By Oscar C. Woodall, Jr. | HayWood Media
Two Saturdays ago, October 23, 100,077 football fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. saw the unranked Tennessee Volunteers take a 52-24 road loss from the No. 4ranked Alabama crimson tide. It’s now the Vols’15 th straight loss in the series versus Alabama, which gives Tennessee to a 38-59-7 all-time record against the Crimson Tide.
However, the one bright spot in the game, for the Vols, the nation’s leader in tackles for loss, with 70, was their linebacker Jeremy Banks, who this U.S. military veteran refers to as Chopper, because, he is as disruptive as a crashing helicopter, that tends to, first, spin around disruptively, out of control, before hitting something that stops it from spinning out of control, disruptively.
The 6’1” redshirt junior finished the game versus Alabama with a game-high 12 tackles, making It the second consecutive game in which he booked double-digit stops. But, the Cordova, Tn. native just might need to make it three consecutive games in which he has logged double-digit tackles, when the unranked Vols take on the No.17 /18 ranked Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field, in Lexington, KY., 7:00 PM ET this Saturday, November 6.
“They really playing hard,” said Kentucky Wildcats’ head coach Mark Stoops, about the Vol’s defense. But, about Banks specifically, Stoops said, “[he is absolutely, a very good football player, very disruptive, very good.]” But, to log double-digit tackles versus Kentucky, Banks, will need to surgically (cleverly), not disruptively, shoot the gaps, seldom found over the past three seasons, in Kentucky’s offensive line (the big blue wall), an offensive line that, up until the past two Saturdays, has been about as stout as a limestone cave, one of several natural dens for a wildcat, in Kentucky.
