Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones, offensive coordinator Larry Scott, defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and seniors Brett Kendrick and Kendal Vickers spoke to reporters on Monday in the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio.
Tennessee is coming off a bye week and the Vols resume SEC play against South Carolina on Saturday with a noon ET kickoff on ESPN.
"They are a very good football team," Jones said of the Gamecocks.
"They're going to be coming in here with a lot of confidence. When you look at their football team, they force you to execute in all three phases. They're plus seven in the turnover margin. As we all know, they really scored four times on defense last week. One was taken off the board. Two of them occurred in the same possession or same drive. They are a really good football team with a lot of confidence. They are 4-2. Two of their losses have been very close as well. So, it's a great challenge and a great opportunity and it all starts with preparation."
Refreshed and Re-energized
After five-straight weeks of football to start the season, the Vols held three productive practices last week before getting some rest during the bye weekend.
"I think the bye week may have been the most successful since I have been here," Kendrick said. "We had three very good practices. They were all full-pad practices, so we had some physicality. We had some good inside run periods against the defense. I think it was really productive, and I definitely think we got better."
Vickers, who admitted to playing some NBA 2K video games this weekend, spoke about the team's refocused mindset.
"We're ready to get after it," he said. "We got this weekend off to kind of be like to ourselves, a little bit, kind of rest our bodies. But it's go time now. There are seven games left. We have a lot to play for and I think we're ready to go."
Focus and Consistency
Scott said that the UT offense worked on getting players in the right state of mind and working on minimizing mistakes. To be successful in the SEC, consistency is key and mistakes are costly.
"We've got to tighten up the focus," Scott said. "Every time you watch some football, I don't care on what level, what hurts offenses and what hurts teams are mistakes in the wrong time, in a bad situation. And when you're really trying to move forward and get some things going and get in a rhythm and you have a mistake, it always hurts and it sets you back."
On defense, Shoop said that freshmen Deandre Johnson and Matthew Butler will have opportunities to step up this week.
"Deandre has played," Shoop said. "He's been in the rotation through the course of the year so I'm not too concerned about him. Matt is very diligent. He's a hard worker. Probably his best quality is also his worst quality in that he's very hard on himself. I'm really looking forward to seeing him play and it will be a great experience for him to play against a really great South Carolina team."
Additional Quotes:
Coach Butch Jones
Opening statement:
“South Carolina is a good football team. They’re going to be coming in here with a lot of confidence. When you look at their football team, they force you to execute in all three phases. They’re plus seven in the turnover margin. As we all know, they really scored four times on defense last week. One was taken off the board. Two of them occurred in the same possession or same drive. They are a really good football team with a lot of confidence. They are 4-2. Two of their losses have been very close as well. So, it’s a great challenge and a great opportunity and it all starts with preparation.”
On any players that might move to different positions:
“No, not really, in terms of position changes. It was really more important just to get these individuals repetitions, not just from an offensive and defensive standpoint, but also from a special teams standpoint as well. Some individuals haven’t played yet, like Shannon Reid. Can he help us on special teams? All of those things where we’re constantly growing our depth, I thought was really the biggest value in the bye week.”
On how the quarterbacks practiced during the bye week:
“We tried, just like every other position group, to manufacture as many game-like conditions as possible. From coming out to one-minute driving the football to the red-zone, to really try to put them in situations. We’ll still continue to compete just like anyone else and we’ll see how this week of preparation goes.”
On what he is looking for when making quarterback decision:
“There are a number of things. First of all, there’s taking care of the football. We cannot turn the football over. It starts with making good decisions with the football. I think the quarterback characteristics of leadership, bringing energy every day, command of the offense and then it gets back to decision making. The decision making process is everything. Then it’s just consistency in performance, day in and day out, whether it’s practice or on game day. You have to be able to make the routine plays, whether it’s a hitch, whether it’s a curl, whether it’s a slant, whether it’s a throw to the flat or whether it’s a read in the RPO game or decisions in the zone read. All those things go into it. So, I would say decision making, taking care of the football and the quarterback attributes are what we talk about all the time.”
On play of linebacker Quart’e Sapp since move to starting lineup:
“I’ve been very pleased with him. I think Quart’e has continued to grow and develop each and every day of practice and each and every game as well. You can see he’s playing with a lot more confidence, he’s trusting his eyes and his instincts a lot more and he’s also now stepping up and becoming a vocal leader as well. We’ve been very pleased with the progression of him and I think the bye week really helped him because he was able to gain more repetitions. I see a young man who is getting more and more confident.”
On whether sophomore wide receiver Marquez Callaway will play on Saturday:
“Yes. He’ll actually be out in practice today and that’ll be big for us not only from an offensive standpoint, but also from a special teams standpoint as well.”
On what is holding offense back:
“I think it’s a number of things. I think it’s all 11 individuals working collectively as one. When you go back and watch the video, it is when nine individuals do the right thing, ten individuals do the right thing, and that’s why it’s the greatest team sport going. All 11 individuals have to be together as one. So that’s the first thing, just the overall discipline to execute. I think the big play has been missing from our offense. It’s hard to perfect. When we have an opportunity for a big play, we have to make that happen, whether it’s a 50-50 ball or whether it’s the receivers blocking out on the perimeter and getting our running backs extra running lanes, extra room. The overall strain up front - we talk about six seconds, three great efforts - we actually counted those out this week. In terms of what it takes, I think just a high level of consistency, execution, first down efficiency - it’s hard to recover when you’re second and 12, second and 14 - and then taking care of the football.”
