Postgame Quotes: Vols 27, SC 24

Nov. 7, 2015

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Tennessee head coach Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
"Well, what can I say? We found a way to win. This is a week-to-week league. That's why it's the toughest conference in all of college football. I'm proud of our players. We had a number of individuals step up and make critical plays at critical moments of the game. Obviously, the big turnover at the end, some big 3rd down conversions offensively. But we can't turn the football over. We turned the ball over three times, but really two - one was on a Hail Mary. But that's not in our make-up; we've been pretty consistent all year long. That's part of the growth and maturation process of a football team, learning how to win. It's a week-to-week season like I spoke about, and just really proud of the resolve and the fortitude of our players as we continue to move forward. So, I'll answer any questions."

(On what South Carolina did to slow down Tennessee's offense)
"They started a lot of movement up front, bringing the nickel a lot. And just being able to block movement, we were limited in some of the quarterback run packages. But I'm never going to apologize for winning. This is a hard-fought game. We're playing a good football team, and I give South Carolina all the credit in the world. They're on scholarship, they're going to have success. We're still building. I'm proud of our players. I'm proud of our program. But we need to start being positive around here, because we've got kids that are giving it their all every single day. These kids are giving everything that they have. We've got kids battling that I don't talk about with injuries that are giving everything that they have. Our offensive line was gritty today. They kept going down and down and down, and they want to go back in. It's my job to protect these young men and protect our program. We're building something special here and I think we all need to realize that. I love y'all, I love Tennessee, but I want positivity because recruits want to be here, everybody wants to be here, and we're going to build something special."

(On Derek Barnett)
"He is [a man]. Again, he's another individual that's playing with an ankle [injury], playing with a knee, he's playing with everything. This kid just gives you everything that he has every day. We haven't even been able to practice in full pads throughout the course of the week because our kids are fighting through all of those things. That's why I'm proud of them. It was a gritty win, and they're all going to be like this down the stretch. We're still not where we need to be from a depth standpoint, but we're getting a lot out of these kids. I'm proud of them."

(On Malik Foreman's forced fumble at the end of the game)
"It meant a lot. He found a way to come up and really make a game-winning turnover, create one - and then the pursuit to the ball. Again, I think we've relied heavily on our experiences early on in the season. Our kids never lost their poise. They never looked back and said what-ifs. They're playing with a lot of confidence. That was great to see Malik make that play and then us recover the fumble."

(To elaborate on limiting quarterback run packages tonight)
"Just some things that [South Carolina] did to take it away. And [Joshua Dobbs] has been banged up. He's been a warrior. He grinds through it. So it's a combination of a lot of things. Good teams find ways to win when they don't play particularly their best football. We didn't play our best football tonight. I agree with you. But like I said, the good teams find ways to win games when they don't play their best football, and I thought we were able to do that tonight."

(On how important it was to see Tennessee win this game considering other close losses earlier in the season)
"That's exactly right. Part of the evolution of a football team and a football program is finding a way to win the football game when you know and your players know they didn't their best. I give South Carolina a lot of credit. We knew they were coming in here. We knew we were going to get their best effort. Coach Elliott has done a tremendous job in keeping that program together. We knew that they were going to play their best. Again, in a week-to-week season, to be able to find a way to win like this is very very gratifying. Now we need to get the problems corrected, which we will. But, I'm just happy for the players because their resiliency showed."

(On defense dominating in first half and something clicking for South Carolina in second half)
"I think they stayed ahead of the chains. They were able to run the ball effectively which, you know, we take great pride in our run defense and they established the run. We weren't ahead of the sticks. We were really behind the sticks with the third and one, third and twos, third and threes, third and fours. So I think the first down, we made way too many mistakes in the second half offensively, particularly on first down. We had way too many negative yardage plays and any time you have first and 15, second and 12, second and 14, that really puts your offense behind. So both sides of the ball we have to do a much better job particularly on early downs and mixed downs."

