Austin Price: Hello everybody. Welcome back for another episode of Vol Club Confidential. I'm your host Austin Price of vol quest.com. Tonight on the show we'll have Tennessee defensive lineman, Bryson Easton. But before we get to Bryson, let's bring in ball clubs Will Crockett and Will obviously a really good turnout down there for the Alabama game, not the outcome of the game that we all wanted, but at the same time the Fall fans showed out. Will Crockett: Yeah, we had a great time down there Friday and Saturday. We know Tennessee fans always show up. They're going to do their part, but every time you still see it Saturday morning when we first got out of campus, all it was was Tennessee fans. So it's just something every time we're surprised by it, but we should know to just always expect it. Austin Price: This week, Tennessee is at Kentucky, the tailgate on Saturday, you have to be a certain level of all club member to attend, what was it, smokey? Will Crockett: Yep. Austin Price: And so take me through what those that are smoky and above can expect. Will Crockett: Yeah, so with our home tow gates, they're open to everybody at the 25 of a dollar level and up away games with just the more work that goes into it, trying to keep it more controlled. It's smokey level and up. What we'll try to do there is replicate our home tow gates the best that we can, knowing that we can't quite live up to those. You'll be there, I'm sure. So you're kind of like our version of Taylor Swift to where we're not to wheel you in a popcorn box and out just so you don't get mobbed, but people tend to expect to see you there. Austin Price: Maybe. Maybe depends on that. My kid's got a basketball game coming up tomorrow. Elementary plays, elementary school basketball and then I'll head up after that. So I would say you'll probably see me there, Will Crockett: That'll work. Austin Price: But those nighttime games in Lexington, unseasonably warm potential weather highs in the seventies probably once we get into dark, probably in the sixties for kickoff. I've been up there when it was 12. Will Crockett: Yeah, I'm excited for some good weather this time. Austin Price: All right, let's get to the main attraction on tonight's show. And that's defensive lineman Bryson Easton, how you going? Good, you good. Bryson, first time you and I ever met you had just wrapped up your freshman year. You were the state championship defensive MVP after a big state championship for Whitehaven. That feels like an eternity ago, and yet here we are six or seven years later and you've changed a little bit as far as size, but you still are a playmaker. Bryson Eason: Yes, sir. It's just been crazy. I remember our first time meeting, it was about six, seven years ago, but I just still love to play football regardless of what size I am, so I've just been enjoying it. Austin Price: What do you feel like you've done well as you've continued to grow as a defensive lineman under Coach Gardner? I mean, you played in high school as a linebacker. Yes sir. Big linebacker, but you were athletic enough to do that. Now you're just a super athletic defensive lineman. Where's your game gotten better? Bryson Eason: My Will Crockett: Game Bryson Eason: Gotten better just with the details that comes with AD lineman, understanding the Will Crockett: Game, Bryson Eason: Understanding the blocks that I get and everything's just been so attention to detail with Coach G, and that's how you take your game to the next level. Because like you said, I'm athletic, I have all the skill sets with that, but when you come into SEC playing, you play guys with the same type of size and strength and that can move at the big sizes that they are. That's when it comes in to details and knowing what you have to look at and knowing your keys and just little things like that which helped the game slow down for me. So it's just been a great process being able to, being coached by Coach G Austin Price: We talked about a week or two ago and I said, man, you just look like you're having fun again. You make a play, he's dancing. Somebody else makes a play. You're dancing. I mean, you just look like you're having a good time. And you said, well, it feels like high school ball again Bryson Eason: To you. Austin Price: Why do you say that? What makes it feel like that? Bryson Eason: Because majority of the guys that's out there with me on the D line is like they're our class of 2020 and I just been around those guys for years and years and we built all type of bonds and friendships. So it's just like when we out there, it's like we playing for each other. It