University of Tennessee Athletics
Butch Jones Media Transcript (8.25.15)
August 25, 2015 | Football
(Opening Statement)
"Hope everyone's doing well. [It's] a great day to get back out and play football. Everything is about the continuation of improvement, continuing to be a better football team every time we step out on the football field, and really becoming one percent better. It's all about our mental toughness, our physical toughness, being in football condition, being in football shape, and then execution in everything that we're doing. We've taken the last couple of days ... kind of had some rest, some recovery, but also all the mental repetitions as well and getting in the weight room. It was great to be back on the football field. ... We have limited opportunities to continue to grow and get better as a football team. ... Whether it's an individual drill, an 11-on-11, a 7-on-7, that's critical. We have to value every day, and we have to capture the opportunity. We do continue to get healthy, which is very, very positive. ... We had Jack Jones, Marquez North practiced some today, Justin Martin a little bit, and LaTroy Lewis as well, so it was great to get them back on the field. We did hold Alex Ellis again with back spasms, and we held Josh Smith with some muscle spasms as well. We anticipate them getting back here in the next day or two but we held those individuals. We're going to have to rely on a very large freshman class, again, to play. Just about everyone in our class will play. There will be some exceptions but really where that's affected [is] on special teams, and really every player in our football program understanding their role. You have to understand your role, you have to excel in your role, you have to star in your role, you have to embrace your role. ... When you lose a Rashaan Gaulden, your production on special teams goes down, so we need some of our youngsters to really step up and embrace the special teams game. That means extra diligence, that means studying film. Before they even watch offense and defense, their preferred side of the ball, they're coming in and watching special teams. ... We had two individuals have their stripes taken off today, Venzell Boulware and Micah Abernathy. ... They had the opportunity to address the team and did a great job with that. I'll answer any questions you may have."
(On what was said when Venzell Boulware and Micah Abernathy addressed the team)
"Well, everyone's different, and that's kind of between the team, but they always talk about the older players really teaching them the culture, the standards, the expectations, [helping them] schematically, techniques. That's been the great thing to see, is [that] they all talk about the older players and what they've meant to that in their overall development, and just how proud they are to be a part of this football team and this football program. Some are a little more outspoken than others as you could imagine, but it's always great to have them address their peers and their teammates."
(On Justin Martin returning)
" ... First of all, it's getting back in shape, and working the fundamentals and the details, and it's still going to be a long process for him. It's still going to be a long road, and then you throw schematics in. You have to make sure you don't put too much on them at one time. You have to be patient, and it does take time. Justin's done a very good job of getting himself back healthy, but it's going to be a step-by-step process."
(On the stability of the offensive line)
"We're still mixing things up. Again, what we've found is the different that the positions they're playing has really proved beneficial. You can never have enough guards or tackles, or centers. It's about finding the right fit for game one, and the right fit for game one may not be the right fit for game two, game three, game four. Every game is a different skill set that you're playing against. Maybe it's scheme, it may be one-on-one match-ups, but we need to get it right so we're going to take as much time as we need to do it. We just don't want to set a timetable. I know I said here a week ago that we wanted to have it set, but we're not ready to have it set yet."
(On changing the offensive line week to week)
"There is a lot [of importance] with continuity, but the big thing is competitiveness. All of these individuals in our offensive line have done a very good job. Playing offensive line is a very thankless task. You have to line up every single snap, and you have about 15 seconds to decipher the play and come off with pad level and physicality, and fundamentals, and technique, and finish, and execute your assignment. Everything's moving very, very fast. I have a lot of respect for our guys up front. They're doing a very, very good job with it. I see us making progress collectively as a group, but it's just important that we keep improving. A lot of times, individuals continue to improve over the course of time, and that's why I say, for us, `We have to continue to get better,' not just in the offensive line. It's every position group, and I've seen it every year. One individual, two individuals, three individuals may not be ready by game one or game two, but they become game-ready by game five, game six, game seven. That's what we talk about in our program, is continuing growth and development not just when training camp ends, but throughout the entire course of the season."
(On slowing down the cross training)
"Yeah we do. You know we start to tell an individual, that `this is the position we want you to concentrate on. Or, there maybe a couple individuals who we say "you're going to have to bounce from this position to that position'. That's been the focus, we haven't just been reckless.
"You know the youngsters, we just try to give them one position, and master that position before the move on. Like Jack Jones, he's only played right guard. That's very, very important to his development that we don't move him around. Charles Mosley has only played left guard. It's very important that we don't move him around. There are other individuals that have done a good job that have been in our program that we have that luxury of being able to move them around because they're very intelligent football players."
(On knowledge and Jalen Reeves-Maybin's confidence)
"He's instills it a lot. He actually gave a presentation to our football team, in training camp, on special teams, and it was his speech to the team. He actually put together his own video. He actually had clips of him, from his freshman year and what he did.
"Curt Maggitt spoke, and Curt put in some photos of his freshman year too, and them understanding how this is an opportunity to help Tennessee win. You get live game repetitions playing in big-time venues, in meaningful games. So, they have been a great voice in terms of the special teams and how important it is. Because, we spoke about this when we had out opening press conference at training camp for this football team. Everything is about field position, and us understanding that there isn't one element that doesn't effect field position more than special teams."
(On the competition at the linebacker position)
"It's on-going. We just want them to compete each and everyday. They way we practice...its kind of blown out of proportion the way we move guys around. We practice so many groups, that it is really beneficial to be able to move those guys around because of the structure in our practice, and the reps within our practice, and with the amount of groups that we get repetitions with. That's all structurally done to insure that we get enough reps to grade our individuals everyday. Even then it is a cumulative over the body of work in training camp."
(On hoping to redshirt more)
"Well you'd like to have more of that luxury were still not at that luxury yet were we have that depth across the board at all positions...and again it's the numbers at all the position groups especially the position groups, that greatly affects special teams... and then again having guys... who want to make their mark. You know, Devaun Swafford is another individual who really made his mark on our football program through special teams has done a very good job. He has started on all our special teams. So you take him off now as he is a student coach, you take Rashaan Gaulden's production off and those are two valuable, valuable key contributors to your special teams game, but it's an opportunity for someone to step up and embrace that role and take advantage of that.
(On Abernathy being involved in the nickel)
"Micah's doing a very good jib and we've asked a lot of Micah moving him around He's involved right now, but Malik Foreman is another individual who's getting valuable repetitions at the nickel spot."
(On freshmen (Austin Smith and Quarte Sapp) who maybe embracing that special teams "specialist" role)
"We are we are, we're seeing these individual attempting to embrace the role and now we have to teach them of how do you do it. You know, how do you watch film, how are you getting in doing the extra, how are you owning your technique all those little things, but I do, I do see a lot of individuals who have been very, very selfless. You know there's a lot, they want to help the team win. Now it's just the consistency every time owning your technique and that's why we have the language that we have, that there is carryover to every single one of our special teams. We keep our verbiage the same, so once they learn a technique, that's involved whether that's: reducing your surface, ripping and running, restarting your feet. They understand that, and there is carry over from every one of your special teams because it's basically the same teaching."
(On Jennings making plays)
"That is a good question. Yes, because you usually see it, especially when an individual makes the transition to wide receiver because of running. Jauan is involved very heavily in our special teams, so you do see that, but I haven't seen that. He is starting to emerge as one of our playmakers on offense and special teams. That is an attribute to his conditioning and mental toughness."
