Media Monday: Kentucky Week

Head Coach Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
“It is good to see everyone, thanks for coming out. Update you on our team a little bit and then move forward. Josh Smith had an exploratory procedure where they go in and determine if you need surgery or not. My definition of surgery and Jimmy Hyams’ is two totally different things but we are working to get on the same page here. But they did go in there and they did decide that he did need surgery so he did have surgery, he had his ankle scoped, they tightened the joint up. And nothing like starting game week again, right? So they tightened the joint up. He will out for the rest of the season. We will have him back for spring football. We were hoping to have him back but just the ankle wasn’t healing appropriately. So it is disappointing but exciting that we gain the year back in terms of a redshirt year so we will have him back.

“In terms of the bye week, everything is about your approach, how you approach the bye week. I thought our players mindset and over approach to the bye week made it a very productive work week. We were able to accomplish many things. But now it is about handling the transition from a bye week to a game week. Our mental effort, our focus, our intensity in preparing for an opponent, getting back into a rhythm, a structure, a routine. We started the week off yesterday with a practice, I thought it was a very productive practice.

“Talking about the game. We are going to need all of 102,455. There is 1,000 tickets left for the game. I believe it will be out fourth sell-out, which is amazing. The fan base has been outstanding, the student body, and we are going to need it at 4 o’clock to make Neyland another great home field advantage for us. So we need everyone to come out and continue to support us which they have.

“For us, it starts with eliminating the big plays. We have given up way too many big plays over the course of a couple weeks. We need to get back to playing our style of defense. Third downs, as you all know, we have done very well, and then the last couple weeks we have struggled in that area. So we have to do again, a good job. And you say why? There are a number of reasons. We haven’t been ahead of the sticks. It is just tackling and maintaining our points of pressure on the quarterback. Two weeks ago they were able to get, I believe, a third-and-16. It was just defensive tackle coming around, didn’t maintain his leverage point on the quarterback, and there you go. Impactful play and they get a first down. So it is really getting back to the fine details of playing winning football. Our overall communication. When you go on the road, the crowd noise obviously affects your offense. When you play at home, the crowd noise impacts your defense. And so again, it is our defense understanding how to communicate when we play home games. So we have really, really stressed that. Then overall ball security. But as a football team we have challenged everyone to play their best football in our program. Right now we have way to many health and depth concerns but you can’t fix depth overnight. I know people want instant gratification, I know they want instant results but you fix your depth with recruiting. As we know, recruiting and building a program is a process. So again, we have challenged everyone to step up and impact this football team in one way shape, form or another. But everything is about your special teams depth and that is showing as well. So we just have to continue to recruit to that. But we need more individuals to step up and impact the game.

“Moving on to Kentucky, you start with them offensively, very, very explosive, up tempo, everything starts with the quarterback, Patrick Towles. Know all about him. Even though he is from Kentucky, he is from Highlands but that is right across the river in Cincinnati. So we were involved in the recruitment of him. He is a winner. He has won numerous state championships. So it is going to be a great challenge for us. The major difference we believe in their offense is their speed. They have really improved their overall speed, especially on the perimeter. They have some bigger-bodied guys up front. They are scoring a lot of points. They are going to playing with a lot of up tempo, fast-paced, so we have to be ready. Again, that is why the communicative aspect is imperative in moving forward.”

“Defensively, older, veteran group upfront. Have done a very good job. They are down by seven to the No. 1 team in the country entering the fourth quarter. Again, they have improved their speed in the back end. They are +8 in turnover margin. Getting back to offensively, I think they are one or two in country in fourth downs. They have gone for it 20 times. So again, not just playing third down, we have to have the mindset to play through four downs of football.

“So I will answer any questions that you may have.”

(On seeing similarities between UT and Kentucky in building the program)
“Every week is a new season. I am concerned with us and the progress that we are making. Again, it is the fine details, it is the consistency that we talk about each and every day. But they have done a good job. Mark [Stoops] has done an exceptional job there. Being at Cincinnati, knew all about the Kentucky program. A lot of the players on their team, we recruited when we were at Cincinnati. I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and what he is building there. But all our efforts are on how can we continue to make Tennessee a better football program, minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day and that is what we focus on.”

