KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football coach Butch Jones spoke to reporters on Wednesday.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones spoke to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
Below is an edited transcript:
(Opening Statement)
"I'm looking forward to this weekend first and foremost.
We'll welcome back over 400 former players in our reunion.
“We'll also be honoring the 1965 team and all the things that team went through. It's pretty remarkable.
“In terms of injuries leading in to this game, Quart’e Sapp has a stress fracture so he'll be out an inordinate amount of time. I can't really put a time frame on it. It'll be basically how the foot heals and how he'll continue to progress. Max Arnold is questionable for the game. He kind of re-aggravated his knee a little bit yesterday. Ralph David Abernathy may be available for the game. He did some good things for us in practice yesterday. We'll know a little bit more about Alton Howard’s status today at practice and see how he does there as well. I'll answer any questions that you may have."
(On if he has seen signs in practice that coaches and players have gotten past Saturday's loss to Florida)
"I do. Obviously it was a gut-wrenching loss. Any time you invest as much as everyone does in our football family, it hurts. But everything in life is how you respond, how you get back up. You want another opportunity. I thought we had a good practice yesterday and we'll have another good practice today. In terms of the coaches, we have a bunker mentality. We live in here and we go home and we come right back. It's all about getting in to the game plan and really getting around our players. So I've been really happy about the way they've responded."
(On what he has seen from watching film of Arkansas and in particular WR Drew Morgan)
"Well first of all, great length. He can go up, play the ball in the air. Very explosive. Like we talked about on Monday, they have maybe the premiere tight end in all of college football that will play a long time on Sundays. I think Brandon Allen has developed in to one of the best quarterbacks in the country. So I think they've done some good jobs schematically. They challenge you with base defense and some different things in terms of formations and personnel groupings. Then you add [Alex] Collins and you add a big offensive line, very talented. Nobody's brought this up yet but I believe they've punted seven times all year. So, your possessions are going to be very minimal on offense.”
(On managing a limited number of possessions on offense)
"It's going to be patience. You cannot have self-inflicted wounds. You can't have pre-snap penalties. You can't turn the football over. They have to understand that every possession does count. You can't panic when you're standing on the sidelines. This is a game where mixed downs, early downs are very, very critical. When you look at what Arkansas has been able to do on early downs, they've owned early downs. That's why they've punted the few times that they have.”
(On dealing with multiple losses early in the season how did he deal with them in the past)
"It's all about constant and never ending improvement. You can't let any negativity, clutter, or distraction creep in and permeate throughout your football program. You look at last year we have great evidence, just like Arkansas did, we won for out of five. We won a bowl championship. That's the first time that's been done here in a long time. I think it’s the first time it has been done that we haven't played in an SEC championship since 1997 I believe.”
(On being surprised at Trevor Daniels’ success with high pressure kicks)
"A walk-on comes into this football program and gets better each and every day. (Trevor) has great confidence right now. He's the reason why we are having some success on our punt team. He's a direct correlation to it. His op times, he's been consistently at about a 1.85 or 1.9 which is outstanding. He's had great kick placement. You're right he walks into a stressful situation in the Florida game and does a great job of getting rid of the football and kick placement. Now, we know Arkansas is going to come after the punt a few times. We understand that. We have to do a great job of protecting it and covering it. He's been a great story here for us and I've been very very proud of him.
(On effectiveness of Arkansas' run defense)
"I think, first of all, that it is an overall program philosophy. They live (with) the run each and every day. Their inside drills probably go about 20 minutes long. They want to run the football on offense, and, obviously, you (want to) stop the run on defense just like our philosophy. They are big up front on both sides of the football. Their linebackers are downhill linebackers, then they have a veteran group in the secondary so they are able to do some different things schematically in terms of coverage and getting their safeties involved in the run game. They did play more man coverage in the Texas A&M game than they had in previous games, so I know they have a lot of confidence in their back ends so that they are able to do some different things up front.
(On using analytics versus gut instincts)
"We don't use analytics during a game. That is all leading up to the game. That is a support system for us. Obviously, you have to make great decisions and educated decisions, and I would say 99 percent of most decisions that are made on game day are done in a controlled environment in a staff meeting room. We have a plan in place that we work on each and every week in terms of our preparation. That starts on Sunday and goes all the way until Friday morning. Most situations are done that way. We don't just go out there and make a decision by chance. They have usually been rehearsed. Sometimes, it is a gut feel. The fourth-and-2 call as a gut feel. We knew we wanted to do it at some point in time, but it was a gut feel for what we needed at that particular moment and that particular stage of the game in terms of momentum, so you do rely on gut instincts at times, but everything we do is also discussed and talked about very throughly."
(On Joshua Dobbs’ security with the football)
"It is something we do every day in terms of ball security. We stress it each and every day. They understand. When you carry the football and run the football, those things are going to happen. We don't want to happen. Some programs talk about four points of pressure on the football, some talk about five points of pressure on the football. What we have done is we have tried to eliminate the learning curve and say ‘chin to ball.’ Chin to ball stands for the points of pressure, keeping it high and tight to make it even more of a point of emphasis. He has done a good job, and we will continue to work on that."
(On Arkansas being a must-win game)
"I consider every game a must win when you're in this conference and when you're competing every game we play is a must win. That's the approach that we take just like, this is the most important game because it's the next game but the way I approach every game is a must win and that is why every game is critical."
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)