University of Tennessee Athletics
Butch Jones #VolsNSD15 Press Conference
February 04, 2015 | Football
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones will speak about the newest members of #VolsNSD15 at his signing day press conference at 4 p.m. ET.
Head Coach Butch Jones
(Opening Statement)
"Good afternoon, it is great to see everyone. Obviously, it is a very exciting day today for us. Today is really a combination of one to two years of hard work and dedication by many individuals within our football program.
"First, I would like to start off by thanking our coaches for doing their diligence and working exceptionally hard, but also their wives. Being gone as long as we are, we are just really appreciative of them. I would like to thank our players. We talk about recruitment and our players were our greatest ambassadors that we had of our football program. When prospective student athletes came on campus, they sold the vision. They sold the excitement and energy we have here in Knoxville.
"Our recruiting operations department led by Bob Welton and Dana Morrison were outstanding. What can I say about our fan base? Our fan base was instrumental in helping us attract a consensus top-five recruiting class. We really appreciate their excitement and energy.
"What about today? Barry Rice, Link Hudson, Tom Githens, Trevor Greene: that production today was outstanding. I think that is another illustration of the vision and the things we have going on here at Tennessee.
"Lastly, I could sit up here and thank numerous people but also the Thornton Center Staff led by Dr. Joe Scogin and Brian Russell. All the giving of everyone's time on unofficial weekends and official visiting weekends. The many professors and administrators that were so willing and giving of their time to sell the University of Tennessee. I am very grateful for them.
"Everything for us starts with a recruiting profile. We talk about that recruiting profile all the time. It is not by the rankings of four-star, five-star, three-star. It starts with the recruiting profile. It is broken into many components whether it is athletic related, position specific, academics, social and all the intangibles that it takes to be successful. We really wanted winners. We wanted individuals that played for state championships that came from great high school programs. That was a big part of the profile this year. Also we talk about character from overall character to competitive character. We have spoken about continuing to improve the competitive component within our football program. We feel like we were able to do that.
"Then you venture into the needs of your program. I don't think it is any secret that we needed to address some program issues in our offensive and defensive line. We were able to do that by signing five offensive linemen and six defensive linemen. That will add to the overall depth and competitive aspect at those positions. We secured home state. The top-three prospects are attending the University of Tennessee. That is where it starts. We secured home state and then were able to venture off into nine other states. We put a recruiting footprint into some areas that we weren't able to get in the previous couple years. We continued to grow the state of Georgia, North Carolina and a lot of the surrounding states.
"Relationships and trust are really the foundation of a successful recruiting class. Everyone in our program, I thought, did a great job of really establishing those relationships and trust not just with the prospective student athlete but with the key stakeholders whether it is mom, dad, aunts, uncles and the mentors. Again, everything is bonded on relationships and that family environment we talk about.
"I understand that with this class comes great expectations and very rightfully so. I'm going to sit here like I do every signing day and guard against that in terms of these are still 17 and 18 year old individuals. They are still going to develop at their own pace. Things don't get changed overnight. We are going through a process, but I thought today was a great step in the right direction. So I could sit up here and go through the packet with you and all of that but I really don't want to do that. I would rather just answer your questions that you may have and go from there."
(On if he will go back and review recruiting profiles in the future)
"Absolutely. That's a part of our quality control that we will actually start tomorrow, on the quality control of our recruiting profile, and now we have two classes that we can have evidence behind that recruiting profile. You're always adapting and adjusting, but some of them are non-negotiable within the recruiting profile, but we're always looking at that as why individuals develop more than others, where did we go wrong in the evaluation part of it. So again, we're always constantly reviewing it, but there's also some in terms of character, competitive character, some position specifics that are always non-negotiable as well."
(On how much he expects the incoming freshman class to contribute next season)
"We'll still expect them to come in and contribute, and that's still one of the great selling points within our football program. We're still developing it, and still depth is an overall concern, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, but across the board we're still not where we need to be from a depth standpoint, so we want every individual in this recruiting class to have the mentality that they are coming in and they are competing for jobs right away, they're competing for playing time, and then we will see how they develop. I think it's also a great benefit of having ten mid-year enrollees as well, so they're getting a jumpstart academically, going through spring football, so we'll know a little bit more where those ten individuals are as well at the conclusion of spring football."