(On the open week coming at the right time)
“I do. I think the bye week came at the appropriate time for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the grind. As we all know, our depth is very minimal and very limited. So it was an opportunity to get our health back a little bit, as much as you can. One week isn’t going to get your health back. But also to take a break in terms of the mentality, the mental approach. When you are as young as we are in developing, also, you have to maximize practice opportunities. So it was a fine line of trying to create that depth which I spoke about, particularly on special teams, and across the board. But also gain as much health as you can and prepare. So it was combination of a lot of things. Now again, with this young football team is, how do you handle now, going from a work week to now game week preparation. But I did think it was very productive for us. We needed it.”

(On if he felt his team was tired after the South Carolina game)
“I wouldn’t necessarily say tired, I would say this though, the grind of a long season, I spoke about it prior to this South Carolina game, is the accumulation of reps and it adds up over time. And you look at all the teams that challenge for championships in November, they stay healthy and if they don’t stay healthy, they have great depth in their program. So the amount of repetitions had really started to increase so to be able to go back, but also go back to the fundamentals and to the fine details and the style of play which we talk about each and everyday. I did sense a little bounce in their step. They understand what is a stake. They look forward to playing at home. But you put yourself into position to play meaningful games in November. There is a lot this team is playing for. So I have liked our approach but I have liked our approach all year.”

(On consistency from Joshua Dobbs)
“Needs to work on it. Not what we needed. And again, it’s easy to write things when you watch a game or two, but we see it every day in practice. There’s a lot different. Josh knows it. For us to be successful, he has to play with great consistency, day in and day out. That’s his biggest challenge, and he understands it. We work on it each and every day. We talk about it, but we need much more consistency not just from him but if it’s Nate Peterman, whoever is our quarterback. Being able to make the routine plays and Josh in game situations has done a very good job of that and managing the offense. But the more you put your identity on video, the more there is, the more different game plans you’re going to see, the different looks you’re going to see because they have more opportunities to game plan you now because of your video.”

(On the changes he has seen with the offensive line)
“Anytime you can have the threat of a running quarterback, that changes the dynamics up front. From the defense being gap conscious, being able to account for the quarterback, I think the offense has continued to be a work in progress. We’re still a work in progress. I do believe they’ve continued to grow and develop. I think Jalen Hurd has helped a lot. I think our offensive coaches have done a good job playing to the strengths of our players, the ability to win some one-on-one matchups in the perimeter. I think it’s a combination of a lot of little things which obviously add up to big things.”

(On the exploratory procedure on Josh Smith)
“That’s kind of like the injury of the year if you look around. It’s like the west coast spread offense, it’s the high ankle sprain. It has been one of those years for us. Each individual it takes differently. You look at Von Pearson. Really it was amazing that he was back the way his body recovered whereas Josh was just the opposite. There’s kind of a new procedure that they’ve been doing to try to take care of that and tighten up the ankle. We felt like we needed to do that to get him back for spring football. Josh means so much to us not just because he’s a good football player but he’s tough. He brings a whole other element. He brings an identity. He brings a personality to our football team.”

(On the health of the team entering game week)
“TreVaris Saulsberry will still be out this week. He’s the only one as of today right now. We expect everybody else to play Saturday afternoon.”

(On Marquez North’s health)
“He was back at practice yesterday, so we fully anticipate him playingSaturday.”

(On the injury to Marquez North)
“He has had a shoulder injury.”

(On where Rashaan Gaulden, Dimarya Mixon, Dewayne Hendrix are in adding depth)
“That’s why the bye week was very, very critical for us. For those individuals that you just mentioned to gain valuable repetitions. We did a lot of scrimmage situations. We let them play football. It was kind of interesting to see when you’re out there and have all your freshmen out there competing who sticks out when you have all of the freshmen and you have kind of the same age level competing. The first thing that comes to my mind is `Wow, playing the inordinate amount of freshmen that we’re playing, these individuals have done a tremendous job.’ Now the individuals you spoke about, I think Rashaan Gauldencontinues to grow and develop and get better and better. Obviously it’s hard when you have a cast on your wrist, but he has made the best of it. He’s really starting to take off in special teams. Actually, he had his black stripe removed yesterday and they spoke about the difference he is making in special teams. I’m very encouraged by what I see. Dimarya Mixon is a work in progress. He still lacks at times the intensity that it takes to play defensive tackle in this conference, but again he’s a freshman. He’s done a very good job continuing to add the weight on but it’s the overall style of play, relentlessness, which we speak about all the time.”