(On key to being able to convert so many third downs)
"Protecting the passer and then I thought Josh [Dobbs] did a couple times of escaping the pocket and setting his feet. The big third down conversion to Johnathon Johnson was big there in cover too. We were able to match him up on the safety, so that was big. But then we have to go down and we have to score seven. The other thing is the red zones. I thought Aaron Medley, again, continues to improve. The 44 yard field goal was big for us. I think it was Josh setting his feet, offensive line protection, we were able to get open and sometimes him escaping the pocket and setting his feet. I believe he was nine out of eleven in throwing the football on third downs."

(On Malik Foreman's performance versus Pharoh Cooper)
"They [South Carolina] do such a great job because they move him [Cooper] around and they create one-on-one matchups with him and obviously we know he's a great football player. I thought Malik really stepped up tonight and everyone stepped up. I just think being disciplined, playing with your eyes, being locked in and video study all those things that we've really challenged them to elevate their game, take their game to the next level, continue to invest in it in your week of preparation and they've been doing that."

(On Brian Randolph's ejection)
"Well it was hard because we already had Emmanuel [Moseley] out and we all know we don't have a lot of depth at that particular position so, you know, a lot of those individuals also play on special teams so where that starts to hurt you a little bit too is special teams. Again, I give the kids credit. They stepped up. We're hanging on by a band-aid at some spots, but that's football, that's November, that's this time of year. That hurt us a little bit obviously and he's the captain back there. He's the general. He gets us lined up so anytime you take Brian out of the back end of your safety, communication is at a premium."

(On the defense's fourth quarter turnaround)
"It says a lot. There's a number of times where a team that isn't learning how to win, you give up a big play, you give up a touchdown. When we needed a stop, they answered the call. We always talk about playing complimentary football and that's not just a fancy term. That means so much with being able to play complimentary football. Again, we have to get the run defense shored up. We have to be able to stop the run but, again, we made plays when we needed to down the stretch."

(On South Carolina's rushing attack)
"Yeah, we expected that it would be a grind-it-out game. We anticipated that and it's a line of scrimmage league. Owen Williams stepped up and made some big, big plays for us at critical moments. We needed that. That was big. I thought Kendal Vickers did some good things from the interior as well. I'll know a little bit more when we get together on Monday and I'll be able to fill you in more on after watching the video but I thought it was a gritty performance and didn't play our best and found a way to win which is great to see."

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs

(On third-down efficiency)
"It wasn't just me going out there and being effective. On those third downs, I didn't really have people in my face and the receivers ran great routes and were getting open. So that really helped. It was a whole unit effort on third downs and that's why we were so efficient."

(On being banged up)
"I'm going to attack the field and give it my all every time, and do whatever I have to do to win. Being banged up, that comes with the game. Personally, I feel fine. As long as I can walk on the field and play, I'm good to go. That's how I play."

(On the production from the wide receivers)
"We have playmakers across the board. They've been making plays throughout the season and they'll continue to. They all understand that. They all know that at some point they're going to have to come up and make a big catch. It's great to see out of that room. They're interchangeable. We don't really have one go-to guy, but we have all the guys stepping up making catches, which is big. Teams can't really key on one guy because another guy will hurt you."

Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara

(On offensive success during the first two drives)
"We were attacking them. We had some things in practice that we had worked on and wanted to come out and use. We were able to make those big plays happen on our first couple of drives."

(On what makes Josh Dobbs good on third downs)
"On third downs, he is the playmaker. I say every week that he is our CEO. He knows when he needs to make a big play. If it is not there throwing-wise, he is going to make a play with his legs. He is tuned into the game at all times, so whenever he needs to make a play, he is going to make it."

Tennessee offensive lineman Kyler Kerbyson

(On the importance of tonight's win)
"It was huge. It was a testament to where we are now from where we were before. In past years, we had to play literally our best game to have a chance. Now, we can have mistakes on offense or defense and the other side will bail us out. We don't have to play exactly the best game, and we can still come away with a win. That just shows how much our team has grown, and how much this program Is really working. We're on the up and up, and we plan on keep going."

(On the confidence this win brings to the team)
"I think this game will be huge for a learning aspect. We didn't win the way we wanted to, and that was on us. That was our mistakes, our mess-ups. We can watch the film and really learn from this game, and really understand our weaknesses and our strengths, and be able to get better as a team, which is what you want to do with games like these."

