Tennessee Vols player sends strong message to the rest of college football that will raise some eyebrows

Tennessee Vols junior edge rusher Joshua Josephs made a statement on Wednesday that will likely turn some heads across college football.

Josephs, a former four star recruit from Kennesaw, GA, excitedly told reporters that no one is going to be able to stop Tennessee's defensive line this fall.

"No team can really stop us," said Josephs. "Like, you can't handle what we have. The amount of rotations -- we're going to be so fresh off the field. You got Big O (Omari Thomas), Big E (Elijah Simmons), Jaxson Moi, we got Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott, we got Daevin Hobbs. That's just the interior right there. Six guys on the interior that's going to be rotating. And our edges? Y'all see it. You see who we got. We got James Pearce -- you can't even plan for him. We got James, we got Caleb Herring -- Caleb is a dog. We got Jayson Jenkins. He's a sleeper. Jayson Jenkins is a sleeper. Dom Bailey for sure, Tyree (Weathersby). We got dogs everywhere. You can't really plan for us."

The junior edge rusher is obviously excited about Tennessee's defensive line entering the 2024 season. And why shouldn't he be? The Vols have the best defensive line depth they've had since Phillip Fulmer was in town. It's a good thing that Josephs has so much confidence in his teammates.

And it's not like Josephs' comments are much different than what Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks said earlier this spring .

"We should really have the best defensive line in the country," said Banks in March.

Tennessee's players know they have to go out and compete on Saturdays. The defensive line group, specifically, knows that just because they're talented and deep, it doesn't mean they're going to automatically dominate. They have to continue to work hard and stay focused, which is the message that defensive line coach Rodney Garner is sending to the team ahead of the season.

"If they’re going bring this kind of stuff (hype) on you, then you got to prepare for it," said Garner on Wednesday. "And that’s the thing I told them.  Man, this is not going to be easy now. To whom much is given, much is required. So we’ve got to prepare ourselves to go out there and be able to play at a championship level. And that is the challenge every single day."

Josephs' exuberant comments will inevitably get twisted by opposing fan bases -- even though what he said wasn't a guarantee that Tennessee's defensive line is going to dominate every snap in 2024. There are going to be extremely talented players on the other side of the ball each Saturday. And those guys are going to win their fair share of reps during games. Josephs is simply pointing out that Tennessee's defensive line is going to be a problem for opposing offenses to plan for. And he's right. This is a deep and talented group that should be able to stay fresh deep into the season. It's easily one of the team's biggest strengths. It's a good thing that there's so much confidence and belief in the locker room in Tennessee's defensive line.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a team win a national championship that wasn't oozing with confidence.

Related: Tennessee fans will love how 5-star QB Faizon Brandon spent his Monday morning after committing to the Vols