Tennessee and Kentucky renew their long-running rivalry Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, and the Vols want to keep their dominance over the Wildcats intact.
The Vols (3-4, 1-3) have won 29 of the last 30 meetings with the Wildcats (4-3, 2-3) since 1985 and have a commanding 77-24-9 lead in the 110-game series. Tennessee is 36-14-3 all-time versus Kentucky in Lexington.
This weekend’s Halloween Night contest – kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
is the first October meeting between the two teams since 1944.
On Monday, Tennessee coach Butch Jones and selected players took part in the team’s weekly press conference in Knoxville.
It was also announced on Monday that the South Carolina-Tennessee football game on Nov. 7 in Knoxville will be televised by the SEC Network. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Following is an edited transcript of Monday's press conference:
(Opening Statement from Butch Jones)
"In terms of the Alabama game and moving forward, it's pretty much the same from the postgame press conference. I was very proud of our players. I thought they played with great competitive grit. They showed great effort and gave us an opportunity to win the football game. When you look at it, we play winning football and put ourselves in position to win football games for 56 minutes. Now, how do we continue to elevate our play to close and finish games off? That's been the topic after the game and will be the topic again today. Our kids come to work every day, and we have only had one goal in our football program since the season started. That one goal is to be a better team and a better football program each and every day.
"Moving forward, Kentucky is a great football team. It's going to be a challenge in and of itself, going over to Lexington. It's going to be a great environment with a 7:30 kickoff. I have a lot of respect for what Mark (Stoops) is building at Kentucky. He has done a very good job there. They are very explosive on offense. They can score any time they get the football. They do a great job of distributing and running the football. I am very familiar with Patrick Towles, being from right outside Cincinnati. We recruited him at Cincinnati, and he was our number one target. He comes from a great high school program. I think he is one of the best quarterbacks in our conference. Defensively, they are very physical and play with great effort. They are very stout up front and have the luxury to play man-to-man coverage anywhere on the football field."
Reeves-Maybin Thriving, Bringing Kirkland Along
Junior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin has continued his steady production as a team leader and a central figure of the Volunteer defense. The Clarksville, Tenn., native leads the Vols in five major defensive statistical categories (total tackles, solo tackles, assisted tackles, sacks, and tackles for loss) and is coming off another solid outing after racking up a team-high 11 tackles, a sack, and 2.5 tackles for loss at Alabama.
Heading into Saturday's contest at Kentucky, Reeves-Maybin ranks third in the SEC in tackles for loss with 1.5 TFLs. He also ranks among the conference leaders in tackles per game (9.3) and solo tackles per game (5.5).
Given his production on the field and his vocal leadership in the locker room, Reeves-Maybin has become a natural mentor for the up-and-coming Tennessee linebackers looking to make a sustained impact on Rocky Top. One of those players that has taken up a residence under Reeves-Maybin's wing is freshman Darrin Kirkland Jr.
"You know, he's the leader of our room," Kirkland said. "He's done a great job of putting me under his wing, and bringing me along. Everything we've done this year, he's been great. I'll hopefully just follow in his footsteps."
When it comes to following footsteps, Kirkland is off to a nice start. The true freshman has appeared in all seven games this season, with starts at the mike linebacker position in each of the last three games, and has notched 29 total tackles to go along with two sacks. He matched his season-high this past weekend with seven tackles against Alabama.
Martin Impressing on the Field
Sophomore defensive back Justin Martin has been earning more and more playing time for the Vols.
"We have a lot of confidence in Justin Martin,” Jones said. "Our players do, our coaches do; everyone in our football organization has a ton of confidence in him. He's an individual who has great instincts, great length, and he's very, very competitive."
At 6-1 with great length and speed, Martin has a prototypical body for a cornerback. He also has something else.
"When you think of Justin, I get excited because he loves to compete - he loves football," Jones said. "He wants to be in those trying situations. He wants to be in those competitive matchups. He wants to run down on kickoff. Justin has been one of our most productive players on kickoff as well."
Martin is in his first year at Tennessee after transferring from Northeast Oklahoma A&M. Additionally, the Antioch, Tenn., native is doing this after missing a large part of training camp due to injury.
"To his credit, he worked exceptionally hard to get himself back, and I thought he did some very, very good things," Jones continued. "A lot of it is he just needs as many repetitions as possible in terms of technique and all that."
Martin had the most productive game of his Volunteer career against Alabama as he recorded seven tackles and a pass breakup against the then-No. 8-ranked Crimson Tide.
"I thought he did a good job of tackling in space and leveraging the football," Jones said. "I thought he had a very productive day for us. I thought he played winning football for us."
Freshman LB Darrin Kirkland Jr.
(On the team’s mindset this week)
"Really just getting better. We're really just a motivated bunch. You know we got Kentucky next week. That's all we're really focused on right now. Just being better and getting another SEC win. That's all we're focued on."
(On personal improvements)
"Really just my mental focus. My mental capacity of the game. Understanding the game from a bigger overview. You know, taking my weekly preparation for the game a lot more seriously, that's helped me prepare for the bigger teams that we have played."
Sophomore WR Josh Malone
(On teammate Jalen Hurd)
"Jalen is a great back. He does a lot for the team. He is a hard worker just like everybody else out there. He is definitely one of the top backs in the nation."
(On difference in wide receiver production)
"What we are doing better is really just focusing on the assignment and detail and coming out every day for practice, focusing on getting better and certain skill sets."
Junior QB Joshua Dobbs
(On Jack Jones and Chance Hall making first career starts vs. Alabama)
"They fought until the game was over. I love seeing that. Obviously we all have things to improve on, but I love seeing them come out and compete and competing to win. They're out there from the beginning with a good look in their eyes that they were confident and ready to go and motivated to play hard."
(On rushing and how it affects his game)
"I feel great. It's good; it's been productive for us. We've put up numbers and we've been able to move the ball effectively. Anything to help the team win, that's what I am here to do."
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)