is a bigger goal. We want to go out there and have fun. We want to go out there and produce and we want to go out there and show the world and everybody that we wanted. One of the legit D lines in college football. Austin Price: Do you feel at times, I know Coach Garner's always had high praise for you and had high hopes for you, and you started to realize that. Is that from a product of it just clicking more, is that a product of you being more confident in yourself? Where do you feel like that the light has come on this year? It does feel like you're in on a ton of plays. I Bryson Eason: Feel like it's a little bit of both. Him coaching me up every day, coaching everybody in the room hard and just building that confidence after you make a plan, just knowing what you have to do. It just gives you a lot of confidence to just go out there and play fast and play free and just go enjoy playing football. I think that's what most of the guys got into the game for to play football at the end of the day as a game. So just going out there and enjoying it and making plays while doing this, one of the best feelings ever. And yeah, that's it. Austin Price: What's your favorite pass rush technique? Is there one that you like more than the others? Bryson Eason: Well, there's one that I'm trying to get down for sure. It is not even just nothing crazy. It's just a nice get up field, run up field vertical, take your three steps up, come back in with a club and rip club and rip. So that's something he teaches us every day. So it's something that I want to perfect and just keep working on other things to get better. In the past, rush Austin Price: Are the occasional defensive call comes in where a defensive lineman drops into coverage, right. Do you ever kind be like, man, put me in that spot. I mean you bring those old linebacker tendencies back. Bryson Eason: Is that what I'm saying? A linebacker? It is in me. It's in me. It's not on me. So if they need an extra linebacker on Gold Line, if they need somebody, somebody to go down, they can for sure call my name. But no, I like playing a position I'm at. I like being in them trenches and getting dirty and I know I'm a little undersized the most dudes, but I like to show folks that this a big dog, not a look dog, just because of the size and I can hold my own down there, so it's just so fun. But dropping the coverage, I'll just leave that to the Leos and stuff like that. I'm I'm good where I'm back. Austin Price: So let's take everybody back to Whitehaven. You're a Whitehaven kid through and through. You grew up with Coach Salisbury, you had a trio of teammates that came with you. Now only two of you still remain with Marvis French down at the UTSA and you kind of got to play him this year, which is neat in its own regard. But what was it about Whitehaven that kind of helped make you who you are? Bryson Eason: Just the grit and the grind that we gave out every summer and just the culture and standard that they set as me coming in as a freshman and how hard they worked and just how together they were and how a brotherhood and so many different other things. It's just all bonded into one and it just made me into a great, well, not a great, well, a hardworking want tobe great football player and just enjoyed the game that you got because when we was out there on those Friday nights man and having to play defense the way that we did, it was just like, man, it was a great feeling like you out there with them lights, you out there with your boys that you grew up with, you play with that you come to practice with every day, you work hard with and you go out there and just man, go play ball. Just let loose. It was great feeling. And then how we took so much pride in wanting to be the best school in the city. It all just pours in how everybody wanted to work and everybody want the same goal and every year, year after year, this really what it was. If we are not practicing on Thanksgiving season, the bus, that's what it was. That was the standard when I got there and it could have been all four years except for my senior year, man, Austin Price: Y'all losing the quarters that year. Bryson Eason: Yeah, that hurt. We lost in the third round that year. I ain't that hurt, man. That hurt. But yeah. But yeah, that's really the haven, the Havens, what we call it. Maybe me who I am today through and through Austin Price: The Memphis kids, they take such a pride in being from Memphis. There's a pride in playing for that city. Even though you're playing for the state as a whole too. You came in with five of you when you had Jabari and Big O, you