University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Tennessee 24, Southern Miss 10
November 05, 2017 | Football
Tennessee Head Coach Butch Jones
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Opening statement:
"First of all, I'm excited for our players and proud of our players. Getting to sing that special fight song in the locker room when they've worked so hard and finally get an opportunity with all of the hard work that they've put into it to experience victory. If you look at the game situation football, our defense did a good job of taking the ball away two times. Offensively we were able to turn it into 14 points. We were four-for-four in the red zone, three of those being touchdowns. That's what it takes to play winning football. We held them without a touchdown until about 6:45 left in the game. We knew they were an explosive offensive football team averaging 263 yards throwing the ball. We were able to hold them to 160 yards. I thought our defensive line was able to apply pressure. And what can I say about special teams and Trevor Daniel? I believe he had six punts of 50 yards or more and was able to flip critical field position, particularly in the middle of the fourth quarter when we had some coming-out situations. When you're able to flip the field like that, it's a difference maker. I thought we had some momentum going in John Kelly's 20-yard touchdown run to really make it 17-3. (It) sparked the momentum in the third quarter with about 5 minutes to go. I think our team showed some grit, some resolve with all the injuries. Especially up front in our offensive line. I can't say enough about those individuals; we had six individuals available tonight. It's resolve, and it's resiliency, and there's all these little things that these kids have been battling through. Just glad that we were able to get the victory tonight."
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On the front line being depleted by injuries:
"I don't think there's any coach on our staff that has been through it like this. Especially when we started the season that was our best depth situation we've had here ever. Now we're down to six. Give those individuals credit."
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On talking to Will McBride and his family before this weekend about possibly playing:
"Will has been ready to go for a number of weeks now. He's been ready, and he wants to play. To be very candid with you, he has to play. We've been saying all along that he is one snap away. Will has a quiet confidence about himself. He doesn't get rattled much. It's hard to really get an emotional response out of him, and the kids believe in him. I thought Jarrett (Guarantano) did some really good things at the beginning of the game throwing the football, standing in the pocket. I thought he continued to grow and develop well until having to leave the game. He could have went back in at the end of the game, but again, where we were at, we had a lot of confidence in Will."
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On importance of defense giving offense short fields:
"Monumental. You're exactly right. Emmanuel Moseley's interception really started it and being able to have great field position, but then also once we got that great field position, (we were able to) turn it into touchdowns and not have to kick field goals. I thought Aaron Medley did some really good things from the kickoff standpoint and then made the field goal when we needed it. The defense stepped up and generated the field position when we needed it. That was huge."
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On nature of Jarrett Guarantano's presumed injury:
"I am not going to comment on injuries from here on out to protect our players, but we expect him to be ready to go."
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On confidence level with Will McBride:
"We have a lot of confidence in him. We've seen it. Really since August training camp we have seen it. Again, we have tried to throw him into some very challenging situations in practice, and he is very steady, very poised, very calm. That's what we saw tonight. You look at the situation he was put into, that's a challenging situation. There was no panic. (He was) very calm, very poised."
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On if Marquez Callaway's injury might sideline him for extended period of time:
"I'll know a little bit more. I haven't even spoken to the trainer right now. I came right here, so I don't know. I'll know a little bit more on Monday."
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On how critical the defense's forced turnovers were:
"It was huge to generate the turnovers, but also with generating the turnovers, the field position was key. It sparked some momentum. We needed them to step up, and they were able to do it. Like I said, I was excited for the kids that we were able to turn that into seven points."
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On team continuing to play hard:
"I appreciate you bringing that up, because I see it every day with these kids. I see the grind. I see the attitudes. I see the practice habits. I see everything. It's the culture that's kicked in. They understand work ethic. They understand what it's all about, and that's why it was particularly pleasing to be able to kind of sit back and watch them sing the fight song. Because again, winning is very, very hard. It's very, very difficult. You can never take winning for granted, so I was excited that they were able to experience that with all the hard work they've put in to it."
