Tennessee completed its 17th of 25 scheduled preseason practices on Thursday.

Aug. 18, 2016

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After taking Wednesday off to usher in the start of the new school year, the University of Tennessee football team returned to the practice fieldon Thursday for a two-hour session in full pads.

Working outdoors at Haslam Field, Team 120 began its 17th practice of preseason at 4:30 p.m. and continued its preparations for the 2016 season opener. Now just two calendar weeks away, the Vols kick off the 2016 season against Appalachian State on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET. That season-opener will mark the firstThursday game played at Neyland Stadium since 1938.

At the conclusion of practice, head coach Butch Jones spoke to a large group of local reporters out on the practice field. Jones discussed his team’s progress through the first 17 days of the preseason and offered his remarks related toThursday’s retirement announcement from UT Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart.

Butch Jones | Head Coach | 4th Season

“Obviously, coming off an off-day, the start of school, I was very, very interested to see how our players would respond. I liked the way they came out with energy. I liked their effort early, but way too many mistakes. We’re not playing winning football right now. But that’s why you practice. We’ll get better. We’ll be better for it. But I did like their approach to practice today.

“I want a clean practice. We’ve got to start getting game-ready now. The intensity, everything has to pick up. It’s basically game week for us, in a mindset, and we have to challenge our conditioning.”

(Regarding Dave Hart’s retirement announcement on Thursday morning)
“I’d like to thank Dave Hart for everything he’s done for the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Football and for Butch Jones, as well. Everything is about leaving a place better than it was when you came here and I can tell you this; I think I speak for everyone and for every single coach that Dave Hart has made Tennessee Athletics much, much better because he’s a leader. When you look at our academics, you look at our entire structure and you look at the morale, you look inside the building and all of the progress with the facilities, that’s all his vision. So again, I’d like to say thank you to him.”

(On his first-ever meeting and interview with Dave Hart)
“That was a long night. You know, I had a great job. We had just won a championship [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][at Cincinnati] and I wasn’t looking to leave but obviously, it was Tennessee with the great tradition, great fan base and everything. That was a long night in Lexington, Kentucky, but Dave Hart sold me on a vision. He has given us everything that we’ve needed to be successful here. He understands what it is to be a coach and he’s meant a lot. That’s not just with football. If you talk to Rick Barnes or if you talk to Holly [Warlick] or if you talk to anyone, he’s been very, very supportive. As we all know, he’s extremely competitive. He thinks like a coach and that’s been very helpful in turning this football program around.”

(On what he knew of Dave Hart prior to taking the job at Tennessee) 
“I tried to do my research and what I knew was he had a tremendous reputation of building programs. When you look at the success that he had, whether it was East Carolina or Florida State, I found that everyone spoke very highly of him.”