(On the importance of getting a number of defensive line signees)
"The thing that we've been missing from our defense is an overall edge presence, in terms of depth and then size in front. If you look at the big bodies in this recruiting class, we wanted length. Length isn't always measured just in height but in wingspan, and so we wanted to make sure we had that addressed. Obviously Kyle Phillips addresses that, Darrell Taylor addresses that. And then you look at our size inside with Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie, those two big defensive tackles, and then you have the quickness from Quay (Picou) that he'll bring inside. He'll be a great complement to those two individuals I just spoke about. Andrew Butcher is an individual who plays with a motor and plays with a high energy about himself. The six defensive linemen we brought in, they all complement each other, but they also have a little bit of a different skill set as well.
(On the importance of Drew Richmond's commitment)
"It completed the class. Again, we get back to improving our overall athleticism on the offensive front and Drew obviously does that. He's a left tackle, he's very, very athletic, and when we watch film, one of the big things along with toughness is balance. When you watched Drew Richmond on video, he was never on the ground, he could always recover, and so I'm excited because he's going to add to the offensive line in a great way to finish the recruiting class off, to stay in-state, Memphis, and to keep the top three players in-state at home was big for us. He brings everything that we're looking for in an offensive lineman.
(On if he knew Richmond would sign with the Vols going in to today)
"We did not. A lot of phone calls, last night, a lot of conversations. We knew we had a great opportunity, but he wanted to make me work right to the end, even prior to ten minutes before he signed, he called me thanking me and he said, 'Will you still love me if I don't come to the University of Tennessee?' I told him love was conditional on some things. But, we are really fortunate to have him and really excited about his future here."
(On his recruiting philosophy when recruits are committed to another school)
"It's based on the circumstance. When Drew (Richmond) committed we gave him his time, and then we went back. You recruit to the end. We try to give them their space and if there's interest then we continue to recruit. I know lot of coaches say, and we found this out with our guys, the real recruiting process starts after they commit. We gave him his space but we also continued to recruit him, and Drew and I had a very unique relationship, one of the top-five relationships I've ever had with a prospective student-athlete, and I think that helped down the end.
(On the bow tie after Drew Richmond's signing)
"I made a promise to him that if he would commit and sign to the University of Tennessee--he likes to wear bow ties--that I would wear a bow tie when I announced him."
(On frequency of wearing bow ties)
"That is the first time I have ever worn a bow tie, and you could probably tell, too. That is why they sell the ones that are already tied for you."
(On recruiting the defensive line positions)
"I think you are right in terms of projecting. So much that goes into it from a growth standpoint, from a strength standpoint, but you look at the position specifics. You look at disruptive quickness, instincts in rushing the passer, the ability to win one-on-one matchups, using your hands, quickness of your feet and all the athleticism that is associated with it. But, it is a mental toughness game just like every position on the football team. When you play defensive line and offensive line, I always say it is like a fistfight in a phone booth on every single snap. Half our kids don't know what a phone booth is anymore. That is what it takes. It takes a lot of mental endurance, a lot of mental toughness. That is really the greatest separator when you are trying to evaluate defensive linemen and how they grow and they develop. Look at Derek Barnett. Derek Barnett is one of the toughest-minded individuals I've ever been around in terms of his competitive component, his toughness both physically and mentally. That is what we are hoping these individuals will have as well."
(On why Kahlil McKenzie was ranked No. 1 nationally by Scout)
"I think with Kahlil McKenzie you have the complete package. We talked about the recruiting profile. Again, it starts with character. He has tremendous character. Great, great, great family. I think I broke the record for the longest in-home visit. I believe we were in there for over four hours. Then, I had a great opportunity to spend time with his father, Reggie, at the Oakland Raiders--about three more hours at their facility. He has a great family, so character is very high. The standard and expectations are very high, and you couple that--he's extremely competitive. Then, you look at his stature. Right now, I think he is about 370 pounds, and I told him he needs to get down a little bit. He has great makeup. He has great get-off off the football. He uses his hands well. He is tough, and he has a passion for the University of Tennessee. You could see that throughout this whole recruiting process."