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On what opening kickoff returns like Evan Berry's to start the game do for the team:
"Well obviously momentum, energy, excitement, and expectations. That's what we expect when he's back there. Obviously, we all know he is very, very dynamic. Again, just the momentum and the field position. If you really look at our starting field position the last month, it has not been very good, and when you have a short field, you have to take advantage of it. We were able to do that tonight. I thought that sparked us immediately."
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On defense holding Southern Miss to 118 yards rushing:
"Obviously we have a lot of respect for the quarterback and the running back is a really dynamic football player. We really challenged our guys up front defensively to change the line of scrimmage. They do some challenging things with the quarterback run game, and some things like that. To be able to hold them to that many yards rushing is a tribute to everyone. Even though we missed some tackles late, and I wasn't pleased we gave up 95 yards at the end of the game and let them go down and score. You take away that one possession, and defensively we did what it takes to win football games."
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On defensive effort and experience with multiple quarterbacks:
"We talked about the line of scrimmage game up front and also being able to keep the points of pressure on the quarterback and not let him escape, particularly in the red zone. If you really look at a lot of red zone passes, it's when you lose the quarterback and you don't keep them in the pocket. We challenged them to not only be disruptive up front but to keep them in the pocket. (That) was a critical factor to keep them in there."
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On going beyond Riley Locklear:
"Joey Cave is a young man that we moved over to offense that would be able to go, and we have a few others that would be ready to go, but it would really be unfair to them because they have had very limited reps. That's why we've asked a lot out of these kids, playing a lot of different positions in practice and all that. That's football and they showed some true heart and some true grit tonight. Joe Keeler would be another individual that would have been ready to go as well."Â Â
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On winning after a losing streak:
"We have another great challenge. We're playing one of the hottest teams in college football right now, Missouri, going on the road. As we all know great, great quarterback, great receivers, (and they) can run the football. They're playing good defense, and going on the road for another 7:30 night game is going to be a challenge. It's a lot easier to prepare coming off a victory, and these kids have worked so hard. They've not let any of the clutter or distraction or anything affect internally what goes on in the Anderson Training Center every single day. I guess that's why I am really proud of them, their whole mindset and belief in our football program."
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On Jonathan Kongo's suspension:
"It's a one game suspension. It was a violation of team rules."Â
Junior Running Back John Kelly
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On the young offensive linemen (redshirt freshmen Ryan Johnson and Devante Brooks) in the game:
"With those younger guys going in there and making their first start today, it really gave them some confidence. Once we were calling some plays toward that way, we weren't trying to hide them at all. We knew that they were going to go out there and do their job the way that we needed them to do. I'm glad that I was able to score behind those guys. I was glad to just go out there and play for those guys. I'm glad to just be back."
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On getting the win after missing the game against Kentucky:
"It feels good to finally get a win for us. When I ran off to the sideline I went out there and told the guys it's about time we put some more points on the board and come out here with this win. Honestly it hurt me to miss the game last week. It was a big disappointment for my teammates, my family, and everybody. I was hurt when I was watching the game and I was glad to just be back out there be able to go back to practice. I'm glad we were able to get the win as well."
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Senior Defensive Lineman Kendal Vickers
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On the defense forcing turnovers:
"It is a point of emphasis. On Wednesday, we have "hunt the ball Wednesday" so it's just a point of emphasis every week. We want to be one of the best defenses when it comes to turnovers. We've done a pretty good job these past weeks."
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On the excitement of winning:
"Any time you get a win, it is good. Just to see all seniors in the locker room celebrating and singing our songs that we sing after the game. I wouldn't trade it for anything, so winning never gets old. We are just going to try and win every game from here on out."
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On the defense leading the team:
"Anytime our defense is playing well you have a chance to win the ball game. We realize that, so want to play well as a defense to help our offense out and vice versa our offense wants to play well to help us out. It's complimentary football, we practice it every day and we did a good job doing that today."