guys seem like you're a pretty tight knit unit. Just all kids that have known each other for a long time, whether they're playing peewees or playing against each other in high school and now playing together at ut Bryson Eason: Because it's just like a lot of love for those guys. We came up from the same place, the same city, and we most known the city for being one of the all of us good athletes and for all of us to come here and just now producing and putting the city on, it's just a great feeling because everybody back home watching, it's so many texts and messages you receive after a game, whether you win or lose just with love and support, it just means a lot to us and know that people back home watching kids that's coming into high school, knowing that they can have an opportunity and we just paving the way even though the wave was paved way before us with other great athletes older than us and things like that. But it is just how it is and how much love that we got for each other to be doing something positive that we doing. So yeah. Austin Price: Out of the two that you didn't play with in high school, you obviously played with Big O on the defensive line, but do you find yourself hanging out with him more? Bryson Eason: Who? Big O. Austin Price: Big O or Jabari? I mean it's Bryson Eason: Really about the same because they kind of like Austin Price: They're always together. Bryson Eason: Yeah, so it's like, I'm not going to say that because sometimes I do hang out with o I'm saying I might get some 1 0 1 with O, but it is kind of about 50 50, well not 50, but 60 40 so that I catch them separately. But it's all good vibes whenever we were around each other, it is just they're my brothers at the end of the day. Austin Price: When y'all go back home, do you hang out back at home or when you get back home, it's family time. You go with your family. OG goes with his family. I Bryson Eason: Mean we might, but most of the time family enjoying the people that we don't get to see you every day. We know we're Finn to be back up here grinding together. Austin Price: When you go back home, where's your go-to spots? Take me through, is there a go-to spot or is it let's go find grandma or whoever that makes the best food. And for Bryson Eason: One you got to go. If you want some chicken tenders, good fries, chings over there by the University of Memphis, they don't miss it all. And then it's so cool they got all people that came to Memphis. Famous people all over the Austin Price: Now what's this place called again? Bryson Eason: Chings. Austin Price: Chings Bryson Eason: Over there by S Pie and something that I like personally that I get my grandmother to make every time I go home, my grandma makes a mean sweet potato pie. It is about that time too. It's about that time too. So I'm looking forward to that. Grandma makes some main sweet potato pie. I love sweet potato pie. She'll make me a whole pan to myself. I'm AD lineman now so I can do that. You know what I'm saying? But lemme think of another, oh, it was a spider white haven. It got burnt down like a year ago when I went back home. It's called hooks. They make some real good chicken, real good chicken. That's probably the top two for me. Other people probably say little other barbecue places. I love Memphis through and through, but I'm just not big on barbecue. Give me chicken, give me some chicken and fries any day over some barbecue. That's just meat up Austin Price: Chings hooks and grandma's most importantly. Yeah, most Bryson Eason: Grandma's Austin Price: Big O resonates with the grandma talk. How important is she to you? Bryson Eason: I love my grandma so much. Huge factor of my life. And she's just more of a chill grandma, not do too much chill. So I love my grandma. She real sweet and do whatever. Austin Price: So does she ever send a sweet potato pie up to you? No, Bryson Eason: I You have Austin Price: To go get it? Bryson Eason: Yeah, I go get them. I like to get 'em when they're nice, fresh, you know what I'm saying? Real fresh, Austin Price: Right out the oven, Bryson Eason: Right after the oven. No better taste than a sweet potato pie from grandma right after the oven, Kroger used to make some good sweet potato pie, but after my grandma she was like, you like sweet potato pie. I can do that man. Strictly grow my sweet potato by phenomenal. Austin Price: Strictly, strictly. I love talking to grandmas. They're the best. Where do you feel like you've, as a person off the field, let's move from on the field to off the field, where do you feel like you've grown? Because you've always kind of