(On Kahlil McKenzie's impact in recruiting other targets)
"Yeah, he is almost too active (on social media). Kahlil helped us immensely, and it was all his doing. Again, he took great pride in this recruiting class. He forged relationships with every single individual within this recruiting class. I believe they had a group chat, and you could feel that closeness, that bond. When he came on his official visit, you could see he was the alpha male or the alpha dog. You could see that. Everybody followed him. Even some of our current players were following him, and that is just kind of the personality he has. He was instrumental."
(On satisfaction of a more nationwide recruiting class than 2014's class)
"With this class, we had to go coast-to-coast. I think we have proven that Tennessee is a national brand. I think we have proven that we have the respect around the country of what we're building here at Tennessee. We still have a long ways to go, and we were in a lot of recruiting battles for these young men. I'm very proud of last year's recruiting class, and I think this just adds a whole other element to our current team. Again, we had to venture off into states that, being at Tennessee, we [hadn't been to]. Maybe at previous stops, we had ventured into those states. You go into the state of Michigan, and you get one of the top players out of the state of Michigan, and we get him out of some people's backyards. That is hard to do, and that is Robert Gillespie. Probably one of the most fearful things that I had in the recruiting process was I flew into Detroit, and they had one of their patented snowstorms that day, and you have an individual from Mississippi driving you around. He looks at me and says, `Coach, I've never driven in the snow like this before.' So that was one of those recruiting stories. To be able to get John Kelly, get Sheriron Jones out of California, stay strong in the Atlanta area, in the state of Georgia, in the state of Virginia. Those states are very, very big for us. Obviously, taking care of home as well. It is very gratifying."
(On the development of growth in recruiting)
"It continues to be elevated each and every year. I said it when I stepped on the podium on December 7, a couple of years ago. We have great high school football in the state of Tennessee, and we have great high school coaches in the state of Tennessee. We're going to start first and foremost taking care of home. We were able to do that, and that's extremely gratifying. Then we venture into our other areas as well. Everything we do at Tennessee starts first and foremost at home."
(On how it felt to not have too many surprises with the incoming class)
"One of the things that makes me exceptionally proud about this class is that they stayed true to their word and were loyal. Now, to say there weren't some uneasy times? Yes, there were some uneasy times and some last night. That's the last push 24 hours before signing day. Anyone and everyone comes after everyone. They try to put a nugget out there and see if a young man is interested, and if they think they are, it's an all-out assault on them. So we had to continually talk and be in contact with them, but there was very, very little drama today. I think that speaks volumes for their character. That speaks volumes for the closeness that this group already had."
(On signing three quarterbacks in the same class)
"I've been asked that question a lot. And I'm very proud of the three individuals at the quarterback position because not one quarterback asked me about the other individual or who else we were recruiting. And to me that's what we want. We want individuals with great competitive character that don't care. All they worry about is themselves. And they're going to have a tremendous opportunity. We have one quarterback on scholarship so it was a tremendous selling point for these individuals. As we know, you're one snap away at the quarterback position, or any position. But, you know, they all wanted that opportunity. They understand the magnitude and relevance of playing quarterback at the University of Tennessee, and that's why I'm proud of them. They never looked over their shoulder. They knew what they wanted and they stayed true to form."
(On not having an offensive coordinator yet)
"Not one person expressed concerns. All they told me was `Coach we trust ya. Go get the best coach that fits us.' I am closing in on an offensive coordinator. I would expect to have somebody in place hopefully by the end of the week."
(On the character of Preston Williams)
"Well, Preston is very confident and flamboyant at times, but I think that's what makes him the player that he is. He has great, great confidence, has a great skillset. He believes in his ability. And usually the great ones are wired that way. You know they have a self-confidence about themselves, an expectation to be the best that you can possibly be. And Preston expect to be the best every time he steps on the field."
(On Preston Williams' injuries and health expectations)
"He expects to be back, ready for the first game. And that's kind of who Preston is. He believes that, and I think Preston's capable of doing anything he puts his mind to."
