Every youth sports coach will tell you some version of this: Don't wait for someone to pass you the ball. Sometimes you just have to go get it.

Elijah Herring heard that, probably.

And he did that, exactly, on Saturday at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. After a Memphis football punt early in the third quarter, Troy running back Gerald Green got the ball on an otherwise nondescript carry toward the right side of the Tigers' defense. Herring met him, and instead of just tackling him, he ripped the ball out, fell on top of it and set Memphis up with prime field position.

It was the most striking play Herring made in the 38-17 win, but it was far from the only one. Coach Ryan Silverfield summed up his stat line in his opening statement postgame.

"I don't like to single out individuals," Silverfield said. "Elijah Herring, eight tackles, two TFLs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack. That's a heck of an individual performance."

It was the second-straight week where Jordon Hankins' defense became the talking point after a blowout Tigers win. The defense held North Alabama scoreless in the opener, then shut down Troy for most of Saturday's game. Save for a first-half touchdown drive led by Goose Crowder (who got injured rushing for a touchdown and did not return to the game), the Trojans couldn't get much going until the game was out of reach. Herring, a transfer from Tennessee who was the leading tackler for the Vols a season ago, was at the center of it all.

There's no question that Hankins' defense is powered by the linebackers — Herring, first team all-AAC Chandler Martin and Harvard transfer Matt Hudson.

"We've got a really, really smart group of linebackers out there," Silverfield said. "And that's what's great. Elijah's really shifty, nifty, for lack of a better term. He sees things."

The Memphis defense is a talking point now, but that's in part because it wasn't last year. Memphis had one of the best offenses in the country in 2023, but the Tigers' path to the College Football Playoff almost certainly includes a much-improved defense. That's been on display the first two weeks, but the challenges are about to get tougher.

Memphis heads to Florida State on Sept. 15. The Seminoles (0-2) have had a dispiriting start to the season, but they're still favored over the Tigers and have had an open week to fix the problems that plagued them against Georgia Tech and Boston College. There's no question,, though, that the Tigers will still have plenty of confidence to take to Tallahassee.

"Memphis is known for high-powered offenses, good running backs, good receivers," Herring said. "So we're trying to come in, and just be able to put some respect on the defense's name. Just be able to know that we're here too, that Memphis isn't just one side, it's two sides."

And everyone is starting to notice. Halfway through an answer about his performance against Troy, quarterback Seth Henigan got distracted.

"Our defense, let's just talk about our defense," he said. "They were dominant today."

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What Elijah Herring's dominant performance means for Memphis football