The second bye week of this season gave the Tigers plenty of opportunities to improve on areas they needed to focus on following the loss to Mississippi State.
In order to evaluate improving areas, such as the four-man pass rush, defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said during the bye week they switched to having shorter, more intense practices.
"I think we got a lot of good fundamental work and we also didn't overdo it physically," Johnson said. "Our kids needed a break. They needed some physical rest and we needed just to get a little South Carolina base and some good crossover, going good-on-good. We got all that done and I think it was a good open week."
Johnson also said that moving forward to the second half of the season the practices would be filled with more good-on-good drills with the offense and defense having physical practices against each other, rather than using the scout team as much as they did in practices before this point.
"We're probably going to go back and do a little more fundamentals and try to get a little more crossover good-on-good when we can," Johnson said. "But we've got to be healthy to do that. And a little less scout team work. I think we've got into a routine where we're working against the scout team too many reps and not enough good-on-good."
Johnson said that you have to be smart about accomplishing those physical practices since they are at the point of the season where they have to be more careful about injuries.
According to Johnson, he doesn't want the team to become an assignment team.
"We want to be a good fundamental team that tackles well and gets off blocks, and not try to solve everything on the chalk board."
This bye week also gave players opportunities to watch more film to correct their previous mistakes.
Johnson said that Justin Garrett in particular used this week to learn more about his new job at linebacker since he moved from the star position.
"(Garrett) has been really good," Johnson said. The biggest thing is his speed and quickness. He's physical. He's a natural inside linebacker. There are a couple things that
will pop here and there about an adjustment or a key or something like that, but I think he's going to help us a lot in there."
According to senior wide receiver Quan Bray, the offense is not even close to reaching their full potential but they used this bye week to also look at where they need to improve.
"We got to break down our minds and our bodies," Bray said. "We're running the same type of offense but we're just doing the little things more now. I don't think we've really played a complete game to be honest. Hopefully in these next few games you can really see us clicking."
Bray also said that he's been impressed with how much the secondary has improved as the season has progressed.
"They've stepped up their game times 10," Bray said. "I'm on the sideline and I'm saying, 'If those guys keep playing like that then we could really be SEC champs and hopefully get back to the National Championship.'"
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