(On the process of naming a second string quarterback)
"We'll see how they develop and if one individual out of the three separates themselves and if they're worthy of being named the number two quarterback we'll be able to name them the number two quarterback. But you know I think having Quinten here and having Jauan here will benefit them for spring football. They'll get a ton of repetitions. And then Sheriron is extremely bright, very, very intelligent, very confident. So it should make for a great August camp."
​(On Preferred walk-ons)
"That's another element of building a football program. You cant just building a program off of 85 scholarships players. Our walk on program is critical we saw what Alex Ellis has brought to the table in terms of a walk on, now on scholarship, Devaun Swafford. So the walk on element is very big for us, and just being able to attract a couple of these individuals to be able to walk on and turn down other scholarship offers was very, very big for us and again it was opportunity and relationships as well."
(On Relationship with the Abernathy family)
"The Abernathy family is like family to me. We have been through a lot together obviously we recruited their older son at Cincinnati and now to have Micah here, but you this is a relationship for a number of years and obviously they know what they are getting with us, they know our family, they know our entire coaching staff, so again they had zero unknowns with our coaching staff here at Tennessee. They know how we run our program, they know what to expect and they wanted their son to apart of it again and looking forward to having Micah in our football program."
(On players that will blue shirt)
"We may have some additions as the recruiting process continues to go, if they weren't announced today I'm not able to comment on them but I do fully anticipate adding some more players to the roster. We are always recruiting."
(On possibly blue-shirting players)
"Yes, but you know when you are trying to flip a roaster, we have done a great job in our compliance, lead by Matt Hibbs, has really done a great job in really telling us how to do it and to do it the right way, and be able to develop these players. So again when you are trying to flip the roaster and continue to get overall depth and competitiveness any time you can add to your roaster is very beneficial.
(On Concern in depth at running back)
"A big concern. Right now we only have three scholarship running backs, we may look to add to that position but it is a concern. When you play in a physical league like us, like we do week in and week out, so that is a concern moving forward."
(On Anyone on the roaster that you could move to running back if necessary)
"Probably for some emergency situations, Evan Berry is an individual that we experimented during bowl prep. So he is an individual, Malik Foreman had played running back before if we got to that point. I think when you run the quarter back like we started to at the end of the year, that kind of helps the overall running back position, but that is our profile to have five to six running backs on scholarship. So we are below those numbers and again that's part of thing of building the roaster when I tell you we're not there yet as a complete program, that's a great illustration of where we are at. We worked extremely hard to get our numbers up in the offensive line. Now I believe we will have 15 or 16 offensive linemen on scholarship, which is big for us. I believe we had 11 when we came here so we've really added to those numbers. We've added to the defensive line numbers, we are still a little behind in the linebacker position and we are starting to get a little bit behind at the receiver position, but the running back position we have to continue to increase are numbers there."
(On players from the signing class that will miss spring practice)
"Kyle Phillips will not go through spring practice. He had shoulder surgery so he'll miss. Darrin Kirkland tore his pec so he'll miss spring practice as well. The rest of the individuals I fully anticipate in this signing class going through spring football."
(On whether there are any returners missing spring practice)
"Jalen Hurd had shoulder surgery but he'll be back. It's just a scope so he should be back participating in spring football. As of right now that's all I can think of. Obviously, I can update you. If you have anybody you'd like to ask me about."
(On Vic Wharton and Ryan Jenkins' status with the team)
"Right now they've asked to explore other options. We have granted them the opportunity to explore other options. We'll see how that goes. So we'll see where that goes with those two individuals. Michael Sawyers has been dismissed from our football team for violations of athletic and team policies. So he is dismissed and is no longer a member of our football team."
(On the recruiting calendar)
"Everything is accelerated, everything with the recruiting process. Right now, everyone is recruiting 26 team, 27 team and so it's a long process. It's a very tedious process with junior days and then you go into spring recruiting and then you go into the summer months and it's critical that you get these prospective student-athletes on campus and you start building relationships with them and you can learn so much more about them when you get them on your campus. That's really where your relationships really start to build, start to manifest themselves. Our coaches did a great job of really getting this recruiting class to campus and not just one or two times but on multiple, multiple occasions and that really helps grow the relationships. But you're exactly right, it's non-stop, it's ever evolving each and every day and it does become more and more accelerated."
