University of Tennessee Athletics
Back At It
October 07, 2014 | Football
By Brian Rice KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
UTSports.com
The Volunteers needed to respond to the adversity faced in Saturday's loss to Florida by moving forward and embracing the challenge that lies ahead. There are no weeks off in a football schedule, even as UT steps out of conference play to face Chattanooga this week.
"We were definitely eager to get back out here," defensive back Brian Randolph said. "We were out here on Sunday, watched a lot of film and tried to correct our mistakes so this next week we have an opportunity to redeem ourselves."
It was exactly the mentality that head coach Butch Jones was looking for out of his football team.
"If you're a competitor and you believe in what you're doing, if you work exceptionally hard, then you build confidence in your body of work throughout the week and do everything necessary to play winning football," Jones said.
Jones also implored his team to be more physical, a message that A.J. Johnson saw the team taking to heart on the field.
"We came out with a purpose today," Johnson said. "The main thing coach has been harping on is to be more physical and we showed that today. There were a lot of pads popping, so that's a good sign of moving on and preparing for this week."
Much of the preparation for Saturday has been internal, taking a hard look at areas that need improvement and refining the areas that have shown promise and progress.
"We've focused on the little things," defensive lineman Curt Maggitt said. "Every position group has little things they know they can get better at. Today, we came out and worked fundamentals and our style of play."
The pursuit of getting better is not something Jones has to coach or instill in his players. They are already pushing from within.
"The great players demand more from themselves than I can ever demand," Jones said. "That's the storyline of most of the individuals on this football team. They live this game. That's what we talk about every day, like it, love it, live it. You have to live it in this football program."
How they live it will write the story of this week and determine where the story of the season is headed.
"It will show the maturity of our team to know what happened in the past," Maggitt said. "I cant say that I'll forget about it because I won't, but it's important for us to move forward and not let Florida defeat our whole season. We have a lot to play for still, we just have to go out and get better."
