Will Overstreet: Keep the Motor Running
September 18, 2001 | Football
Sept. 18, 2001
We don't remember exactly when it was, but head coach Phillip Fulmer looked in the general direction of Tennessee defensive end Will Overstreet and said something to the effect of, "That young man's motor is always running," meaning that he was out there play after play giving 100 percent effort.
That's the kind of player you have to have to be successful in the SEC and Overstreet has not disappointed in the least since he arrived from Jackson, Miss., in 1998 and immediately caught everybody's attention.
He came to Tennessee ranked as the state's No. 1 prospect by the Jackson Clarion Ledger and a prep career in which he was a Wendy's Heisman State finalist and MVP of Mississippi's private school all-star game. He had a spectacular prep career at Jackson Prep rang up some big numbers as a senior with 139 tackles, including 14 quarterback sacks, and was credited with 43 quarterback pressures, seven caused fumbles, four fumble recoveries and six passes broken up. He narrowed his choices to the Vols and the home state Ole Miss Rebels, before heading up I-20, I-59 and I-75 to Knoxville. Some people termed it a recruiting upset, a recruiting coup.
"My goal was to play for a team that's going to be playing for championships every year," he said. "I knew then that this was the place to be."
"We felt strongly about Will," Steve Caldwell, his position coach, said. "From a talent standpoint, we felt he was one of the best defensive ends in the country and he certainly hasn't shown us anything to change that opinion."
He has played in every game in his career as a Vol, all 38 of them, with the 2001 Syracuse and Arkansas games safely ensconced in the win column, and has started 26. As a frosh, he ranked fourth on the team with 10 quarterback pressures and was also credited with 14 tackles. He moved smoothly into the starting lineup in 1999 and has been there ever since, despite some nagging injuries in 2000. He appears ready to have a banner senior season and is one five captains for 2001.
He was a first-team All-SEC selection in 2000 despite the injuries and looks to be a top contender for that honor this season. Furthermore, he is a two-time Academic All-SEC pick and a strong contender for Academic All-America honors with a 3.45 GPA in his back pocket. He is slated to graduate in May 2002.
That buttressed something he said during the recruiting process. "I'd like to make a big impact there playing football and being a good student," he said. "I'd like to start one day, be a good team player and win a national championship."
He's done pretty well on all three fronts.
He had a memorable sack to cinch the South Carolina game last season, roaring in from the blind side to take down USC's Phil Petty and end a come-from-behind 17-14 victory. Against Notre Dame in 1999, he had eight tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a caused fumble. In the 2000 Arkansas game, he had a tackle for loss, an interception and two deflected passes. No. 90 can play and, when he's there with John Henderson, it's tough for opposing offenses to get things going.
Ask Fulmer and he'll tell you about Overstreet's and Henderson's abilities.
"I think this has a chance to one of better defensive fronts," Fulmer said. "John Henderson and Will Overstreet lined up in side-by-side or in the same defensive front gives you two guys who can play the run as well as rush the passer. Will played last year about 75% healthy, if that. He had problems with his knee and his back. Now he has had his knee scoped and his back is better. I'm looking forward to big things from John and Will. We'll find a way to put them side-by-side so that people will have a little difficulty blocking them."
Coaches always talk about work ethic and, in Overstreet's case, they mean it. Coaches speak glowingly of Will's technique and work ethic. "Will's biggest asset is his work ethic," Caldwell says. "If he can stay healthy this year, he can have a special season and take some pressure off John Henderson."
He was his usual bull-in-a-china-shop self when the Vols teed it up Sept. 1 against Syracuse. He had four tackles and two sacks for -24 yards. He was present and voting when the Vols held the Orangemen to a field goal when Syracuse had it first-and-goal at the UT 5 and couldn't get it in the end zone. He battled furiously up front in the monsoon at Arkansas.
"It was a big test for us not to give up seven and hold them to three after the turnover," Will said about the defensive effort against Syracuse in the shadow of the Vol goal. "It was a pretty tough day. We had a lot of help from the secondary. A lot of the sacks were coverage sacks. Everyone was doing their jobs. It was a team effort."
It was Fulmer who prophesied, correctly it turned out, that Overstreet would make an impact on the Vol program.
"Will is the type kid that will develop into your best player and be a team captain one day," Fulmer said after the 1998 season." Was he right or what?
The Vols haven't had a great number of players from the Magnolia State, 10, in fact, over the course of their history. Some names that come to mind are James Berry, Dick Jordan, and, of course, Billy Ratliff, who made one of the biggest plays of the 1998 season with his caused fumble and recovery in the waning moments of the Arkansas game. Will Overstreet will add considerably to the impact Mississippi players will have on Vol tradition.
He's a keeper, a young man who never quits, who gives his all for Tennessee. Just like the sign on the dressing room door says. That's the only way he knows how to play. Watch out for No. 90 this season and you'll see what we mean.