been a personable kid, always got a big smile on your face most of the time, depending on how practice went with Coach G that day. But where do you feel like you've grown? Bryson Eason: Just being more open-minded to a lot of different things in life and continue to want to learn many things because I feel like if you just live with a closed mind, then you in a trap, like you trapped in your own thoughts and I don't feel like that's a good way to be. So just being real open-minded to a lot of things and want to learn about new things. And there's a couple people in my life that has been encouraging me to gain my relationship with God. So that's something I've been trying to do more pray and things like that. Austin Price: How important has that become to you? Bryson Eason: It's become real important. I'm starting to get my faith and really believe in it and just get more deep into it and get a better understanding of everything. So it's good. And this is just my journey of how I wanted to get into it, so I really been enjoying it. Austin Price: Is that through people on campus or local church or? It Bryson Eason: Is actually through a couple people are back home and then I have other people in my family that's other religions, so I listen and I let them teach me things, but I listen to the both that my, because grandmother's a Jehovah Witness, so that's one thing. And I listen to her and she always calls me sometime and tells me about it, but I got a couple friends that I grew up with and they've been getting into it and they've been encouraging me to get into it, so that's really something I've been getting into a lot. Austin Price: I guess. When you look on campus, is there a group of people that you'd like to try to do anything with? Faith-based here on campus or? Bryson Eason: I really just been taking it slow earlier, like I said, my own pace, just really trying to, just understanding and taking it slow, not just trying to, you know what I'm saying, gone because I'm still learning a lot of things about it and still trying to understand a lot of things about it. So just taking it in my process and my pace to fully grab what I want to know and things like that. Austin Price: Favorite thing to do when you're not playing football? Bryson Eason: I'm a big game guy. I got on the game about two years ago after my freshman year. I fell in love. Austin Price: What game? Bryson Eason: The game got. Madden two K. I play Fortnite sometimes. What else? That's really it. I really play three games, but I'd be on the three games heavy. Just rotate. Austin Price: When you play two K, are you always playing with the Grizzlies or Bryson Eason: No sir. No sir. Really just like my career thing. I got some boys back home and some guys on the team, we play together, we go out there, run threes, go run Rec college, talk miss to each other, have fun. It's really cool though. I feel like the game is one of the coolest things that I done got into through the last two to three years because it keeps you out the way it teach you. Communication skills, hand out coordination, all that type of stuff. And it is just a cool way to bond with your friends all over, right in the next room or in the next city? Just me personally. I recommend a lot of people to get into it. It's fun. Austin Price: What's something most people don't know about you? Bryson Eason: Most people don't know about me. Austin Price: Maybe you have an interest that most people wouldn't realize you have an interest in this. Bryson Eason: I'm kind of a simple dude. I mean TV shows. I'm trying to think of something that's interesting, can't something interesting. They just be like, whoa. Austin Price: What TV shows? Do you like Bryson Eason: Snowfall? I like Snowfall. I like all the NFL documentaries or football documentaries that they come out. And there's some shows on Netflix that I recently got into. It's called Looping. It's about a friend man, he a thief and it's so good. He reading a book, something that I want to get into. I want to get into reading books. That's it. Austin Price: You want to become a reader, huh? Bryson Eason: Yeah, that's it. That's it for sure, because that show I watch, it's kind of cool how much knowledge he gains from a book and just by reading and it's so cool to me. Yeah, I want to get into reading more books and expanding my brain and my knowledge just about different things. There's no specific thing yet because I haven't actually started, but when I get into it, it's going to be all about all different kind of things. How to be a better man about life. Some things could be like maybe