(On Todd Kelly Jr. and the bye week)
“T.K. is one of those individuals again where you learn by valuable repetitions. You try to create hypothetical situations in practice and gain opportunities. You can see where he was one of those individuals who stuck out. The big thing for Todd has been the overall mental grind. That’s the thing that a lot of people don’t realize. These are still 17, 18-year-old kids. The mental grind of a long season adds up from classes, academic work load, different game plans each and every week, the amount of video study that’s required for your opponent. Todd is a very, very smart individual but again a lot of times we put a lot of expectations and standards on these young individuals but they’re still kids and they’re still developing. I think Todd is a great illustration of that. He did benefit, and I expect him playing more for us defensively on Saturday.”

(On if the improvements needed from Joshua Dobbs in practice is from a lack of focus)
“No. It’s fundamentals. Josh is a very focused young man. That’s one of his strengths. He’s very focused, very even keeled. We all know about his intelligence. He has the quarterback intangibles. It’s the overall consistency with his elbow, how he releases the ball, from his feet, you throw with your feet, sitting in the pocket, throwing a catchable football. He has improved tremendously from the start of August camp to where he is now. That’s a great compliment to him, but I continue to say it, the expectation in our football program is every quarterback prepares as though they’re going to be the starting quarterback because they’re one snap away. But just a high level of consistency making the routine throw. When we run a five-step hitch, ball location, the great quarterbacks defeat tight coverage ball location. He did a very good job of it in the South Carolina game, managing two one-minute drills. He impacted the game. If you look at it, his ball location, take away two throws, was probably the best that he’s had. He understands it. He works on it every day. He works on it after practice. It’s getting better, but it’s just a point of contention every day but it’s not a lack of focus. He’s as focused and determined as a man that we have in our football program.”

(On how their bowl eligibility comes down to play in November and comparing last year’s chance )
“I don’t need to. This is a different team. The dynamics are different. That’s why each year is a new different team. It has a different personality. Our players know what they have at stake. The thing you don’t want to do is create stress on them. They understand what they’re playing for. They put themselves in position. I hope everyone truly understands the magnitude of that win at South Carolina. It’s never happened in the history of Tennessee football. We’ve been playing football here for 118 years. It’s the biggest come from behind win of 14 points in less than four minutes. You look at ESPN and we had a .9 percent chance of winning that football game. That’s a great illustration of that continual growth and development and belief that you’re going to find a way to win a football game. We were able to do that. Now, the more you win, the more is at stake. So what do you do. Does that drive you more, are you satisfied with it. Last year, I believe we got satisfied at times. There was nothing to be satisfied for. Where now we put ourselves in position for a post season opportunity, go take advantage of it. But I have to go back to the power of one. Before you can get anywhere it starts with getting victory #5. We’re playing a team that comes in, there’s no mistake about it, that they’re fighting for the same thing that we’re fighting for. Again, it comes down to execution, playing our style of play, and having a mentality, but execution is the biggest thing. I know Coach Stoops is telling his team the same thing.”

(On Coleman Thomas)
“Coleman Thomas is back, he’s practicing, but right now Jacob’s (Gilliam) our right tackle.”

(On how tough it is to prepare for a mobile quarterback) “Well it is and that’s what makes him (Patrick Towles) dynamic. That’s what makes him who he is, the ability to create plays with his legs. That’s the element Josh (Dobbs) brings to us. You can be perfect. We like guys that make you right when you’re wrong and they can change the complexion of the game. It still comes down to one-on-one matchups. Whether it’s the defensive tackle looping and he has contain on the quarterback, whether it’s a corner in press coverage, offensive and defensive lines are a fist fight in a phone booth. That’s all it is. It’s one-on-one matchups. It’s basically wrestling. So, there’s so much that goes into it, but when you can have players that can create plays on their own that’s another challenge.”

