After Getting New Deal, Jones Focuses On Hawkeyes

"First and foremost, we have to get our health back to our football team. We talked about this continuously throughout the season about the inordinate amount of repetitions, the volume of repetitions, that our players have had to play with. We've had some injuries. We've had some individuals really trying to play. One person who really goes unnoticed is Josh Malone. (He) has been going through some nagging injuries in a number of areas. Josh doesn't say anything. He just tries to compete. I know it has bothered him because he hasn't been able to get out there and give everything that he has, but he's attempted to give all that he has. He will give all that he has. He will have a great week of bowl preparation. We spoke about that with him doing his due diligence which he has in the training room. He'll bounce back because he's Josh Malone.

"You look at Jason Croom, another individual who is trying to fight through some injuries, so again we've challenged him in the strength and conditioning area. Another individual who has been banged up maybe since week two is Daniel Helm with an ankle. He never says two words about it. He continues to go out there and practice each and every day. These are all youngsters. And then you all know about Curt Maggitt, getting his health back. Mack Crowder as well. All these individuals will play in the TaxSlayer Bowl. They'll play in the Gator Bowl.

"(We can work on) strength and conditioning. We've had so many individuals this year that when you play the inordinate amount of freshmen that we've had to play, you do not have luxury of putting them through basically an offseason in season strength and conditioning program, so to be able to go back and work on our strength levels that will provide tremendous momentum for when we do come back. And when we do start our strength and conditioning sessions in January that they're not sitting at home for a month and a half. They've already gone through that and that will help continue their continually growth and development and team togetherness.

"We talk about the longevity, life expectancy of this football team and it gives us a few more weeks to be together, continue to grow our family, our brotherhood. Excited about that, and then another opportunity to compete and represent the state of Tennessee and entire University of Tennessee and Vol Nation. To be able to compete on the center stage January 2 is a great, great platform to show the entire country what we're building and what's going on here at Tennessee.

"I know our fan base is energized. I got word yesterday that our fan base actually crashed the bowl web site, so I don't know if they have it up and running yet but that's a tribute to them. It's a great accomplishment to play in a January bowl game, and our fan base can take great pride in knowing that they also had a hand. They also were a deciding factor of that January 2 bowl game because of the loyal support, the energy that they've provided into this football program and the support has started for two years. But you just look at this past year of our spring game and the attendance. You look at our open practice and the attendance. You look at fan attendance up. You look at our student body and everything they've meant. There are special things going on here and I hope everyone realizes that, and we have concrete evidence surrounding those statements, so I'll answer any questions you may have."

(On if he sees a bowl game as a reward or business trip)
"Both. It's a reward for our fan base. It's a reward for our football team. It's a reward for our seniors. But make no mistake about it, you go there to win the football game. Your preparation, your mental effort, your mental intensity doesn't change one bit. So it's all in your approach. You have to have tremendous, tremendous practices here in Knoxville. Then when we go down to Jacksonville, we have to have a bulls eye focus which we talk about. But there's one thing to be a participant of a bowl game, it's another to win the football game. This is going to be a great challenge for us. I came in early this morning before I came back from recruiting and go out for recruiting, but my iPad is loaded with Iowa video, and I was able to watch one of their games from this past season. (Iowa is a) very physical football team. Very sound, very well coached, so again, it all comes in your preparation."

(On the spring board of playing in a bowl game)
"When you look at them experiencing a 5:30 emergency team meeting and them sitting in there and finding out that they will be playing in a January bowl game. Just seeing their excitement. It was also a great illustration for all of our younger players in the program, how to manage the natural adversities that a long football season brings about, how you control everything but also the standards and the expectations. And it really is a game of inches. I believe 14 points on our side of the division this year was the difference. So we will go back and search for those 14 points when January comes. It is just an illustration of working hard, the vision and the standard and the expectations that we have placed forth in this football program."

(On the importance of playing in a bowl game to recruiting)
"Monumental. It is evidence now with prospective student-athletes of what is going on here. I think it speaks volumes that the TaxSlayer Bowl would invite the University of Tennessee. They had many, many options, they had many choices. I believe it will really help us. It should help cement our recruiting and bring that class together but also it is an illustration of what is going on here. So we have 13 players from the state of Florida, so for them to go back home and really play before their friends and their families will be very special to them as well."

(The ability to show off the team to recruits with a January bowl game)
"It's evidence now with prospective student-athletes of what's going on here and I think it speaks volumes that the TaxSlayer.com Bowl would invite the University of Tennessee. They had many, many options. They had many choices. I believe it will really help us. It should help cement, so to speak, our recruiting and bring that class together. Also it's an illustration of what's going on here. We have 13 players from the state of Florida, so for them to be able to go back home and play in front of their friends and their families will be very special to them as well."

