Butch Jones Tuesday Press Conference Notes

[Smokefatty]

Good thought. I just would have expected more commentary from Butch if that was the case. We've seen it with Maggitt. IDK.

He didn't really get into specifics about certain players except when he was asked directly. Most of the PC was devoted to him answering reporters questions. Nobody thought to ask why Lane didn't get more PT. I would like to know as well, but I suspect Sparta is close to the truth.

 

[james_govols]

Lane will get his carries this year. Hurd just has so much potential. How can you leave him off the field?

 

[cusincousin]

Is it just me or is Jones either overselling Hurd or justifying him continuing to get 1st snaps? No idea what Lane did but to get 0 mentions when you had more yardage was a little odd.

If you add rushes and catches, Hurd had 1 more yard.

 

[volfansince88]

I heard Butch's opening comments before the questions and if you didn't know the outcome of the game, you would have thought that we were on the losing end of it. But, that is what I love about him. Great coaches are meticulous in their preparation and he leaves no stone unturned. It WAS a good win, but he knows that there are going to be a lot of games that we may be the ball and not the bat, so he is truly looking at every detail of every player on every play to get them better.This is what is going to get us back to the TOP!:salute:

 

[IBlvNTmWrk]

Also found this comment interesting...

Major, major, major improvements must occur with this football team and it starts with special teams. We did not play winning football on special teams.

I thought the special teams actually played quite well (other than the missed FG)... especially when compared to last year.

• Very limited yards by USU on kick-off and punt returns.
• Good overall coverage and good team tackling.
• Forced fumble and recovery.
• Good field position on our punt returns (seemed like most were short and Cam did a good job of charging up to field the punt in the air rather than letting it bounce.
• Our kick-off returns were decent.

What am I missing in terms of needing "major, major, major improvement"?

 

[IluvdoubleD's]

I would hate to play poker against this man.

 

[DD4ME]

Also found this comment interesting...



I thought the special teams actually played quite well (other than the missed FG)... especially when compared to last year.

• Very limited yards by USU on kick-off and punt returns.
• Good overall coverage and good team tackling.
• Forced fumble and recovery.
• Good field position on our punt returns (seemed like most were short and Cam did a good job of charging up to field the punt in the air rather than letting it bounce.
• Our kick-off returns were decent.

What am I missing in terms of needing "major, major, major improvement"?

Didn't they have like one or 2 good returns? I can specifically remember one. Also we had 0 kicks that were out the back of the endzone or not returned. That was a let down. I agree though I didn't see the very very stuff coming.

 

[Freak]

Also found this comment interesting...



I thought the special teams actually played quite well (other than the missed FG)... especially when compared to last year.

• Very limited yards by USU on kick-off and punt returns.
• Good overall coverage and good team tackling.
• Forced fumble and recovery.
• Good field position on our punt returns (seemed like most were short and Cam did a good job of charging up to field the punt in the air rather than letting it bounce.
• Our kick-off returns were decent.

What am I missing in terms of needing "major, major, major improvement"?

Here's some quotes from Butch.

(​On who he was disappointed with on special teams)
"All of them. It was exceptionally disappointing. Everything starts with operation and timing. Our punts and field goal executions were too long. I didn't like our coverage on the punt team. Our kickers didn't do a good job of putting the ball in the box on kickoffs. They sprayed the ball, which puts your coverage team in some really challenging situations. Our kickoff return teams didn't maintain blocks or work with space well. We have changed our schemes this year with some nuances, but we weren't able to get the ball back to the field. On special teams, it is one out of 11. everyone has an assignment to do that's impacting to the game. Some of these individuals may only have four or five plays in a game, but you can impact a game. You might be the right guard on kickoff return and only get four snaps, but why don't you be the best right guard return man in America? We invest too much time in special teams to come out and perform like that. We have a lot of new players and faces. The speed of the game was kind of a shock to them, but we weren't in the proper body positions. It was a magnitude of a lot of little things."

 

[vol-un-tear]

Here's the video and a link to my notes, if anyone is interested.

Butch Jones Tuesday Presser: Arkansas State - VolNation Blog

:salute:

 

[KBVol]

Also found this comment interesting...



I thought the special teams actually played quite well (other than the missed FG)... especially when compared to last year.

• Very limited yards by USU on kick-off and punt returns.
• Good overall coverage and good team tackling.
• Forced fumble and recovery.
• Good field position on our punt returns (seemed like most were short and Cam did a good job of charging up to field the punt in the air rather than letting it bounce.
• Our kick-off returns were decent.

What am I missing in terms of needing "major, major, major improvement"?

We gave up a 36 yd kickoff return and our blocking was poor on our returns... Devrin had no creases and didn't make it back to the 20 on either one. Only things I could think of.

 

[UTProf]

Maybe the strategy was to use Hurd early and often to get him seasoned for tougher games coming? Hurd did well for a first game, but a lot of people were looking for more of a Nick Chubb-type intro.

I do think you're right that the idea was to get him touches early and often but expecting a Chubb like intro given how the teams played is a bit silly. If you watched the UGA game any one of us and our grandmothers could've run the holes UGA's line was making in the 2nd half. Clemson was tired as hell and not long into the 2nd half they managed to lay down and die even more epically than Dooley coached team. At one point, Gurley ran through a hole where he literally looked completely alone on the field. In contrast, USU was stacking the box all night long.

 

[IndianaVol]

Special teams - CBJ is getting the team ready for what's to come...e.g. UGA looked like a friggin' NFL team in the return game.

Hurd vs Lane - I believe Jones and Bajakian are resting Lane and giving the game experience to Hurd so when the SEC comes knocking we can go 2 backs and not wear out our guys...jmo

 

[P.O.T.S. VOL]

Lane hasn't made it healthy thru a year yet. Why push him in the first game.

Spot on Sparty...spot on. No sarcasm!

 

[DynaLo]

The absence of Lane in the first half was perplexing, I thought.

Looks like the coaches would like the Freshman to get game time in the first outings since they know that Lane is a proven game day player. Lane just needed to knock the rust off but Hurd was an unknown in that environment.

 

[NMVol]

Jones did a good job of maximizing the pressure on Hurd. Hurd responded well. As nice as Hurds conversion of the screen pass was running past 5 defenders, Lane's touchdown was a stunning slash of similar length between the tackles. Its gonna be alright.

 

[JohnMarxism]

The special teams are better than last year (Especially the Auburn game). I'm content with that alone.

 

[UTwick]

What was with the shortened kickoffs later in the game? Was Medley injured and that is why he was limited in Tuesday's practice?