Everything Mariyon Dye Said Ahead of Tennessee vs. Kennesaw State

The Tennessee Volunteers are off to a hot start, coming off their first Power 4 Conference victory over Georgia Tech and maintaining an undefeated record through the first two weeks of the season. Head coach Josh Heupel and the Vols now turn their attention to their week three matchup against 1-1 Kennesaw State.

Volunteers' defensive lineman Mariyon Dye spoke to Vols media this week, leading up to Tennessee's week three matchup. This is what he had to say.

Mariyon Dye on the Confidence He's Playing with and What Allows Him to be so Active

"Oh, really, Coach G just asked me to just play free. Just do me. Everybody make mistakes, but to go out there, have fun with the game, just play free," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on if Rodney Garner Points out the Little Mistakes to Keep Him Humble

"Yeah, most definitely," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on Coach Garner's Message to Him After Saturday Night and His Biggest Talking Point

"Really just to continue playing free just to continue being me. That's really that's been the biggest thing he been telling me," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on What He Tells Himself to Play Free

"Just keep telling myself play fast, play physical, just go out there and dominate anything in front of me. Solve all my problems with aggression," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Much of His Two-Sack Game was Due to What He was Doing and How Much was Him Building off the Guys Around Him.

"I say it's really like 50/50. You know, the guys around me also like um sometimes bring the quarterback to me and sometimes, you know, I do what I do," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Much of His Performance was Due to the Stunts Coach Knowles was Running

"Yeah, you know, the new defense we run definitely plays a big part in what we do out there," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Much Hasn't Been Shown Yet Defensively

"Not a lot, for sure," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Rewarding it has been to be out on the Field and See His Hard Work Paying off

"It's definitely great, man. I'm definitely very thankful. Thank God every day for it," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on What Carson Gentle is Doing Well

"Really, he's showing. Um, so Carson was here last year. Um, he was actually a big help for me when I first got here. That's somebody I um I latched on to last year and I'm just happy to see him be able to get out there and really show what he can do," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Carson Gentle has Helped Him

"Like really like last year he was helping me with my stance really just really with the mental part of the game like and like with the playbook last year. Just things of that nature," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on Xavier Gillum and How He Creates Opportunities for the Rest of the Line

"No. Yeah, I definitely say um everybody in Dline room feeds off him. Well, especially me like like versus for when I see him um making out play like okay yeah now I got to make me a play like really just continue feeding off each other energy been a big part for us for sure," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How the Line Looks With Jeremiah Telander on the Edge

"It's definitely, I'm happy you asked me that too because I feel like T is a very underrated player. Like especially I wish I could see what he was doing during fall camp. Like I can't wait till we get deep in the season so I can really see what T about," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Exciting it Was When Jeremiah Telander Got His Interception in Week Two

"Yeah, Me personally I ain't know he could jump like that. He went up and got that thing for sure," Dye said.

Mariyon Dye on How Much the Improvement of Guys such as Jeremiah Telander Raise the Floor of the Team

"Yeah, really just seeing how he work every single day. He come with the same mindset every day. No matter how he's feeling, no matter his body hurting or no matter what he's going through, he come with the same smile on his face, ready to work, ready to push everybody around," Dye said.

Maryon Dye on How Much of a Boost Arion Carter's Return Gave the Team

"No, definitely his leadership skills was unmatched. Like everybody feed off the energy every little thing he do," Dye said.

Send your questions, comments, and hot takes to our email tennesseeonsi@gmail.com for the chance to be featured in an article!

Follow Our Social Media Accounts

• Follow Vols on SI on X (Click HERE)
• Follow Vols on SI on Facebook (Click HERE)
• Follow Vols on SI on Instagram (Click HERE)
• Subscribe to Vols on SI on YouTube (Click HERE)

Add us as a preferred source on Google