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Senior Offensive Linemen Jashon Robertson
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On offensive line injuries and others stepping up:
"A lot of guys had to step in and step up. I think the guys that did end up stepping in on the o-line did a really good job today. They did everything they could to put us in a position to win the game and that's what ended up happening. I'm very proud of the effort they've put in throughout this week to prepare for this moment. I'm happy for those guys."
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On the ability to step up and not let distraction affect the team:
"As a competitor, whether it's a play, whether it's a series, whether it's a quarter or a game you are used to having a snap and clear mentality. You're not going to let a loss beat you twice. You're not going to let a play beat you twice in a game. You have to snap and clear through it and play the next play or play the next game or whatever it is. Just focusing week to week and just having it in us to just compete regardless of the situation, regardless of the opponent or location whatever it is. It just what's in us."
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On the possibility of a bowl game:
"For somebody like me you would like to think the next level is there for you, but not everything is guaranteed. An extra opportunity to play another game of football with a T on my chest would be very special. That's just extending the life expectancy of our team for another month or however, long it would be. It would be a lot of time to be around the guys and just enjoy that type experience because when you leave it's going to be hard to find something to even come close to that kind of experience."
Senior Linebacker Colton JumperÂ
On the defense's overall performance:
"We knew coming in that they had a good running quarterback and a really good running back, too. I think when we held their run, they had one long pass, but we kept them in check."
On getting a win after going through a losing streak:
"It was good. It means a little bit more when you haven't won in a while, it feels a little bit better. It feels really good."
On the defense stepping up with several offensive players being injured:
"You notice it, but you're going to go out and do your job regardless. We're not really using that as any motivation or anything. Our job is to keep the other team out of the end zone, whether we have the best offense in the country or the worst offense, it doesn't matter what it is. So you notice injuries, but you don't really take them into account."
On the defense forcing more turnovers as the season progresses:
"We're thinking about it more, we're emphasizing it in practice and it's really just coming to light now. Guys like Rashaan Gaulden are flying around. RG has probably had four in the past three weeks. It's kind of like a momentum thing. You start to see them more, and then it's going to be in the back of your mind."
Southern Miss Head Coach Jay Hopson
Opening Statement:
"I just got through talking with the guys. I'm very proud of their fight. I thought we played a physical football game. We fought. We made some tough mistakes and miscues and turnovers. I thought we had a lot of adversity in the game, and we continued to battle. It was a hard-fought football game. It certainly didn't come out the way we wanted it to come out, but I thought those guys have no quit in them. We kept plugging, and we actually gave ourselves a bit of a chance there in the end. I thought, defensively, we played a whale of a game. I thought any time you go and hold an SEC team to 200 yards, in their stadium, it's pretty hard. Offensively, we probably didn't have as much production as we would have liked. We certainly had a couple of turnovers that hurt us. I was proud of our fight on offense at the end. They came back there, and I thought Kwadra (Griggs) got in there and started moving the ball well those last couple of drives. We're going to take what we got from that fourth quarter and try to move forward."
On the penalties his team suffered:
"It's not going to do me any good to talk about it. You were at the game. Everybody was at the game. There's no reason to even talk about it. It is what it is."
On holding Tennessee to three touchdown drives in 88 yards total:
"We played good defensively. We had a good day, a ton of three-and-outs. I don't know what their total was, but it was pretty strong. We just have to build on that. I really liked our fight in the fourth quarter. We've got to build on that. That's something that we're going to use as a positive going into our last few games. One thing I've always been proud of this football team for is that they always respond. When adversity strikes and it's beating, they always find a way to keep plugging and fighting. We scored and made it 24-10, and we had it back down there on the 38 or 40-yard line, going fourth and one, and we didn't get it. We were trying to get it within a one score game and see what happened. I'm proud of the guys after the game."
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