KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Head coach Butch Jones spoke to the media duringWednesday’s press conference, followed by offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike DeBord, defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Larry Scott.

Saturday’s Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol vs. Virginia Tech kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC with Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, and Samantha Ponder calling the action. More than 150,000 fans are expected to pack Bristol Motor Speedway in what is being billed as “College Football’s Biggest Ever” game.

Butch Jones | Head Coach | Fourth Season

(On conditioning Team 120 for an up-tempo rhythm vs. Virginia Tech)
“It’s something that we’ve trained for for a while. Obviously – first and foremost – they practice against it each and every day. Every offense has a little different nuance and has a little different flavor and tempo on how they manage the cadence and the line of scrimmage. It’s something that we train for in our standard periods and in the strength and conditioning room. The big thing is that our players just have to know that they’re going to have to play an extended amount of time. They’re going to have to play some extended plays. It’s all in how you embrace it. Your substitution has to be crisp when you’re able to do that. So there’s a lot that goes into it, but our kids will be ready. They’ve been preparing for this for a while.”

Mike DeBord | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks | Second Season

(On the tackles last week and how they will handle Virginia Tech)
“Anytime you get your tackles out there one-on-one, it is hard for them. Especially when you had wide rushers like they did last week and they were in the odd front. We will see rushers like that this week in the bare front. We have to do a good job of that and we have things that will help them. We will continue to do that. I think upfront the guys know they were inconsistent. We weren’t just inconsistent at center, tackle and guards; we were just inconsistent. In order to become a better unit we have to become consistent upfront. It’s like someone said, every week we got better up front last year and now this group has to do that.”

Bob Shoop | Defensive Coordinator | First Season

(On being the first no huddle defense)
“We are going to be the first no huddle tempo defense in the world this week. When they get to the line of scrimmage, we’re going to beat them to the line of scrimmage. First up mentality, it’s getting your eyes to the sideline, it’s post-snap effort. Then it’s IDing the call and communicating and it’s getting your cleats in the ground and diagnosing the play and being ready to go. We don’t really have a choice so we better be ready to go.”

Larry Scott | Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends | First Season

(On making adjustments to special teams entering Week 2)
“My experience with [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”][Virginia Tech] is that they’re a group that has always taken great pride in how they play from a special teams standpoint. We are presenting that challenge to our kids – to come out and play our style of play. We don’t have to do anything more than that. We just need to do the things that we are good at, and the things we ask them to execute, and play to our style of play. Our kids are going to accept that challenge and do it.”

More Sound Bites

Head coach Butch Jones
(On playing with multiple personnel groupings)

“We like to play with multiple personnel groupings. Football is a game of match-ups but also we have to be able to get into personnel groupings where we could do multiple formations and different schemes and not substitute. That’s where we’re going to be challenged with Virginia Tech, they do a good job with that offensively and it’s something that we will do as well. But it’s a balancing act because there are also certain plays and formations where we want to get match-ups as well.”

Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike DeBord
(On moving forward into Game Week Two)

“The biggest thing we have seen from looking at the tape is that we are one guy away. It was not the same guy all the time, but on offense when you execute you have to be 11 for 11. Again, we just had one guy that did not get his technique done and it slowed us up in execution. The biggest thing we have to do is know that it is going to be another game like [App State]. They load the box up, they play a lot of man to man coverage with no body free. Basically it is going to be a one-on-one battle and you have to win your one-on-one match-ups.”

Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop
(On Virginia Tech receivers)

“That’s as good a receiver corps in college football right now, really. Isaiah Ford has caught a lot of balls and is one of the top receivers in the ACC. Bucky Hodges certainly creates unique match-up problems with his size and Cam Phillips had a big game last week, catching the first touchdown of the year and he’s an excellent slot receiver. He’s done a really, really good job. Certainly Jerod Evans did a really good job finding those guys last week. He spread the ball around and they all got touches and that seems to be part of their MO, to get guys touches. They did a good job.”

Special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Larry Scott
(On UT’s special teams performance during Game One)

“I thought it was a great start to the season. Anytime you go into a first game, you’re not really sure what you are going to get and people have a whole offseason to scheme you up a little bit and some of those things you got to be ready to adjust. I thought the kids did a really good job of handling a couple of in-game adjustments that we had to make based on what we were getting. At the end of the day what we want to see is them out there competing and trying to execute the things and fundamentals that we have been working on through the year.”