Tennessee's offensive line allowed UTC to sack Vols quarterback Justin Worley, right, five times Saturday. At left is UTC's Josh Freeman.KNOXVILLE - Fresh off spending his bye week with the Miami Dolphins back at his alma mater, former Tennessee offensive tackle Ja'Wuan James took to Twitter last Wednesday to ask that fans "have faith" in the Volunteers' currently struggling offensive line.
With Kansas City off Sunday, Zach Fulton, James's former linemate, was back in Knoxville last week, too.
The two are starting in the NFL as rookies, but they were once college freshmen, part of a unit that surrendered 41 sacks in 13 games in 2010.
Thus both James and Fulton can relate to Tennessee's current line, which has allowed an identical number of sacks (23) through six games as the Vols did four years ago.
"They just tell us the same thing coaches say: Keep your head up and continue to work," center Mack Crowder said after Tennessee allowed five sacks in the 45-10 win against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Saturday.
"Hearing it from those guys is good because they have been through the exact same thing. They were all young at one point. They gave up a lot of sacks at one point, so they know what it's like.
"They came through it just like we're gonna come through it, so that's good."
Tennessee begins the second half of the season next week at No. 3 Ole Miss and its stellar defensive line fresh off giving up five sacks to Oklahoma, three to Georgia, six to Florida and five to the Mocs.
Continuing a theme this season, three of those sacks came when Tennessee faced third downs of 7, 13 and 19 yards to go.
All of them, though, more or less were the result of a Tennessee player simply getting beat in his one-on-one matchup.
"We'll break 'em down," Vols coach Butch Jones said. "A couple of the sacks weren't the offensive line. It was a back in protection. The naked eyes want to point toward the offensive line. Sometimes, we still held on to the ball too much when we need to [throw] the ball away, but we'll continue to address it."
On UTC's first sack, Tennessee tailback Justus Pickett missed his blitz pickup and Mocs defensive end Davis Tull beat Vols freshman right tackle Coleman Thomas around the edge that forced quarterback Justin Worley to step up into Derrick Lott, a Georgia transfer who beat freshman guard Jashon Robertson.
UTC defensive end Keionta Davis knocked Tennessee left tackle Kyler Kerbyson back a step and came inside to strip-sack Worley and set up a first-half field goal, and Josh Freeman beat left guard Marcus Jackson for a sack in the third quarter.
Tull, the two-time Southern Conference player of the year, forced two more sacks by running around Thomas and tailback Derrell Scott to flush Worley out of the pocket and later used an inside spin to move to beat Thomas with ease.
"You've just got to keep working on it," Jones said. "Sometimes we overset on the pass rush and allowed the guy inside penetration, which we have to trust our technique. Some of it was technique, some of it was just getting beat one on one and some of it was a different player. All you can do is just go back to work, which they will."
The 41 sacks the Vols allowed in 2010 were fewer than only four FBS teams that year, and only Connecticut, UCLA, Wake Forest, Wyoming, Miami (Ohio), Idaho and SMU -- combined record: 11-31 -- have allowed more than the Vols in 2014.
By the end of 2010, Tennessee was starting three freshmen -- James, Fulton and James Stone -- along with Jarrod Shaw, who's since bounced around a couple of NFL practice squads, and Dallas Thomas, a starter alongside James in Miami.
With James, Fulton and Stone anchoring the group, the Vols allowed eight sacks in 2012 and 15 in 2013.
"It just builds confidence, really, because we are here at the University of Tennessee for a reason, and that's because we're good football players," Crowder said. "They were obviously recruited for the same thing. It just takes time to develop and become the athlete that you want to be."
While the Vols had two future NFL players at the tackle spots in 201o, Tennessee this year is relying on Thomas, a freshman former high school center, and Kerbyson, who's better at guard, at right and left tackle.
The Vols really have nowhere to go but up on the offensive line, but it may not happen quickly enough to get Tennessee to a bowl game this season.
"It definitely does test your patience a little bit," Crowder said. "You want to be good now, and greatness just doesn't happen overnight. It's gonna happen with every rep that you take. You've got to learn from that rep, and you've just got to continue to improve. That's what we're gonna do.
"Ja'Wuan and Zach and all those guys, really they're a great example of that."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.