On the team’s unity at this point in the season:
“I see these individuals every day. The locker room is strong. The team is strong. We have had a lot of individuals emerge as leaders during the bye week. I told the team that we must learn from the past mistakes but we must let the past go. We can’t get back the past. The only day we have is today. Our message has been to win the day. Our players are as strong and as committed as they have ever been. That lets me know that we are going to be okay. There are a lot of individuals who take pride in being a part of Tennessee football. The older players have been through this. They know that the only way around this is to put your head down and work every single day.”
Offensive Lineman Brett Kendrick
“Obviously, they have a very active defense. Skai Moore is probably one of the best linebackers in the SEC, so we have a lot of respect for him. They scored three times on defense last week, so we have to take care of the ball. That has been something we have struggled with but we focused on that during the bye week. We have to take care of the ball and help our defense out. ”
On what he wants to get out of the last seven games:
“I want to get seven wins out of them. I would like to finish the year out strong. We talk about leaving a legacy, and I want to leave a legacy that our seniors turned the team around and ended on a good note.”
Defensive Lineman Kendal Vickers
On being the team leader:
“I mean, there’s only so much you can say at a point, but I really just try to stress that we have a lot of season left. We have a lot to play for. We just have to keep grinding. We just have to keep going and things will fall in our way, in our direction. Just go out and work, that’s all we can do. We can control what we can control.”
On players stepping up on the defense:
“Yeah, Kyle Phillips, he’s made a few plays for us this year already and we’re just going to need him to keep rolling. We have a lot of young guys. Matthew Butler is going to have to step up too because we are going to need him. I think he is ready for it. He works extremely hard. He’s always asking questions, always trying to get better, so I’m excited for him to finally get on the field.”
On the mindset of the team:
“Yeah, we’re good. We’re ready to get after it. We got this weekend off to kind of be like to ourselves, a little bit, kind of rest our bodies, but it’s go time now. There are seven games left. We have a lot to play for and I think we’re ready to go.”
On the South Carolina offense:
“I know their quarterback is returning from last year, he was really young last year. He has a lot of experience. They have a bunch of play makers on the receivers. I want to say they had a couple of o-line missing last week, but I know it’s Tennessee-South Carolina. I know they’re going to come out and play their butts off against us and they do that every year.”
Coach Larry Scott
On how to limit the big mistakes that are holding back the offense:
“Focus. We’ve got to tighten up the focus. It’s all the little things. You watch a game and you do get a chance to sit back and watch some football, every time you watch some football, I don’t care on what level, what hurts offenses and what hurts teams, mistakes in the wrong time, in a bad situation. And when you’re really trying to move forward and get some things going and get in a rhythm and you have a mistake, it always hurts and it sets you back. Those are the things that we’ve got to make sure we’re doing all the things that are in our control that we’ve got to take care of.”
On what he needs to see at quarterback and how open the competition is:
“For me it’s open. You’ve got to have a guy that can demonstrate a certain level of consistency. And then it has to be continuous consistency, if that makes sense. It can’t be this drive here, that drive there, off here, off there and it starts with everything. I talk to them all the time constantly about, don’t go play quarterback, be the quarterback, all time. That is a process and what we need is someone to really take the next step in that process and really start to be a quarterback.”
On Skai Moore’s impact on the South Carolina defense:
“I know Skai personally, I know Skai very well being out of south Florida. He’s a really good player. He’s a mature player. He got hurt last year and had another whole year to continue to develop his body and those things and he looks like that player right now year two in that defense. He plays fast, he plays physical, he’s a smart player.”
Defensive Coordinator Bob Shoop
On the changes to the defensive line this weekend:
“I know coach already addressed that situation so I'll let his statement stand. I always talk to the players about this. It's next man up mentality and it's an opportunity. I'm really looking forward to seeing Kyle Phillips. He's played really well and he'll get the start with Jonathan Kongbo. It's an opportunity now for Matthew Butler and Deandre Johnson who are two young players. Deandre had a good game against Indiana State and Matt has practiced really hard and pretty well and had a good bye week. Those are the four guys that we'll play and we'll go from there.
"On passing downs you may see some creativity. We may throw Austin Smith in there and do some things with him as a fourth rusher or something along those lines. We'll put our best pass rushers in."
On the readiness of freshman defensive linemen Deandre Johnson and Matthew Butler:
“Deandre has played. He's been in the rotation through the course of the year so I'm not too concerned about him. Matt is very diligent. He's a hard worker. Probably his best quality is also his worst quality in that he's very hard on himself. I'm really looking forward to seeing him play and it will be a great experience for him to play against a really great South Carolina team."
On sophomore defensive back Nigel Warrior's progression:
“I'm not going to sit here and say we played well against Georgia, but I think for two and a half or three quarters we played hard. He really made some good open field tackles. He made some big league safety tackles. He and I had a conversation today. There's 14 teams in the league and 10 have two or more losses. In the NFL, there are 32 teams and 21 of the 32 NFL teams are 3-2 or 2-3. The nature of the beast is that it's competitive. We're playing against good teams week in and week out. We still have a chance to be a really good team and that's what we need to do. We need to get our eyes focused in the right direction and take care of South Carolina this week. That's what he's done a good job of. He's stayed focused. Has he had moments where he's been an immature kid? Yes, but they are few and far between now. Georgia was a real bright spot for him. He competed really well. He and I had a long conversation about some individual goals for him today. I told him, 'You can emerge as an individual leader for this team. You can be an All-Conference candidate now. You need to play the pass a little better and you needs to be a little bit more vocal. You need to take that leadership role.' I just reminded him that I had his back. I like Nigel a lot and he and I have a good relationship. I said, 'Are we good?' He said, 'Coach, you're my guy. I've got you.' "
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)