KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee head coach Butch Jones, along with three assistants and two student-athletes talked to media on Thursday at the Ray and Lucy Hand Studio and Haslam Field.
After Thursday’s practice, just the second of the week following Monday night’s 42-41 double-overtime victory over Georgia Tech, Jones talked about how the No. 21/24-ranked Vols have put an extra emphasis on recovery with the short week between games.
“I think it challenges your players from an academic standpoint, from a physical standpoint and from a mental standpoint,” Jones said. “So far, I’ve really liked the way our players have managed it and the recovery from the game started in Atlanta.”
Jones also touched on how he’s been pleased with the response from the wide receiver group after losing junior Jauan Jennings, UT’s leading returning receiver, in the first half of Monday’s game.
“I like the leadership that has been provided by everyone,” Jones said. “They’ve been a pleasure to coach. We don’t have very large numbers there, so everyone is going to have a role in that room.”
Sophomore Marquez Callaway stepped up after Jennings went down, tallying four catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns after halftime to help spark the come-from-behind victory.
Tennessee & Indiana State Coaching Connections
When the Vols and Sycamores square off on Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium, there will be some familiar faces on each sideline for both coaching staffs.
Indiana State first-year head coach Curt Mallory was the defensive backs coach at Central Michigan while Jones was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2001.
UT associate head coach/defensive line coach Brady Hoke also has extensive experience coaching alongside Mallory. When Hoke was head coach at Michigan from 2011-14, Mallory served as his defensive backs coach.
Hoke has also worked with three other members of the Sycamore’s coaching staff. Assistant head coach/defensive line coach Mark Smith, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jeff Hecklinski and offensive line coach Darrell Funk all coached under Hoke during his stops as head coach at Ball State (2003-08) and San Diego State (2009-10). Indiana State wide receivers coach Roy Roundtree also knows Hoke well after starring for him as a player at Michigan, earning All-Big Ten honors.
“We spent some time together over the summer up at Curt Mallory’s house and there’s a lot of good guys, really good football coaches and even better people (on the Indiana State staff)” Hoke said.
Despite the friendships between the two coaching staffs, Hoke said come game day it will be all business.
“It will be fun to compete,” Hoke said. “I talked to Mark Smith briefly yesterday and he’s the enemy, so we’re not going to talk until maybe right before the game and then we’ll compete like heck.”
Jones and Mallory also coached together at Central Michigan in 2001 where Jones was the offensive coordinator and Mallory was the defensive backs coach.
Trey Smith Looking to Build Off Solid Debut
Highly-touted freshman offensive lineman Trey Smith had a strong start to his Tennessee career on Monday night in the Vols’ win over Georgia Tech. The Humboldt, Tenn., native graded out as the team’s second best offensive lineman behind senior center Jashon Robertson.
Nobody has been more impressed with Smith’s play so far than offensive coordinator Larry Scott, who had some high praise for the freshman on Thursday.
“In everyone’s career at some point you are fortunate enough to come across a guy like Trey,” Scott said. “Of course, he is physically and athletically gifted, but his approach towards the game is something that is very rare. He’s mature in that way.”
Don’t except the strong start and praise to go to Smith’s head, as Scott said he’s already working hard to be even better in Saturday’s game against the Sycamores.
“He wants to learn how to prepare. Nobody is preparing harder for this week than he is right now. He is just that kind of kid. His mentality and maturity is very rare,” Scott said.
Tickets Available for UT-Indiana State Game
Fans can still purchase tickets for Saturday’s game between the Vols and the Sycamores. Tickets may be purchased online via AllVols.com or by phone by calling the Tennessee Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-332-VOLS.
Quotes From Thursday’s Media Availability
Head Coach Butch Jones
(On Quinten Dormady’s performance against Georgia Tech)
“I thought he did some good things, but he has things to improve upon as well. We made the plays when we needed to. He put the ball in some locations he needed to, but on his footwork and his movement in the pocket he knows he needs to make the progression from game one to game two.”
(On getting Dormady more reps versus getting Jarrett Guarantano playing time)
“It’s getting Jarrett the ample reps that he needs to perform on Saturdays along with Quinten. The way we practice and our practice structure really allows for that to happen. We’re going to play both quarterbacks on Saturday.”
(On the quick turn-around from Georgia Tech to Indiana State)
“It’s been a challenge. It’s something I wouldn’t recommend very often. I think it challenges your players from an academic standpoint, from a physical standpoint and from a mental standpoint. So far, I’ve really liked the way our players have managed it and the recovery from the game started in Atlanta. We had a number of cold tubs brought in after the game and we actually did all of our recovery in the locker room at the stadium. I really like the way the players have responded in terms of the recovery and just the energy they brought.”
(On the receivers’ response to the absence of Jauan Jennings)
“I like the leadership that has been provided by everyone. Josh Smith has done a good job, but they are all leading. I think they are all young and they are all anxious and they all want to play. They hang on every word that you say. They’ve been a pleasure to coach. I spoke to Jauan today and he’s doing well and recovering, but again, we’re going to need everyone to step up. We don’t have very large numbers there, so everyone is going to have a role in that room.”
Offensive Coordinator Larry Scott
(On who stood out on offense during the game)
“We had some guys who really did some good things. Marquez Callaway stepped in and did some nice things and had some big catches. John Kelly was what we thought he would be when it was time to go. He put the ball on the ground and competed. It was good to see a young guy like Trey Smith play as many snaps as he did the whole game. Jashon Robertson did a really nice job in his first game at center. Brett Kendrick bounced over and played left tackle. We had some moving parts, but guys came through and did nice things. Josh Palmer had to get out there and play as a true freshman. We were able to get some young guys out there and play them with the cameras on in an environment like that, so that was a plus to definitely keep building on.”