Tennessee kicker Aaron Medley

(On what has been different in the past two games)
"Just mentally zoning in to the game and taking yourself out of what happens on the field and just doing your job."

(On how important it was to get a close win)
"This just goes to show that all of our offseason training and stuff that we went through the first half of the season. It's just starting to show that we've matured."

(On the kicking conditions during the game)
"The grass was a little bot slippery tonight, but you can't let the conditions affect you, you just have to go out there and do your job."

(On if practice has changed in the last couple of weeks for him)
"They kept it consistent. They believed in me and they knew that I knew what I was doing. The trust that we have back and forth and the communication is very important."

(On Butch Jones's support for him recently)
"He's got our back and we've got his. It's that family atmosphere that really helps us win games."

Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin

(On what he was thinking when he saw the fumble)
"It is something that we work on every day. We have our Maxim One periods every day, where we work on turnovers, recovering the ball and getting it out. It is something that is embedded in us. The guy carrying the ball didn't see [Malik Foreman] coming, and he punched it out."

(On holding them scoreless in the fourth quarter)
"We always talk about a snap-and-clear mentality. Our job is to come out and keep them out of the end zone. Late in the game, we felt like we weren't going to be denied. We had to stop them, and that is what we did."

Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton

(On defense sealing the victory)
"It's amazing. All the adversity that we went through throughout the course of the night, just learning how to handle that; making corrections at that point and then just going out there executing and making plays. I think the biggest thing is not getting down on ourselves and we know that there are things that will go against us throughout the course of the game. That's with any team. But it's how we handle those [adverse] moments."

(On getting three stops)
"I want to say it's a momentum thing. We know we can get it done. As a defense, we always talk about making the plays when it counts, when the time is right. When you're doing things right and you're living right the ball bounces in your favor sometimes. Like I said, guys are running to the ball and making plays on the ball and we were able to close out that win tonight."

(On letting up when there was a 14-0 lead)
"No sir, I don't think so. Our mindset is once we get ahead of one team or any team, don't let up, put on more steam. That's a part of one of our maxims and we started off pretty nice. We had adversity, obviously, throughout the course of the game, but we were able to bounce back and get it corrected and finish the game strong."

(On South Carolina)
"Obviously, they're a good team as well. They made adjustments throughout the course of the game just like any other team would. They were able to make adjustments on the run and throughout the course of the game they saw some tendencies that we were doing and trying to counter that. And for ourselves, we're making adjustments and countering those tendencies that they're making as well. We were able to get it corrected and make more plays than them to come out on top."

(On Eric Berry's visit)
"It's great. You can't take those opportunities or any opportunities to play this game for granted. Obviously we're at home, we're in our backyard. There's no place like it. It's an amazing feeling and obviously Eric Berry and his legacy and his mark that he left on this program and this university -- it's always special for a guy like that to come back be around this team and be around his family. We always talk about VFL. It's amazing when we have guys come back to the program and be around us."

(On winning games but not playing their best)
"I think the big thing we learned from that is that we knew we didn't play our best. Moving forward we've got a lot of things we can correct throughout this game and we've got more opportunities moving forward to learn from those mistakes that we made throughout this game and correct them and move forward. I feel like it's great we came out with a win, but we can't be satisfied with a win moving forward. Just get the little things corrected and be ready to go next week."

Tennessee defensive lineman Derek Barnett

(On his mentality during South Carolina's final drive)
"We need to win - that's what I'm thinking. Trying to get off of this field and win. Not trying to stay on the field like we did earlier in the season, and we did that. It was an ugly win for us but at the end of the day we just want to win."

"In my mind I'm like I can't really rush up the field all the way because they'd be ready to fall back inside and help. I feel like it's just like a chess game but I had to keep on pushing on the edge."

(On winning this game)
"It's a good feeling for us just to win. If it's ugly, we get the 'W' at the end of the day. Winning is hard, and the more you win the (harder) it gets."

(On closeness of the game)
"It came down to the fourth. It was a tight ballgame at the end. I didn't want it to be like that, we didn't want it to be like that, but stuff happens - it's football. It makes the game more fun."

