Gone is the mohawk. Burnt off is the roughly 25 pounds of goo. Shed is the redshirt.

Primed and ready to earn a spot in the Tennessee two-deep is defensive tackleDanny O'Brien. He's showing significant progress based on the combination of hard work in the Anderson Training Center and the applied the teachings of defensive line coach Steve Stripling.

"He's the best coach I've ever played under," O'Brien said of Stripling. "He's doing great things with all of us defensive linemen, and I'm glad to be playing under him."

Faster pace

Everything about the Big Orange is at a higher tempo these days under head coach Butch Jones and his staff. Stripling went red-faced and threw his hat at Monday's practice after the third-team front four didn't sprint onto the field.

Between the pace of practice and the work done under Tennessee strength and conditioning coach Dave Lawson, O'Brien has seen his body fat percentage plummet from 32- to 22-percent.

"I thought I was going to lose my strength too, cutting all that weight," he said. "But, all it did....coach Lawson...my squat was probably 415 going in with coach Lawson. When we maxed the last week of the summer I was at 515. I went up 100 pounds in squat.

"I had that shoulder problem for a little bit. My bench was real low. It was like 275, but I think my last one this summer was about 375-385, somewhere around there. I mean I feel a lot better. I feel actually stronger, more explosive."

Building strength

The Flint, Mich., native isn't pleased with the eggs lying in the basket. He plans to get his strength gains to a level similar to former Vol Darwin Walker by the time his orange career comes to a close.

"The sky is the limit," O'Brien said. "It's really about how you push yourself in the weight room -- coach Lawson always tells us that. I want to get as high as I can. I want to be at 415 pounds by the end of the winter this year after the season, and I want my squat to get up to 600 pounds by this time next summer. I want to be as strong as I can be while I'm in college, just keep getting stronger every year."

The former FOX Sports NEXT and Scout four-star notes that a rabbit-like diet has helped him slim up.

Better eating

"Eating. Eating. Last year I didn't eat right," O'Brien admitted. "I thought these college programs were just going to come in and cut it off you. Then, when we got this new strength staff, I kicked it in in, 'I'm going to eat right, eat salads every meal other than breakfast. Straight protein. Light carbs at night.' That's really what shed it off me. Then, all that running too."

The 6-foot-2, 287-pounder spread the wealth of compliments to his teammates along the offensive front, most especially a starting guard.

"He's a bear, man," O'Brien said of Zach Fulton. "Those guys really make us the players we are."

Another area where the redshirt freshman envisions improvement is the transition from Sal Sunseri's 3-4 scheme to John Jancek's 4-3. O'Brien says the 4-3 provides "more space" and less double teams."

"I definitely am (more comfortable)," he said.