Diving Whip a kid. I used to love those books when I was a toddler. So just all different type of things. Reading more. Yeah, for sure. Austin Price: His brain's already more expanded than mine. Mine was Goosebumps when I was a kid or l Stein Baby for Life. Bryson Eason: Hey, goosebumps Py, goosebumps Py, goosebumps five, gooses five for the show. Austin Price: Goosebumps. I think they're getting ready to come out with a show or a movie or something like this. They Bryson Eason: Coming out with a new one. That's crazy. The dude who played Dodgeball is the main character of the new Goosebumps movies. It's crazy. The little skinny kid from Dodge. But you ever seen Dodgeball? Dodgeball? Yeah. So I might watch it. I, that's something I like to do. I like watch movies, I like to watch movies. I like to watch movies. Yeah. Austin Price: Would you equate Coach Garner to patches of Houlahan? The guy that Bryson Eason: The, Austin Price: If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. Bryson Eason: Yeah, but nah, I give Coach G. Perfect example of Coach G would be Master Uwe from Kungfu Panda, but he can get a little bit more feisty, just a little bit more feisty and Master Uwe from Kungfu Panda's. Perfect because Coach G got a lot of knowledge for sure, but sometimes when you ain't comprehending that knowledge, right, he going to turn it up on you. You know what I'm saying? So Master Uwe is the perfect, perfect one. Austin Price: When he's coaching you hard or coaching with your teammates hard, how much do you have to kind of go, okay, he means what he says, but at the end of the day, he's only trying to make me better. You can't, you know what I mean, not take it personally. Bryson Eason: When he tells us in the room, he be like, man, I know sometimes da da. He's like, it's more so the message, not the delivery. And so we just, a lot of guys, the older guys of course have got that installed into their head so we know where he coming from when he do yell or get us, it is out of love and he wanted to be right. He expecting a lot out of us. So we understand that now. I mean first when he first got here we was like, I don't know about this Coach G dude. I don't know about him, but just being coach up behind and showing the tough love that he give us. So much needed and well appreciated. Now that we understand, Austin Price: How much do you think you owe Elijah some of those older guys help a Dave and Hobbs or a Caleb Herring or whoever to get them to understand early on, hey, this is kind what he means. Even though as you said, it's the delivery more than it is, it's more the message than the delivery. Bryson Eason: I mean Coach G, whatever he coaching him on, nine times out of 10 he right. So after he get done being Coach G, we come over there and try to be just great teammates and great brothers and try to explain them to him in the most calm, respectful way that we can so he can understand and let 'em know that, bro, we mess up too. It happens to everybody. So you just got to keep your head on understand and you know what I'm saying, do what he ask you. I know it might be a little tough because man, when I first came playing the inside, it was like man, crazy. And I was getting yelled at almost every day and I'm feeling like I'm looking at them, I'm doing what they're doing. He telling me I ain't doing it right. It's just little small stuff. So we just try to be there for 'em and tell 'em we understand and we get it and just be real good teammates. Like I said, Austin Price: From coach G to coach E, what do you like most about that D-line room? Bryson Eason: I feel like the D-line room is the funniest room in the team from the Leos to the end, to the interior. And I just feel like we all, it's all love for one another. When one shine man, we happy for him. We know how hard he working during the week. You see what I'm saying? So it's just like, man, it's all love and support regardless behind any dude like self, God forbid one of these dudes just was to leave or something like that. It'll still be that love. And still, because we done built this brotherhood, this friendship and went through all type of stuff, training and working out and trying to be better and trying to be leaders on the team or whatnot. So it is just a great feeling to be in there with them guys. And like I said, even we work hard, we laugh hard, we do all this stuff together, we chill together. It's just like a big friend group just playing D-line together and just enjoying it and helping each other. It is never just like if somebody was to correct me from Tyler to James to Caleb to Isaac