(On the importance of getting Josh Smith back)
“It will help big time, especially with the experience that Josh brings to the table. He has played in some big games, and he can play multiple positions. It will be big for the [entire wide receivers] unit.”
(On the last time he saw a true freshman on the offensive line as good as Trey Smith)
“It’s been a long time. In everyone’s career at some point, you are fortunate enough to come across a guy like Trey. Of course, he is physically and athletically gifted, but his approach towards the game is something that is very rare. He’s mature in that way. He wants to learn how to prepare. Nobody is preparing harder for this week than he is right now. He is just that kind of kid. His mentality and maturity is very rare.”
Defensive Coordinator Bob Shoop
(On the defensive players playing a large quantity of snaps)
“We wish we would have played a few more players, or even maybe even more evenly. 96 snaps against the triple option is insane, 86 runs, I’ve never seen anything like that. Looking back, I wish maybe we would have, I mean hindsight is always 20/20. I probably wish we would have rotated players a little better.”
(Talking about the defensive players positioning on the ball)
“I think the thing everybody needs to understand about that game, that was as unbelievable chess match as I’ve ever seen. The first two series of the game were really the plays that generally speaking I think that they do a good job of showing how they would attack our configuration. Everybody asked about Jumper lining up deep, or this or that, but we took that away. They didn’t run any triple option after the first two series of the game, not one snap of triple option. We probably had three tackles for loss on those first two series of the game on triple option.”
(On fundamental takeaways from the defense for the future)
“Why we won the game I thought, wasn’t necessarily that we executed really well, I thought we did at times, but I thought our style of play was really good, the guys’ effort was outstanding throughout the course of the game. I think looking back, obviously tackling was the piece that was disappointing to me. I think we had 18 missed tackles, some on the perimeter I think. Same things showed up that might have shown up in the past, you know two long passes, one was a short pass and catch and one we didn’t rotate properly on the ball down the middle of the field that Searcy caught. A couple things like that, tackling and maybe even taking a step further back really on communication, I thought there were moments where we had things called in past situations that I didn’t do a good enough job getting across in the communication piece.”
Associate Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Brady Hoke
(On if he would have liked to play more defensive linemen against Georgia Tech)
“I think you’d love to play as many guys as you can for multiple reasons, but sometimes the game dictates, sometimes the situations dictate. Going forward, if we can play more, we’ll play more, but the objective is to win the game and having your best players out there.”
(On the personal connections he has with some of the coaches on the Indiana State coaching staff)
“Well you know we spent some time together over the summer up at Curt Mallory’s [Indiana State Head Coach] house and there’s a lot of good guys, really good football coaches and even better people. It will be fun to compete. I talked to Mark Smith [Indiana State Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach] briefly yesterday and he’s the enemy, so we’re not going to talk until maybe right before the game and then we’ll compete like heck.”
(On who graded out well on film from Week 1)
“I thought Jonathan (Kongbo) played well, Darrell (Taylor) made some big plays, Kendal (Vickers) fought and he really probably had as much of big No. 71 over him most of the game. I thought all four of the guys who played mainly played okay. I mean we didn’t play as well as we need to, I can tell you, but I thought all four of those guys did okay.”
(On the performance of Kyle Phillips)
“I thought Kyle did a nice job. Kyle is a guy, I know I get stuck on those two interior guys, but Kyle is a guy that really is another starter as far as I’m concerned because he plays good football, he practices good football, he’s a guy you can count on.”
Senior Linebacker Colton Jumper
(On angle of final play)
“We were just kind of expecting three to four plays that they had been really successful with. So we kind of knew what they might be running. The thing is they had been getting just about three yards every single play during the second half. We knew we were going to have to pull something out. We got in the huddle and we were like, ‘hey, if we want to win this is how we are going to have to do it. It’s either they are going to win or we are going to win, whichever one it comes down to this play.’ ”
(On improving defensively from Week 1 to Week 2)
“Right now it’s all recovery, they ran 84 run plays or something crazy like that. So getting our bodies right, getting ready for Indiana State. Just going back to more of a normal offense compared to last week. Indiana State has some good stuff that they do, a lot of shifting, a lot of motioning, jet motion, stuff that we are going to have to get our communication piece down. Communication is going to be big this week.”
(On playing as many snaps as they did)
“It’s not that bad, once you get your second wind. Especially when you are running around that much, you just get tired. When that happens you got to make sure you keep your mental focus.”
(On Rock Gullickson pregame, postgame, and recovery)
“I’ve noticed a huge difference in what he’s doing. Especially I like our pregame warmup and how we’ve changed that up. I feel like I have a lot more energy, and not nearly as tired after that first quarter. We started doing this thing called cryotherapy, you get in a chamber that’s like negative 200 degrees and it sucks while you are in there, but you feel pretty good after.”
Redshirt Senior Punter Trevor Daniel
(On his 70-yard punt vs. Georgia Tech)
“I was just doing my job. It was a good game. I would have liked to have a little better hang time, but I have really good gunners. Evan Berry and Justin Martin, they got down there and got the job done.”
(On receiving the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week)
“It’s a big honor, for someone whose job is to give the ball to the other team, to get recognition in a positive way, I feel like I’m doing something right.”
-UT Athletics