(On maturity gained in the result)
"It's a good feeling for us and now we can just build off of it and keep the momentum going. We know how to finish at the end now. We lost at the beginning of the season, and that was really tough for us and we knew what we did wrong. It just comes down to one or two plays, I feel like today those one or two plays Malik (Foreman) stepped up and he was the ballplayer to make the play."

South Carolina interim head coach Shawn Elliott

Opening Statement
"It's not the way you want to come here and lose a ball game. I can tell you that. It's certainly not doing it that way. One of those games where you look back and you reflect on the first quarter and you saw some missed opportunities. We let the game start really fast for them offensively and really slow for us offensively. Then we kind of settled in, from the second quarter on our defense played well, we started making plays offensively. We always felt like we were in the game from that point on. We made some bonehead decisions in the first quarter. Just some things I couldn't really put my finger on. But man, what an effort by a great group of Gamecocks, that nobody gave a shot, not a man sitting in this room, maybe a couple, maybe a couple to give us a chance to come here and pull out the victory. Our football team did, our football team believed, our football team is getting better, our football team is hurting, just like it did last weekend. It's a tough situation when you go and you do exactly what you want to do, you work as hard as you can work, and you lay it on the line and it comes right down and the last play certainly didn't win or lose the ball game for us, but it rips you. That's what sports is about, when you love something it should hurt. We've got a Florida Gator team coming into our place. We've got a team that believes in one another, that hurts for one another right now. We've got a coaching staff that believes in one another. They got an interim head coach that couldn't be more proud of a football team. We're going to move and we're going to continue to improve and we're going to make the most of it. The ball's going to bounce our way. We are going to have to make it, but we're going to get it done."

(On bonehead decisions in first quarter)
"Oh man. You call a pass protection and you hand the football off. I'm not really sure what the communication error was with some of those things. We went to a three back package with Jonathan Walton and he had a wide open, it was a fourth down play, a wide open situation, he probably would've walked into the endzone and we didn't make a play; just some things that uncharacteristically were happening. You're not too hyped, you're not too ready to go out and play. The focus should have been better."

(On decision to punt with three minutes left)
"It was the perfect call. We punted it, we got the ball back. We did exactly what we needed to do; we drove the ball right down the field. We did exactly what we wanted to do, it was the right decision. That's the way it turned out."

(On what he said to Jerell Adams)
"What do you say to a guy who lays it on the line. To lay it on the line, you're telling me. The guy is sitting there in tears because it hurt him so bad. You just tell him you love him and pick him up and you move forward. That's why I grabbed him and said 'You're coming with me and were going down here to sing.' That's all you can do, I don't fault him. He was trying to win the game. That's what I want us to do."

(On what he says to offense)
"We're going to get it done. We're going to get it done."

(On adjustments in second quarter)
"Just settling down. I started telling Coach Hoke we needed to pressure, we needed to move, we need to make some stuff happen. Offensively, all we needed to do was just continue with wise decisions that we didn't make in the first quarter. Wise decisions then we were going to be fine. We went into halftime 17-3. Let me tell you one thing, we didn't bat an eye. Somebody talked about how they came out in the second half how they were pressuring us. It had nothing to do. They are a well-coached very good football team, but at no point did I think our football team was outmatched."

(On Perry Orth)
"Gutsy. Perry could have done some better things early on in the football contest. I don't fault a guy, we all make mistakes. We make good calls, we make bad calls. We make good throws, we make good runs, we make bad throws. He lays it on the line day after day, play after play. This is a guy that nobody thinks should be playing for our football team, but he's a great leader for us. The guys believe in him, I believe in him, our coaching staff. I think he did a good job; he put us in a position to win."

(On plays designed for Lorenzo Nunez)
"Nope, one of the bone head mistakes. We called a pass protection play and he handed it off on a protection. I don't really understand it. I couldn't understand it, he said he didn't get the pass route therefore he was going to hand the football off to our running back. From that point forward you have to make a decision, is he in the game or is he out of the game. We tried to get him in there a little bit more, but you have to say `let's give ourselves a chance to win.' We weren't going to do that handing the ball off on a protection."

(On plays for Jonathan Walton)
"I walked in there Monday and I said I want to put in a three back set with Jonathan Walton. I want to see him catch a touchdown pass and it worked out perfectly. He should have caught the touchdown pass in the second quarter. We should have hit him on that one. That's a guy that is a playmaker, we have to get him on the field. Defensively or offensively, but you're going to see more of him."