Green to, it'll just be like, I need to do that. I got to pick it up. You know what I'm saying? It's all just, I know it's a place out of love. I know ain't nobody in there out to get one another. So it's just great feeling in that room, great feeling on the defensive side of the ball. Great feeling as a team. As a matter of fact, just the whole culture that has been changed and been brought here has just been amazing when it comes to being a team and talking to people on the offensive side of the ball. D-line, kicking the with receiver was a skilled dude, so it's just all cool, you know what I'm saying? Austin Price: So a year ago you beat Florida this year. You didn't, a year ago you beat Alabama this year you didn't, but you're in those games. When you first got here, those games were not close. Bryson Eason: Not close at all. Austin Price: I know you guys want to win those games, but can you see the growth in the team in losses that maybe you didn't have when you first got here? Bryson Eason: Yes sir, I do. But that ain't even a standard though, so it's still kind of hurts just thinking about it. So it is definitely growth because we have a standard of wanting to win and wanting to do this and wanting to do that. So them last two losses was just like, dang, but we got to man, keep going. We can't let Alabama, something that was said was, we can't let Alabama beat us twice. So we did what we did Saturday as old with, we got to focus on this week and our next opportunity. But those losses just hurt. It's definitely changed because like I said, losses just hurt. We don't want to lose. Everybody wants to win and it hurts. I felt that yesterday. I felt it in Florida. It ain't a good feeling. So we want to come out here and get this taste out of our mouth. Austin Price: So you look forward to Saturday and getting up to Kentucky and knocking some heads and I mean they're coming off a bi-week, so they're going to be rested and ready to go. Obviously you guys got 'em pretty good last year in Knoxville, but you're kind of ready to wash that taste out of your mouth. Bryson Eason: Yes sir. Most de it's the biggest game because the next one, that's what they've been preaching all year. So that's how we approaching it and we're just ready to prepare this week, like you said, get this taste out of our mouth and go play football and go, you know what I'm saying? Go be disruptive. Go the D-line that we want to show the world and country that we are. So just another great opportunity. And I know everybody in our room ready yesterday ain't sit well and we honestly want to put it all to blame on us, but I know it doesn't work like that. But we ready? We ready to work, we ready to sweat, work hard, all this stuff for this week, Austin Price: Kentucky loves to run that football. Got a pretty good running back. Y'all love to stop the run. Good matchup, right Bryson Eason: Facts. This is going to be fun. This is how I describe it. Fun. Saturday was fun, but this Saturday going to be even more fun there. They love to run the ball. We love to stop it. That's what I like right there. You know what I'm saying? Austin Price: Sure. Bryson Eason: Get in there. Know what I'm saying? Put my nose in something. Got to feel me. Got to feel me. They got to feel us. They got to feel us. Yeah, they got to feel us. I take that back us. Austin Price: All right, let's have a little fun here. Best movie of all time. Bryson Eason: Can I say two? Austin Price: Yeah, go ahead. Bryson Eason: Transform us Friday. Austin Price: Best superhero movie of all time. Bryson Eason: I'm a Spider-Man guy. Love Spider-Man. Austin Price: You know what, Bryson Eason: Spiderman number one, Austin Price: Everybody. I don't do the superhero thing, but normally I ask Batman, Superman, Spiderman, if you could be one who and why and it's bizarre. How many people say Spider-Man, I'm a huge Batman guy. Bryson Eason: I just can't get into Batman. I don't feel like he a real hero kidding me. He got, I know. Is this real? That may be a little disrespectful, but I just feel like Austin Price: When you're dressed like Batman, you got all black. I here, Bryson Eason: I just feel like, Hey, Batman Flat though I never said he going to fly. I just don't feel like he's not a real superhero. He got the gadgets, he got this little kungfu going on. He's martial arts. But when it comes to superhero being super, what's super about Batman besides his suit. But we can say the same thing about Ironman, but Ironman suit a little cooler than Batman suit. If we go cute, you know what, just say Marvel over DC at the end of the day, Marvel over