(When the TaxSlayer.com Bowl came up on his radar)
"At maybe 5:20, Dave Hart walked into my office with a big smile. I tell you what Dave deserves applause and great appreciation for making this happen. I know he worked tirelessly, he worked relentlessly, as he always does each and every day for all of our sports. But he deserves a great thank you because he was instrumental in getting this done."

(On how much he wanted to get the contract extension done so it wouldn't be a distraction for bowl prep)
"It was never a distraction. But again it's nice to be able to prepare our football team, developing our program out on the recruiting end. It's just closure on a lot of things and now we can focus on the things that we need to focus on."

(On if he worries about needing to reel in guys to get back in to bowl preparation mode)
"Well you're always concerned. But the body of work throughout the course of the season, the leadership that has been provided by everyone in our football program - I have evidence now that they are mature beyond their years. They understand the task at hand. It's our job to continue to educate them on the bowl process. There isn't anyone who can really step up in a room who has participated in a bowl who can step up and say, `This is how you handle yourselves.' We have great character young men in our football program, but we'll continually to speak about it. I'm evaluating them all the time. Their first examination was Saturday when we practiced. And I thought they had tremendous energy. At first I thought it was the energy and the excitement equivalent to the first day of spring practice. They got after it, they competed and then we backed it up with another solid practice.”

(On what advice he has given the players on balancing exams and their preparation for the bowl)
"It's all about living in the moment, the power of one, which we've talked about all year. Right now I want all of their total focus on exams and winning in the classroom, that's first and foremost. Then once we win in the classroom, then we go into bowl preparation. So again, it's just focus on the moment, treat every day as an opportunity to get better. It's every individual in our football program taking individual accountability - their responsible for their own self determination to be the best that they can possibly be. And we'll continue to educate them with how you handle the clutter and the distractions, especially when you get to the bowl site, all those little things."

(On the team's reaction when he called the emergency team meeting to announce the bowl, especially the seniors)
"Very emotional. They're sitting in there and they think they know what's coming, and you know that they don't know they don't know what's coming. So to be able to walk in there and talk to them about just being part of this whole bowl experience and what it presents and what our football program is and we took a quick journey back down memory lane of how far we've come when we started this journey last year. We started this journey on the Monday after the conclusion of the Kentucky game (last year). Every year they were used to having a couple of weeks off and we went right into our offseason strength and conditioning program to let them understand that it's unacceptable to not be going to bowl games at the University of Tennessee.”

(On the surprise he and the players had when they learned of their inclusion in the TaxSlayer Bowl)

“[It was a shock] because they listen to you guys [the media]. You know, with the invention of Twitter and all these fictitious web sites and erroneous things that are out there, you can't help but hear it. I even saw a couple false reports and I'm like, "This can't be happening." And it just goes to show you that you deal with the facts and sometimes you may think you really know and you don't know. So those players walked into that room really not knowing what was coming, just like myself, up until about 5:20. I was believing and hearing the same things everyone else does.”

(On how important it was to get a pay increase for his assistant coaches)

“[It was] critical. It's really not about me. It will never be about me. It's about our football program at the University of Tennessee and rewarding achievement, which Dave Hart just spoke about. It's all about the coaches and it's all about everyone in this football program.

(On the status of A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams).”

It's status quo right now.

(On the injury status of freshman RB Jalen Hurd)

“He's had a green jersey for about the last four weeks. A lot of that has nothing to do with health; it has to do with the health of the position. Right now we don't have much depth at the running back position so you have to pick your spots when you practice with a high level of physicality. A lot of that is just protecting him because of our depth at that position.”

(On being able to pitch this season's bowl game appearance to recruits)

“It obviously makes [the recruiting process] a lot easier. And then when you couple the fact that it's a January 2nd bowl game, the great tradition and pageantry of the bowl game, that just adds to it. But even if we didn't, all our prospective student-athletes understand what's going on here. Unless you're in it every day, it's night and day. It's a tribute to our players. Our players have done a tremendous job, they've done everything that we've asked of them. I'm indebted to them. It's our job to coach them, to critique them, to push them to where they can't take themselves, but also we love them. They mean a lot to our entire staff because of what we've been through this entire season. But it does help in the recruiting aspect of things. Now when you turn every TV show on, every sports show, they're going to be talking about the University of Tennessee. They're going to see that national brand, that Power T, every day when they talk about the bowl games. And then obviously, the great bowl game, the TaxSlayer Bowl, adds to that as well.”