(On if he has ever had a player drop the ball before scoring) “I have not, but we’ve come close. We have what we call the score standard. We talk about it every day. We practice it, it’s part of our style of play. The score standard is we grip the ball up, we chin it and we flip the ball to the official. Now, have we executed it flawlessly this year? No, but we talk about that all the time. That’s called the score standard in our program.”

(On if he got to watch any football over the bye week) “I did, a lot. I think we’re kind of a messed up family. We’re at a great restaurant Saturdaynight, sport coat required, and I have Barb and the boys and we’re sitting there and I think there was a no cell phone policy. I look down and the whole family’s got their cell phones under the table getting score updates.”

(On which game) “All of them. There were some good football games on. Your family gets conditioned for a football season and you have a lot of friends across the country that compete, and then you’re thinking of your football team and all that. So, when you have a bye week you like to take advantage and be able to watch other people play. Maybe not have the stress that a normal Saturday would bring about.”

(On if there are similarities between the Stoops brothers’ defenses)
“Yes, yes a lot of similarities in terms of some fronts, some coverages, some blitz schemes. There is a lot of similarities to both.”

(On what they saw Derek Barnett before the season)
“Great, great competitor, has an internal drive, very intelligent and his effort. Usually when a young player comes into your program you have to spend an inordinate amount of time on your style of play. The effort, that’s required, and the small details. He came in and right from the get go he had another gear to himself, another level. He’s a great competitor. We want competitive greatness and he’s done a very very good job with that. Mature beyond his years.”

(On Barnett’s preseason expectations)
“We really didn’t know what to expect. Derek was an individual that wasn’t here at spring football. So, really you know what you’re getting when you show up in August. We had, with some of the rule changes, the prepared mentally, but you never knew. Then, you know, could he maintain that throughout the course of a long training camp and then obviously into the season? He’s proven that and he’s making an impact. I don’t know where we would be without him. He’s done a great great job in what we’ve asked of him. Is he not the first freshman to start at defensive end in our history in the opening game? That’s pretty remarkable.”

(On why the tempo was better at South Carolina)
“We were able to generate first downs on first and second down. We were able to get into a rhythm. We had some big splash plays, which helped, but we were able to move the football. In conjunction, that helps with the amount of plays you’re able to run. We had some big splash plays, but first and second down are critical, and then we did some good things on third downs in critical situations as well. I thought we were really able to establish a rhythm and a tempo by which we want to play with.”

(On if Lil Jon got to call any plays at practice) “It was great to have him at practice. I know our players enjoyed that. That’s the power of Tennessee. He was in town and wanted to come over and be a part of practice and all of that. It was great to see. The first thing he said to me is, `I can’t believe practice. It’s chaos.’ I said, `It’s controlled chaos.’ It was great to have him but no he didn’t call any plays.”

(On if the grind is starting to wear on Kentucky)
“I don’t know. I don’t see their players every day. I’m sure they have a great handle on it. I know for us, all I can speak of for us, this conference is a grind, not only physically but mentally as well. Everywhere you go on the road, you’re playing in hostile environments. This is a conference that’s unyielding. It’s relentless with everything that you do. It does take its toll on a football team, but I can’t speak for them. All I can do is speak for us.”

Senior Linebacker A.J. Johnson

(On how to return to playing better defense)
“Just communicating. Everybody doing their job. I know we haven’t been successful on third downs the past two weeks, and that’s what we build ourselves on throughout the whole season–getting off the field on third down. A couple busts here, a couple busts there, but we had this off week to get everything back right and how we were going in the beginning of the season. We are going to come this week and have a great third-down mentality and get off the field.”

(On if number of plays is a factor in giving up increased points)
“You can’t say that is the cause of it because we are athletes, we play football. It doesn’t matter if you get ten snaps or 80 snaps, you still have to execute your assignment at the end of the day.”

(On difficulty of communicating at Neyland Stadium)
“We love the crowd noise at home. I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to communicate. We just have to have strong communication and play together as a unit. But, the crowd noise–it doesn’t affect us. We just have to go out there and do our job.”

