standpoint in protection game. The run game-wise, you saw him get comfortable. And you saw him do a really good job, fast, like it was a change of pace when he got in the game. You kinda get to understand that those other guys getting there, they kind of pounded them up a little bit. And now all of a sudden, you gotta change your pace back. It’s coming at you a little bit different. It does present problems to the defense. So I thought he did a good job from that. Just gotta continue to keep growing in protection game, and he’ll be just fine,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on His Room's Pass Protection

Tennessee running back Justin Baker (20) during the Vols' first spring football practice in Knoxville on March 16, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“I think they’re doing a good job overall. We have our moments at times where our eyes get too fast, and then we lose a defender, that type deal– or just a technique issue. But overall, the want to factor from them guys has been good. So you saw that in Javin, JG’s, as he stepped up in there and picked up the linebackers that blitzed. So I thought overall, as a group, we did a good job. We just gotta slow our eyes down at times,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on Setting Up Big Plays

“Yeah, the biggest deal is we always talk about making sure we’re going pad plus two. Putting us in second down and manageable, third down and manageable situations. If it is somebody gets cut free or that type deal, making sure we’re getting back to the line of scrimmage. Making it zero instead of a loss of one, loss of two. So that’s the biggest deal. So let’s stay ahead of the chains and not get behind the chains. And then the biggest deal is not being impatient. Not feeling like every single run has to be a home run. There’s nothing wrong with a four to five yard gain. And then you see as the game goes along, they get tired of tackling us. So now here’s the big plays that’s getting ready to happen. So I think they’ve done a good job understanding that,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on Javin Gordon's Start to the Season

“I’m gonna be honest, with him right now, you go back, his improvement from game one to game two was good. He did a really good job of being physical in the run game, of being in there. It was some muddy pictures in there that he did a really good job of banging in there, driving for extra yardage. There’s a couple runs in there that would have spit that would have been better. The only thing that happened is he stepped on somebody’s foot, tripped up inside the hole, that type of deal. So he’s doing a good job, eyes in the right spot, landmarks, pad level is good. It’s gonna happen; it’s just early in the game. You knew that you were gonna play against a really good improved defensive line last week, so it showed. So we just were patient in the end and it worked out. He’ll have explosive runs as the season go along, ain’t no doubt about that," Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on How His Room Responds to Being Critiqued

“They’re used to it now. They understand what me it is always: I tell them to listen to the message, not the tone of the way I deliver it. Because the biggest deal is there’s always gonna be room to improve. And they see it. The best thing about this room is that they do a really good job of coaching each other– on the sideline during games, on the sideline during practice, in the meeting room; they do a really good job being able to coach each other up. So they respond really well in terms of, first week of the season, I’m unpleased. This past week coming out that game, still not pleased. It’s still a ton that we gotta clean up. We’re making strides in the right direction to when we get on into the later part of the season, you’re starting to hit it in the right way. So we just gotta continue taking each game, one game at a time, and improving as the week goes along," Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on DeSean Bishop After Contact

“It’s been good, that’s the biggest deal I challenged him on. The one run that he had in the hole, that’s a 50-50 opportunity. When it’s one-on-one with a defender in the hole, man, run through his face and let’s go accelerate through that and go have big plays. He’s done a good job of yards after contact so far this season. Continue to drive his feet, accelerate through contact, continue to play low. We still gotta play a little bit lower as a whole entire group, but he’s done a good job in terms of yards after contact,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on Justin Baker's Impact on Special Teams

“It does (speak on him well), because we always embrace our role. So no matter what your role is, it may be, I’m a guy that’s getting 20, 30 carries a game. It may be a guy that I’m sitting up here dominating on special teams, but go change the game in a positive way. And he went out there and did that. That was a huge, huge play in the game for us too. He sit up there and stepped up in there and partially blocked the kick. Shoot, if he wouldn’t have false stepped, he would have ran into the kicker, but he did a good job of going there and changing the game in a positive way,” Sims said.

De'Rail Sims on DeSean Bishop Finding His Voice as a Leader

“I think he's more confident. I think last year he was still finding his voice in terms of the role that he was in, he’s a guy that wants to be a leader and wants to lead in a positive direction. You can tell that by the way he talks about his faith; I think that has helped him grow as well. So I just think he’s more confident in himself right now in terms of the leader that he’s becoming. And the guys, shoot, when he talks up, they listen. Everybody snap their eyes around, snap their head around, let’s hear what he’s got to say, and I think that’s helped a lot as a whole entire unit,” Sims said.

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