(On how the perception of the SEC being a speed league and the Big Ten being a power league plays into the matchup with Iowa)

“A lot of it is just perception. Every conference, every team has a style of play. We always talk about at Tennessee we want to play to a style of play that's only common and unique to Tennessee. But I don't believe in that. The Big Ten has great football, they have very, very good speed. They're physical. It's a very, very good football conference. So I really don't get into that. All I do is I look at the opponent that we're playing and dissect them and, in the little bit I've been able to watch with Iowa, we're going to have to play our best football.”

(On finding out about Jacksonville)
"We didn't really know what bowl we were going to play in. There were a lot of rumors floating around. The first thing I did was text a lot of my friends back home and text my friends.

"There were a lot of rumors floating around. I'm sure y'all heard some things, but honestly, we really didn't know."

(On being able to get tickets for all his friends)
"It's going to be tough. I was already thinking about that. I think we get six tickets this game, so I'm going to try to get some guys to help me out."

(On the team's reaction when they found out)
"It was wild. It was pure excitement. We really appreciate the Gator Bowl giving us that bid and it was a great, great time."

(On ending career with a bowl game as one of the few seniors)
"To go from no bowl games the last couple years to us playing in a January bowl game like the Gator Bowl is a great feeling."

(On what he knows about Iowa)
I talked to (Danny) O'Brien who had a friend that played against them and he said that they had a solid offensive line and an offensive tackle. We're just going to prepared like it's any other game. We're going to be prepared; we've got a whole month.

(On if this is a rewards trip or a business trip)
"Of course it's going to be a good time. Postseason play is going to be exciting and a good time, but we're going down there with a business mindset and preparing this month with a business mindset because we still have a game to win."

(On how this team is going to prevent the bowl experience from being a factor)
"Our coaching staff has experience with bowls and I'm sure they know that we might get caught up in a little bit of the excitement, so I trust their preparation in us getting ready to play in this bowl." (On if he feels like UT needs to represent the SEC against the Big 10)
"It's Tennessee playing Iowa, but I'm sure that comes into factor."

(On how surprised he was to find out they were going to a Florida bowl game)
"The thing is we heard a lot of different rumors from a lot of different bowl games. I know early in the season my mom said `I hope you end up back in Florida so we can stay in this warm weather,' but the Gator Bowl chose us. It's a great thing."

(On yesterday's practice)
"Practice was fun yesterday. I can tell you that. I think we got back to just playing football yesterday. We weren't focused on any other team. We weren't preparing, no scouts, no looks, nothing like that. We got back to just playing each other and competing. I'm not going to lie, that's the most fun I've had in practice

(On the importance of the extra practices)
"These extra 15 practices. These young guys, a lot of them play on scout teams during the season and they don't get to get first team looks and stuff like that, so they're in another position that they normally wouldn't be playing and to get them reps here, 15 practices here, and then take that intro the spring and then they get another 15 in the spring and take that to the fall. It's like a whole other spring. To get them a lot of reps and get them a lot of looks is really big."

(On what the fifth-year seniors have said about the bowl atmosphere)
"They just told us how much fun it is, how exciting it is to be able to go to a different city and spend time with your teammates. It's separate from just football (and) how great it is just to have the whole experience."

(On what bowl game he was expecting)
"I really didn't have any idea all the way up until we figured it out. We were hearing rumors from everywhere. We really didn't know where we were going but when he said we were in a January bowl, that made a huge difference. There's literally a difference between December 30 and January 1. That next step, the bowl site is even better. We're super excited that we get a chance to play in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl."

(On how hard it was to stay focused waiting to find out the bowl game)
"I mean at this point, we're happy ot go anywhere, so it wasn't on our mind. We were just going out to practice to have fun like we always do. We had a ball at practice yesterday. We got a lot of scrimmaging done to where we were doing situations and for a good eight to 10 periods we were just playing each other. We weren't thinking about anything else. It helped to get things off our mind."

(On Coach Jones contract extension)
"It's huge because I believe in Coach Jones. I know he can do a lot of great things. I would really want him to stay as long as possible and be able to get freshmen coming in next year all the way through all five years if they're here and just keep building the program up. It really gives us a lot of confidence in him. I want to be one of the VFLs coming back and being excited to come to a game and cheer on the Vols."

(On how this game can set the tone for next season)
"I think it's going to be big. The way I see it is that there's no turning back now. We had a 6-6 season and we got the chance to play in the TaxSlayer Bowl, but now we just got to keep climbing. This is the first stepping stone. Next year, we're going to elevate and the next year, we're going to elevate."

(On the importance of the extra practices)
"I think it's real big for our linebacker room. We have a lot of young guys in the room. I'm one of the most experienced players, and I'm just a sophomore. I think it's going to help our linebacker room a lot getting those guys reps and helping them play because really some of the guys that have been on scout team they haven't just been playing our defense since like week two or three, so it's big for them." 

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)