(On team’s attempt to earn bowl eligibility)
“Just keep working hard, pretty much. Keep going hard each day, each week. Get this win number five, so we can get to win number six. Getting to a bowl game is my last thought because I know we are going to get there. We are going to do what it takes, and we’re going to make whatever happen to get to a bowl game this year. It’s going to be a great feeling when we get there.”

(On if any younger guys have played themselves into more playing time during open week)
“Malik Foreman, he’s been stepping up making plays in practice. That’s one spot I noticed he’s been making a lot of plays in practice, stepping up.”

(On if they watched Kentucky’s game on Saturday)
“Yeah, I watched it. Like he was saying, their offense, they’ve got some skilled players and they’ve got a good quarterback. He knows how to manage the game. They’re fighting for a bowl game just like we are. Like I was saying, we’ve got to be good on third down. We know their percentage of going for it on fourth down is real high. So, we’ve got to be good on fourth down this week, expecting them to go for it on fourth down as well, keeping the quarterback contained and fitting up our runs.”

(On having Lil Jon at practice)
“It was pretty cool. He came and spoke to us before we went out to practice. It was exciting to be able to meet him in person and stuff. He had that grill in his mouth shining, it was really shining like that in person. That was nice to see.”

(On what he said to the team)
“Pretty much just wanting to come by and say he wanted to show us some love. He said he’d show us some love in the flesh. I know he did a video for us in the Neyland Stadium and he was in town, so he wanted to come by and holler at us and tell us to keep fighting pretty much, and get to a bowl game. That’s one thing he said, we’re close to making stuff happen so we might as well finish it off. He said our coach is a cool cool cat. He liked Coach Jones a lot.”

(On having Derek Barnett contribute as a freshman)
“I call him sack master.”

Sophomore Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin

(On how to return to playing better defense)
“I say just communication. Everyone has been on the same page out there. We have had some communication breakdowns here and there. Everybody just executing their assignment, playing in the scheme of the defense.”

(On differences between playing a no-huddle offense and one that does huddle)
“It’s a different style of team. We’ve seen plenty of no huddle throughout the season. Saw a lot of it earlier in the season, and, all week, we see it from our team. It’s a little bit different challenge, but it’s nothing that we can’t handle. We’ll be able to take care of it.”

(On if any younger guys have played themselves into more playing time during open week)
“”I feel like some of the DB’s like Rashaan Gaulden, guys like him, played good throughout that bye week. Bye week is basically a time for all the younger guys to develop and get ready to play. Rashaan and Jaylen Miller, I feel like, had a good bye week.”

(On if they have looked at Kentucky tape yet)
“Yeah, we’ve been watching.”

(On what they see from Kentucky’s offense)
“They’ve got some good skill players. The quarterback [Towles] does a lot for them. He can move. He’s a big guy. He can get out of the pocket. They’ve got some quarterback runs they can do and they’ve got good speed on the edge.”

(On if they watched Kentucky’s game on Saturday)
“I watched it.”

(On having Derek Barnett contribute as a freshman)
“I think it helps a lot. I talk to Derek every day, and I tell him, `You’re one of my favorite players to watch on our team.’ The way he plays, he’s a freshman but he never once was scared out there. He came in and just played his game. He’s impacting the game, helping everyone else on defense.”

Junior Wide Receiver Pig Howard

(On keeping the offense’s momentum)
“Tempo. Going and painting a picture for Joshua Dobbs. Being consistent. Just doing the little things right. Executing.”

(On if the quarterback change made the offense more explosive the past two games)
“I can say that with a running quarterback, it opened up the pass game. So, that’s got a lot to do with it. Defense can’t blitz as much at the same time. Dobbs being a running quarterback, he can keep the play alive. He can get out of the pocket. He can use his legs to get first downs. All around, it helped us.”

(On Georgia not punting against Kentucky made his eyes light up)
“Not at all. They’ve got two stand up defensive ends that impact the game as well. I think with their front, it helps the secondary in general. They’ve got confidence. They play one, play cover three, but all around I think Kentucky’s defense is the same defense over the past three years.”