University of Tennessee Athletics
Butch Jones Transcript (11/25/14)
November 25, 2014 | Football
Head Coach Butch Jones
(On quarterback Joshua Dobbs)
"Same approach each and every day, that is what makes Josh, Joshua Dobbs. The consistency in terms of his demeanor, never too high, never too low, just very, very consistent. Which we talk to our players about each and every day."
(On Evan and Elliott Berry)
"Yeah, obviously our thoughts and our prayers are with Eric and his entire family. Obviously, Evan and Elliott, yeah they are here, they are practicing, they are doing everything. Vol for Life is all encompassing and it is very, very important to us and they are here going to classes and practicing and their teammates have been there for them. So it has been a family coming together."
(On how Evan and Elliott Berry are handling the news)
"Yes, they are very mature. That is what they have us for. It has been business as usual."
(On if the team will wear anything on Saturday to honor Eric Berry)
"We are in the process of evaluating some things. We will know a little bit more later in the week. We want to obviously respect Eric [Berry] and his family. We have been in constant dialogue and communication."
(On Cameron Sutton coming out of one series last Saturday)
"When he came out, we have strict guidelines and policies that we follow on the sideline, he was evaluated, he was cleared, it was not a concussion. Probably not a real good choice of words by a nineteen year old in front of professions, but he is fine. That is one thing we take great pride in is our sports medicine staff, they do a tremendous job."
"They continue to look into it and all that. He had an MRI and he is fine. There are some things that go into it but he is fine."
(On Vanderbilt referring to Tennessee as the school out east)
"We have much more bigger things to worry about and to concern ourselves with."
(On keeping the freshmen focused during Thanksgiving week)
"It is part of them still being freshmen. But they have been focused all year. They have been very consistent so I don't really see that being a distraction. They have handled their business very well to this point and time which leads me to believe they will handle being away from their families, a lot of them for the first time. The great thing is, practicing on Thanksgiving, we will have a great Thanksgiving meal here and then we will go to all of our coaches houses and some of the family members from Knoxville have opened their homes to the rest of the players as well. The way I look at it, it is one big football family coming together for a lot to be thankful for."
(On Charles Mosley and Coach Jones' bet on losing weight)
"He is not going to be with me because he is not going to want to see what I am going to eat. He always looks at my plate at Training Table."
(On the Nashville players)
"The great thing about staying at home and representing your home state institution is you play in front of your family and friends every home game in Neyland Stadium in 102,455. But I know it will be special, they get to go back to Nashville. But again, they are very, very mature, a lot of them have played their before in high school, so I don't see that being any clutter or any distractions at all."
(On the practice schedule for Thanksgiving week)
"We have accelerated the schedule. We will practice in the morning. I want them to be able to enjoy being with our football family, being in our homes, being at some of our players homes. We will move up the practice schedule earlier in the day."
(On balancing time during the holiday week)
"It is a balancing act. Obviously, it is Thanksgiving, but you want to keep things as much as normal. So much throughout the course of the week and your preparation is being in a routine as well."
(On using Vanderbilt calling Tennessee `that school out east' as motivation)
"No. We should have enough motivation to win the game and to get win number six. Our players know what is at stake. That doesn't even need to be discussed."
(On offensive lineman Mack Crowder)
"He was out for a few periods. He was actually out today pushing the sled. I would say right now he is probably questionable. We will know a little bit more tomorrow. The great thing was he did his recovery, he did his strength and conditioning work in here and then he was out and went through a couple individual periods. Again, pushed the sled. But right now each day in monumental for him in terms of getting it back. If we had the play the game today, probably wouldn't be available but we aren't playing today so we will see as the week progresses. Now I would list him as questionable."
(On any update on suspended players)
"No.
(On wide receivers stepping up after multiple injuries)
"It has been a group effort. It is one of the positions that has been hit by the injury bug. When you lose Marquez North for the season, you lose Josh Smith for the season. Those are some setbacks but also are opportunities for other individuals. That is why in our football program having that position continuing to recruit that position, grow and develop that position is critical because the structure of our offense and how it is predicated on having a very deep wide receiver corps.
(On wide receiver Ryan Jenkins)
"He is. Ryan [Jenkins] continues to progress. He is gaining valuable repetitions on special teams and he is gaining now some live game opportunities at receiver. He continues to progress."
(On wide receiver Jason Croom)
"He should be fine. Kind of a cramp in his hamstring and his hip. He did come out and finish practice. It is just one of those bizarre things.
(On linebacker Jakob Johnson playing fast at practice after his game experience on Saturday)
"I do. I think some of it is confidence, having live game opportunities and repetitions. But it will be different this week because of the different personnel groupings, shifts, trades, motions that they present. Anytime you get game reps, and he got a lot of them Saturday, I think that has helped his confidence. The players around him have done a great job, as well, of instilling that confidence in him."
(On linebacker Jakob Johnson's next step)
"Just overall consistency. Playing with better instincts, body position in terms of tackling and just repetitions. Communication. The volume of repetitions for him are critical."
(On if there are any changes to the defensive scheme without suspended players)
"No we are playing our defense. Nothing has changed schematically with that."
(On linebacker Jakob Johnson handling his increased role)
"It is very impressive. Again, and I spoke about it in the press conference, here is a young man who is a true freshman but really maybe a high school senior because he has been in Germany. And so to be able to excel in the mental part of it, like he did last Saturday, was very impressive, and we are going to need that in moving forward Saturday."
(On defensive back Todd Kelly Jr.)
"Todd did some very, very good things. He continues to progress. Obviously, when you have the luxury of having an individual with the experience like Brian Randolph, that is great for TK's development because he cane continue to grow and build off of that as well. Anytime they play meaningful games, particularly in early contests, helps their overall growth and development."