(On third down defense)
"They made plays. I don't know it certainly wasn't me. I was just out there with them. I felt like I was playing with them. I felt so involved with the defense and they were just making plays. I don't know. Our defensive coaches did a great job from those first two drives forward; making the correct calls, getting our players to make plays and going out and executing.

(On whether they called a fake punt with nine minutes left)
"It was a fake. You have the option to run the fake or punt the football. We had the fake, they did a good job covering it and we punted. It was a perfect call, well-executed and it was a great job by Sean Kelly. The one thing that we didn't do; when you run the fake you don't have the coverage that you would like. They probably got another first down, 10 additional yards. But it was a fake, we were going for it."

(On D.J. Neal)
"I believe DJ was taken out, I believe he's back, everything was negative. I think he's going to be okay."

(On Al Harris Jr.)
"Harris, I believe it was a dislocated shoulder."

(On status for the rest of the year)
"Done? It's dislocated not broke off. My first question was put him back in, is that what we are doing? There's going to be further evaluation and then we'll make a decision."

(On Rashad Fenton)
"His status is he is suspended for this Tennessee game. He'll be back at practice on Monday."

(On player's footing on the field)
"I was out there in pregame and I noticed the field kind of tearing up. The first thing I asked, `does Under Armor make a different type stud of cleat. We need some traction here.' There were several times where we had some footing issues. I was very surprised about the field. They plant that rye grass. I believe the appearance is more, it's hard to say the playing surface certainly isn't the fault of anybody. We did slip around a little bit."

South Carolina defensive coordinator John Hoke

(On changes made by the defense after first few drives)
"We were playing better. We got settled in and got a feel for what they were doing. We tackled better, but that was really just it. We didn't change what we were going to do. We executed better."

(On being concerned about going down 14-0)
"Well, you are never thrilled about falling behind 14-0. It was just a matter of settling down. We had a lot of football to play. It was just the first quarter. We just said that we need to execute the way we need to execute and play with the proper technique. That is what we settled down and did."

(On stopping the Tennessee's run)
"We got a lot of people to the ball. We didn't leave it to one man. That was the whole theme going into the game. You can't leave it to one guy to make the tackle. Obviously, there is going to be some space tackling that you have to make, but we kept emphasizing all week not to leave it to one guy. We got as many people to the ball as we possibly could."

South Carolina quarterback Perry Orth

(On his team's final play)
"[Jerell Adams] made a great play. He was just being Jerell there. Guy just came up behind him and punched it out. It was just one of those things. It was just very, very unfortunate. I feel bad, because Jerell is such as good guy. He played his tail off tonight and caught the clutch touchdown on the goal line and I just feel bad. We fought as a team and we move on."

(On looking at the big picture or one game at a time)
"No it's one game at a time. You can't look to far in the future because we're not going to overlook Florida. We've just got to get ready for them and we've got to put together two pretty solid performances in two of the toughest places in college football to play, and we were really close. We'll get back home to our home crowd and that will really help a lot and we'll be ready to roll."

South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore

(On adjusting after Tennessee's opening touchdowns)
"We just started playing, really. Everyone started defending right, and tackling, and getting in the right assignment, and doing the right things."

(On the cumulative effect of losses like this)
"Oh, we're still going to play for each other and fight for each other. That's not going to stop. We're going to come out this week and prepare for Florida and get after them. So, nothing is going to change."

South Carolina linebacker Jonathan Walton

(On scoring his first college touchdown)
"It was live, especially at this place. It just felt great. It's kind of hard to explain right now, I'm still soaking it in."

(On the team's confidence to score on the final drive)
"We knew we could do it. We don't want to put too much blame on Jerell [Adams] or anything. There were a lot of situations in the game that would have put us in a better position to win this game. We were just fired up, we knew we could do it. It's just -- the ball didn't bounce our way."

(on how Jerell Adams is doing after the fumble)
"He's doing fine. Everybody is helping him keep his head up because we know he was fighting his hardest to win the game. It was just the situation he was put in."

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