dc. Austin Price: This guy thought provoking. What is super about Batman outside the fact that he is the coolest Bruce Wayne baby. So you go Spider-Man over Superman, Bryson Eason: Spider-Man over Superman any day. Marvel over dc. Austin Price: Are you a theme park guy? Bryson Eason: Waterpark. Austin Price: Waterpark. Bryson Eason: I hate rollercoasters. Terrified. Austin Price: What about water coasters? Bryson Eason: It depends on high. They go in the earth. It depends on how high they go in the earth. Yeah, I'm afraid of heights. We get a have to get a plane X dumb old anybody When we get on the planes terrified, even though it'd be quick terrified. Just terrified. I can't stand it. Let's get on the bus. Austin Price: Favorite place to eat in Knoxville? Bryson Eason: I'm going to say most most Austin Price: Goat candy bar. Bryson Eason: The Twix count as a candy Austin Price: Bar. Yes, that's a candy bar. Bryson Eason: Can I say two now? I'm sorry. I know Y like that. Snickers and Twix. Snickers. You can't miss. Can't Ms. Reese Austin Price: Cut buddy. Bryson Eason: But that's not a candy Austin Price: Bar. Well that's a candy bar. Bryson Eason: How? It's a cup? Austin Price: No. Bryson Eason: Alright. It's a candy bar. Reese's. A Reese's. Our fighter. Austin Price: Reese's. But the pumpkins, the trees, the hearts, the eggs. Like the ones that are seasonal. Bryson Eason: Yeah, Austin Price: Peanut butter's more fresh. Best uniform black. If you're picking, if you got to pick, what are you rocking? Bryson Eason: If I got to pick, Austin Price: Got the next home game and the next road game. What are you Bryson Eason: Wearing? Cool. Next home game. Next home game. Give me, I love the all black. Give me all black. I love the all black number one and next away game. Orange helmet. White bottoms. Coldest. The coldest for sure. Austin Price: Orange helmet. White and white. Bryson Eason: The coldest. The one we wore against South Carolina last year. The coldest. The coldest. Austin Price: You love that? Huh? Love Bryson Eason: That one. That was the coldest one. Austin Price: What if you wore orange helmets at home? Bryson Eason: If we wore orange helmets at home? Austin Price: Sure, let's go upset a few natives. But Bryson Eason: If we Austin Price: All orange, Bryson Eason: I want to go with the all orange. I probably have to do orange top for sure. No. Yeah. Orange top for sure. White bottoms. Cancel it out just a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Yeah. So orange, top white bottoms, Austin Price: Mountains or beach? Bryson Eason: Mountains. I don't like the sun. I sweat. I'm an easy sweater. I sweat. Fans. Give me out the sun. Austin Price: All right, it's time that week. It's our weekly tradition. Jordan or LeBron? Bryson Eason: LeBron. All day baby. Let's go. The king. The king LeBron. Austin Price: This generation man. Bryson Eason: Yes sir. Their Austin Price: Minds are Bryson Eason: Melted. Austin Price: Their minds are melted. Bryson Eason: How? I feel like I heard this earlier. Austin Price: You know what Coach G said when we had him on a few weeks ago? Bryson Eason: What'd he say? Austin Price: Dr. J? Bryson Eason: Yeah. That's just like coach G. He sweared Dr. J the best player ever. Did Austin Price: You know his teammate Bryson Eason: Charles Barkley? Austin Price: Did you know it's his cousin? Bryson Eason: Yeah. We hear it all the time. Charles shout. Charles Barkley, man. Yep. Austin Price: What would you do if coach, if Charles Barkley came in and spoke to the team? Bryson Eason: I'd just love to have a conversation with him. See how funny he really is. Austin Price: He funny. Funny on think he, I think he's funny. I don't think he is exactly who he is. Bryson Eason: Yeah, that's all I want to see. Just have a conversation with him. See where it's headed at. You know what I'm saying? Chop it up with him. Austin Price: A lot of the guys on the team have grown to going up to Gatlinburg. You one of those guys. Bryson Eason: I want to go. I just haven't. I just haven't. I want to though. I need to, but I haven't. I haven't at all. I really, like I said, man, since I learned how to play that game, man, it got me in a choke hold, man. Shoot. That's my hobby. I love that game and watching my little shows. I'm chilling. I'm good. That's all I need. That's all I need. Austin Price: Is your favorite time fall camp? Is it in season? Is it out of season? When are you having your most fun? Bryson Eason: For sure end season because Austin Price: There's reward. Bryson Eason: Yeah. And every Saturday it is like your day to just go have fun