Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (34) is tackled by Florida offensive lineman Trenton Brown (74) after a turnover in the Oct. 4 game. Reeves-Maybin has become a defensive playmaker in his first year to start at linebacker.KNOXVILLE -- A.J. Johnson led Tennessee in tackles in each of the past two seasons, but that did not discourage Jalen Reeves-Maybin from taking aim at that distinction in 2014.
Of course, he never had started a game defensively for the Volunteers.
Through six games of the season, Reeves-Maybin trails his All-SEC teammate by 19 tackles, but that hardly diminishes the impressive impact the sophomore has made in his first year as a defensive starter.
"At the beginning of the season, I told him I was going to beat him, but as the season's gone on, I've had to start saying I'm going beat you in TFLs [tackles for loss] now," Reeves-Maybin said with a laugh on Monday.
"I'll probably have to switch it to something else in a couple of weeks. I'm just trying to catch him and match his standard. If I keep shooting for that, that expectation and that goal, I feel like I'll be a good player."
Sixth in the SEC in tackles and tackles per game, Reeves-Maybin is already at that level, and he's playing well enough heading into Tennessee's trip to third-ranked Ole Miss on Saturday that Vols coach Butch Jones called him "one of the best linebackers in the SEC" during his weekly news conference Monday.
"I think he's benefited from the repetitions of special teams [last season], but he only played, I believe, two or three snaps all year at linebacker," Jones said. "It's a tribute to his instincts. He plays instinctful. He prepares himself. He's taking much better care of his body. He understands rest; he understands recovery; he understands nutrition.
"He's doing the great things that players need to do to perform at a high level week in and week out, so we've been really, really pleased with him. He's been very productive, he's been very active and he's played downhill, which has been needed in our defense."
Reeves-Maybin, a former four-star recruit out of Clarksville's Northeast High School, made 10 tackles in his first start against Utah State, recovered a fumble in punt coverage at Oklahoma, had two sacks in his 10 stops at Georgia and intercepted a pass against Florida.
He leads the Vols and ranks fifth in the SEC with seven tackles for loss, which puts him 1.5 ahead of Johnson, who expected Reeves-Maybin to play as well as he has.
"Yeah, I had no doubts," the senior said. "I already knew that he was the man for the job to be starting right beside me. He proved himself throughout last summer, just working.
"In spring ball when they put him in that starting spot, he proved himself to be the man for the job because he was out there making plays and flying around. I already knew during the season we were going to be the two guys who were going to have to push the defense and keep leading."
Jones said the two dreadlocked linebackers feed off each other during and between plays, and the tandem often end up near the football.
"I think I feed off A.J. more than he feeds off me," Reeves-Maybin said. "At the beginning of the season he always made fun of me because I didn't really get hype or nothing after I made plays. I'm just trying to match his intensity when I'm out there and play to his standard."
Johnson, who's developed his own repertoire of celebratory gestures, joked he's trying to get Reeves-Maybin to come out of his shell in that regard now that he's making plays for Tennessee's improved defense.
"Early in the season, every time he made a play I wanted to go jump up and go crazy with him, but he was a little winded," Johnson said. "He was all like, 'I'm just getting my mind right for the next play,' and I can respect that. I love it. I love seeing him make plays.
"He's making plays in the backfield, and when I see him do his celebration -- a little fist-pump -- I just get turned up. I know he's ready to go. It just feels good to see my teammates making plays and having fun out there. We're both out there having fun."
Reeves-Maybin said in August he wanted to be a playmaker after being Tennessee's best special-teams player as a freshman in 2013, and so far he's meeting that expectation and looking for more.
"I didn't think I would have that many tackles, honestly, but I knew I would be able to make plays," he said. "I knew I'd be a playmaker. It's surprised me a little bit, but I'm just trying to go out there every week and keep getting better.
"I've still got a lot of room to improve, and hopefully I can catch A.J. in tackles. That's what I'm trying to get to."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.