(On keeping the student-athletes that have been committed since 2013 interested in Tennessee)
"It starts with relationships. I think everyone knows we have the best game day atmosphere in the country. If they can come witness that I think that just helps solidify things more and more. But again, with Barry Rice and Link Hudson and everyone involved, we do a great job. If they can't be there personally, we can show them through videos and the things on YouTube. So that's been a great point for us as well, a great resource. Just when a young man recruits, it really starts now. So again, continuing to build the relationships. Again, I can't say enough about the relationships. That's where it starts first and foremost."
(On the number one factor in recruiting)
"For us, it's character. We spend an inordinate amount of time on character. To Danny's question, when he talks about the recruiting calendar being accelerated, that's one of the things. We can never compromise our evaluation. The way I look at it is that we're also inviting these individuals into our football program. It's a two-way street. They're looking to pick us but we're also inviting them into our football program. So there's a lot that goes into it and when you can get individuals on campus, you're able to evaluate that a little bit more. You're able to really dive in and ask pertinent questions. Every moment you get is critical because for me, as the head coach I'm not allowed to go out during the spring. So my contact with them is very, very limited. I only get one in-person contact during the contact period, and that's usually a home visit. When I go in, you're trying a couple going into high school, meeting all the teachers, the professors, the high school coaches, and also going into the home and meeting the aunts, the uncles, mom, dad, everyone associated with the raising of the young man. There's a lot that goes into it. The thing that we're never going to compromise on is the overall character of the young man, and really finding out how competitive they are. To me, that's what really separates individuals. Do they want to stay the course? Do they want to work hard or do they want to find the easy way out? I've heard too much, "Coach it's too hard." Well, to be a champion, it's hard. Life is hard. How do they handle adversity? How do they persevere? And also the parents, we had a specialist come in and talk about the raising of kids now a days. They talked about how you get some parents that are busy preparing the path for the kid instead of the kid for the path, and that's something that I try to raise our kids with. Those are all the recruiting dynamics, the elements that we look into when we're evaluating a young man. There's a lot that goes into it and it's more than just football. Obviously, football is a big part of it, but there's a lot more to it in our football program."
(On how much difference exposure makes when it comes to the next class)
"It's critical. Anytime that we can gain the national exposure that we have been able to gain here in the last two years speaks volumes because you have 2016 recruits calling in and so the more times you're on national television, the more times they see Tennessee. I think that's evidence of what we're building here and what we have here and the positive energy, the positive momentum that we have. Our coaches and everyone in our football program has worked exceptionally hard to make this a reality. So I think it's a big benefit, anytime they can see Tennessee on a national stage and have two consecutive top five recruiting classes is very big, but now that switches to us about the individual growth and development of every single player and that's now the next step in our program is developing these young men to meet their fullest potential and be the best that they can possibly be because they are part of Tennessee football."
(On the new residence being built and the housing situation resonating with parents)
"Well, being able to see a structure being built was great. You can show renderings and drawings but when they can actually physically see the structure going up is a great benefit, but we also have Vol Hall which is a tremendous asset for us in recruiting. It is one of the best dormitories in the country so again they're able to see Vol Hall and then they see the vision that's going on here at Tennessee with the new dormitory complex, with the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio. You know all those things that go into developing a player to meet their fullest potential we're able to show them now. Living arrangements, Smokey's, all that are critical in their development as well. One of the biggest things, and it may sound crazy, but when these players, especially these ten newcomers, come to campus one of the most important aspects are their roommates. Their roommates are critical. So all those little elements go into developing every individual."
(On questions of cost of attendance and if it is expected to be an issue going down the road)
"Well, I do expect it to be a more of a base question, more broad type questions. We are able to discuss it a little bit towards the tail end of recruiting not really at the beginning of recruiting but once the rule passed, and more talk became of it, it became more widely spread in terms of conversations and questions so we were able to talk about that and I see moving forward that will be probably one of the biggest questions asked in moving forward through the next year's recruiting cycle but I think the overall heightened awareness of that because of what happened the last couple weeks we started having more and more questions regarding that."