to go to. All the stuff you do in the off season is what you get to the end season for. Basically what I'm saying, all the work that you put in, then you get to go play a game. Boom. It's fun. That's why I be trying to encourage dudes out there that let's dance, let's do whatever we can do to just have fun. They be having fun in the NFLI be watching, celebrating, doing all kind of stuff. But yeah, I just be wanting to have fun. That's why I enjoy Saturday. So it's supposed to be fun. I love football. I do, but I got into this because it's fun. If basketball was fun to me, I would've been a hooper. Facts. Facts. Austin Price: You need probably a few more inches to Bryson Eason: Hoop. You think so? Steph? K. About six two. I think I got a jump over there. That's all you need is a Jay and some defense. I know I can hold some defense. Austin Price: Who's the best athlete that you've seen on the team? Not for football, for other sports. You've seen them play a pickup game of basketball or whatever and you're like, that guy is really good. Bryson Eason: Malico wman him Austin Price: And basketball. He's no longer here though. Bryson Eason: Yeah, him for sure. But you just seen who I seen. I seen him. That dude's a freak. Trey. Trey flowers. He can shoot that thing. He can shoot that thing. He shoot that ball. Tmac can shoot the ball real good too. He can really shoot that ball. Austin Price: That was before he cut his hair. He's like Samson, once he cut his hair, he Bryson Eason: Can still shoot that ball. That O. They sleep on O. Austin Price: Yeah. Well, but he was on the state championship team over there at Bryson Eason: Brian, Chris sleep on O. And I never seen David Hobbs, Austin Price: But I heard about yeah, Hobbs. Hobbs is the guy. I Bryson Eason: Tell David Hobbs all the time, we get some free time. Go to that gym, play 1 0 1. I just want to play straight defense. That's all I want to do. Play straight defense. If I stop him three times out of five, I win. I win. He's supposed to be the hooper, right? Austin Price: Yeah, he is the hooper. Bryson Eason: Exactly. Yeah. I Austin Price: Got really good, good feat. Bryson Eason: We going to see, we're going to see one day I'm going to give it to him. All defense. All defense. That's all I need. I don't want no offensive possession. Straight D. Austin Price: Who's the guy you hate going against in practice on the offensive line? Bryson Eason: I don't like going his none. To be honest. I don't like going against coop. I don't like going against Spra sometimes. Sometimes when I'm in that for, I don't like to have to go against John sometimes. But yeah, that's really about it. I mean it be tough, you know what I'm saying? With everybody, but it's probably really about it. Yep. All lane. Sometimes it just depends. Sometimes man, you wasn't even expect it from guys. Even on the scout team. Scout team got a shout out. Messiah, Messiah's a big man, Messiah, Andreson shoe. Even K should come when you're scouting. He come hit your hip, throw you across the line. So Kvi Gus be coming hard. Larry, Larry's a big dude too, for sure. All of them Austin Price: All. You're a red shirt Junior. Next year you'll be a red shirt senior, sir. And technically if you really wanted to come back for another year, you could. So in theory you could come back for two years after this one. I know that's not the goal, right? For sure. But have you given it any thought, just what you want to get accomplished? Bryson Eason: I really just want to focus on man, finishing out this year strong. Keep helping the team, keep trying to do what we said we want to do and just being where my feet at, being right here, right now. That's something we talk about a lot. So just being right here right now and just focusing on man. Continue to try to win and continue to try to be productive for the team and continue to just try to help out down there in the trenches and let all that come to me. It'll be a time for that, of course after the season, so I have exit meetings and things like that with the coaches and we'll discuss it all and they'll tell me how they feel. I'll tell 'em how I feel and we'll take it from there. But right now I just want to winning and get this taste out of my mouth. Austin Price: Well, it all starts Saturday as they look to get back up on the horse and knock some heads as he says, it's going to have a little fun. Bryson Eason says Tennessee heads to Kentucky to take on the Kentucky Wildcats. We'll be back next week with another episode of Vaco Confidential. Bryson, we appreciate you man. Bryson Eason: Good sir. I appreciate y'all.