KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football coach Butch Jones held his weekly Monday press conference.
(Opening statement)
"Tough times challenge you, but I truly believe that they form who you are. You find out a lot about yourself. To sit here and look at where we are, when you take the emotion out of it, I still see us improving as a football team.
I still see us getting better week in and week out. There are three things I look for if a football team has lost (its) edge or competitive character, and those three things have not occurred. First is turnover margin. We are taking care of the football offensively. We are taking the football away defensively, but we still need to create more turnovers. You look at the performance of our special teams. I think the special teams tell you the dynamics of a football team. Right now, we are excelling (with our) special teams. Those are individuals who are really embracing their roles in our football program. Then, you look at our penalties. We have been a disciplined football team. This football team is comprised of good character individuals, and we will go back to work today and work to improve. We have a resilient group of kids. We are going to continue to make progress and move forward.
"Georgia comes in as a very talented and complete football team. When you look at them defensively, they play a number of guys up front. Really, that is what you look at when you look at a program. How many guys do they play on the defensive line? They play a number of individuals. They have the luxury of being very, very deep there. They have a great line backing core. That is shown with the top prospects in our conference, and then they have a very talented secondary that gives you multiple looks, so they do a great job schematically. Offensively, we understand the depth that they have at running back in Nick Chubb and the entire running back core. They have very big, strong, veteran offensive linemen. They have good receivers. All the quarterback has to do is manage the football game. As of right now, if we do get all of the helmets in, I want to announce that we will debut our Smokey Grey uniforms, which does not help you win a football game, but I know everyone has been looking forward to that."
(On making adjustments)
"You say it right from the get-go. We have a checklist and I watch both sides of the ball. I have cutups made but I also like the continuous game. You spend a lot of time dissecting it. You dissect it; is it scheme, is it fundamentals and details, is it personnel. We do it all the time. That is never changed. I think if you were to come in and watch video in the eyes of a coach it would really change your perspective. You sit there and it's a team sport, a lot of times Saturday, in all three phases we are one player, one execution, one detail, and one fundamental away. That's usually the case, the thing is getting all eleven individuals. We talk about that, we look at that in every stage of the game, even braking down third downs and first downs so a lot goes into that."
(On Saturday meeting with upperclassmen)
"Very encouraged. They are very realistic, they understand. The message was very, very simple, I always talk the truth, I speak the truth. The truth of the matter is we are a good football team. We've lost to three very, very good opponents. We're seeing that now, over a period of time we're seeing that. What are we 11 points away, but what are we doing to gain those 11 points? It's the consistency in performance, it's the focus, the fundamentals, the eye-discipline. All those things we can control. I want our players to understand that we are a good football team and it's a long football season ahead of us. It's making us better. I told them they're going to refer back to this whether it's this year, whether it's next year, whether its three years from now, maybe it's 10 years from now in their life."
(On use of the zone-read)
"I am trying to go back. I believe we called the zone-read 15 or 16 times. Again, remember maybe to the naked eye there are different nuances off of the zone-read. A couple times we threw the ball out on the perimeter. That's a zone-read, it's based on the defense's look. This week we arc-released the tight end a little bit because of the drop-down safety in quarters coverage. We did call a lot of the zone-read, sometimes we spit the ball out on quick screens. Sometimes it's a run-pass option with a throw down the field. A couple completions down the field were off the zone-read scheme. Do we just blindly call the zone-read and just call one play with it, I think we did that probably three or four times."
(On Dobbs' aggressiveness in passing game and ability to see field)
"I do think he is being aggressive. I think he is making good decisions with the football. The aggressiveness hasn't really been an issue. He knows where he is going with the football. He has done a very good job with that. I think he is seeing the field. Whether it is being a high vision or low vision when the pocket collapses, when you take off and run, you aren't seeing it. I think he has done a fairly good job of that. There are a couple plays, like every game, that we would like to have back, particularly the second play of the game. I thought he did a very good job Saturday of really getting the ball down to his second or third reads in the progression when they weren't there. That is where you saw a bunch of swing routes to our backs and really creating space for them. A lot of times, that was his third read in the progression. Do we need to continue to progress and get better? Absolutely. But, I see him being aggressive, but we have to continue to execute as well. I have been pleased with that part of it."
(On the effects of Dylan Wiesman’s injury and keeping Quinten Dormady involved)
"Well we'll continue to have competition there. Mack Crowder did some good things when he entered the game. I thought Jack Jones continues to get better. He's really, really worked in terms of his pass protection skills. He's done a very good job with that. So, we'll continue to have competition for those spots. And all those individuals get valuable repetitions throughout the course of the week. So that's one thing we feel very comfortable with, but you know, I thought our offensive line in general did some very good things Saturday. Dormady? Yeah we would still like to continue to progress and get him in. Quinten has done some very good things, and just his overall command like I've talked about before of the offense. A lot of times it's just where the game is, but he has earned our trust."
(On tackling Georgia RB Nick Chubb)
"It's a challenge because he possesses so many traits of being a great running back. He can get the tough yards, he can put his shoulder down. He has great burst, acceleration and pad level. He can also make the second-level defender miss. It really challenges your discipline. It challenges with your eyes on your thighs and shrinking your base and coming to balance but not stopping your feet. We ran into some issues Saturday night because we had a core base and stopped our feet. You kind of have to work toward the defender with your eye discipline, never stopping your feet and running through contact. That is why we say drive for five. He challenges you because he can do all the things that a great back can do."
(On Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle)
"I was very encouraged. I thought Shy played the best game he's played all year. When you see 300-plus pounds, I thought his effort was outstanding. He was able to win some one-on-one matchups in the pass protection area against the offensive linemen. I thought Kahlil did some very good things of holding his gap and being active. When we watched the film, we were very, very encouraged with those two individuals. They did a very, very good job."
(On how the coaching staff can improve)
"I think, first of all, it's holding our players responsible to a high level, a high standard of excellence in terms of fundamentals and the small details of what it takes to play winning football consistently. It all starts with fundamentals. The fundamentals of the game of football never change. Blocking, tackling, executing our systems. That's on us as coaches, to make sure that we hold them accountable. We practice it, and they understand that from day one. Our players will do that. They want to learn. They want to get better.
"First and foremost, it starts with me being very detail driven. Right now I think we lack, if you said, `What's the major improvement [needed] in our football team?' It's the small details. It's doing the little things correctly that add up to the big things. It may just [be] your eye discipline, understanding down and distance, communication, understanding splits, understanding stances of a defensive lineman. Those are all small things that add up to the execution of big things. We just have to make sure that we continue to stress those like we have, and continue to work to put our players in situations to be successful. And then, for me, keeping this football team and this football program on the right track, which we will do that, and keeping the positivity. I see us making progress. Unfortunately it's not showing on the scoreboard, but eventually it will."
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)