University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Vols 59, Bowling Green 30
September 05, 2015 | Football

Sept. 5, 2015
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Tennessee Head Coach Butch Jones
(Opening statement)
"First of all, that was a long game. We talked at the rain delay that this would challenge our maturity as a football team. If you remember, there were three things that we spoke about before the season started that would directly dictate our success as Team 119. One of them was the maturity and growth of our football team. And in an 80 minute rain delay when things don't go all your way, I thought the kids handled it.
"We actually had talked about it and had a plan in place going to the hideaway, but I thought our players responded very well and I'd like to thank all of our fans for staying in the stands and going through the rain delay with us. They created a little bit of a home field advantage for us tonight. I wanted to give my sincere appreciation to the greatest fan base in America for showing up tonight.
A number of storylines, I thought our special teams, our return game really flipped field position, gave us a spark, so I thought the return game was big. Defensively, we did a great job of 3rd down, 4-for-18, but then not following it up on 4th down conversions, allowing them to convert three times. We took two scores off the board, which we can't do that as the season progresses. You can't do that at all. But I thought we were able to control the line of scrimmage, run the football, and I was really proud of the offensive line and the backs, and even the wideouts. We do have to get some of those holding calls corrected.
Another unsung hero who just epitomizes what we're building here is Todd Kelly Jr. [Kelly] was in the hospital up until Thursday afternoon, and I believe he went in on Monday. He broke the record for video watched in a hospital room. He had an infection, had IVs, they wouldn't let him go. And then when they let him go, he came right over on Thursday afternoon and we conditioned him, he practiced on Friday, and then he played today. And he helped us win a football game. I think that speaks volumes for him and his family, so I just want to say thank you.
But [Bowling Green] is a good football team. They know how to win. And I said it, they're very very explosive on offense. They have great, great skill. I think that was shown today, but we have to take great progress in moving forward. Obviously, some of the biggest improvements can be made from Game One to Game Two. We all know what's coming in to Neyland Stadium Saturday evening, a great great football team. I'll say it right now, I think they're one of the most underrated football teams in the country. I think they're going to be a great, great challenge, so we have to get better in a hurry. We have to shore some things up and our players understand that. They know that.
But it's hard to win, and we had a lot of things go against us, some adversity, some we created for ourselves, but I liked the way our players responded."
(On missing defensive backs coach Willie Martinez)
"It has an impact from a communication standpoint. Coach Martinez brings so much from the box, and not having him available, I thought that hurt us. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you it didn't because I think it did. But our players were resilient. We're moving on. The suspension has been held for a secondary violation that occurred 16 months ago. I will tell you this, there isn't anybody who hurts more right now than Willie Martinez. I think we all know Willie has impeccable character, and we're just looking forward to getting him back and working tomorrow."
(On if he expected Bowling Green's offense to take so many shots downfield)
"Yeah, we did. We were trying to get some pressure to him and to their credit, they're good. I thought their quarterback through the ball well. He was everything that we said he was. Receivers were able to win some one-on-ones, some 50-50 balls going up and getting them. We expected them to take their shots."
(On what it will take for Todd Kelly Jr. to get back up to speed after spending time in the hospital earlier this week)
"Well really, it was like he was out there all week of practice. Again, that's a tribute to him. Preparing the mind is so big, and like I told you, he had an iPad and he watched every single practice. He watched, I believe, every Bowling Green game that we had. And so even though he didn't prepare himself physically, he had prepared himself mentally. It takes a mature young man to do that."
(On if Kelly Jr's hospitalization was related to getting his tonsils out earlier in camp)
"It's something that came back with an infection, yes."
(On how the team spent the weather delay)
"When we went away from the hideaway, we actually had about a hour and a half, two hour discussion on a rain delay, a lightning plan. Our support staff did a tremendous job, but our players were outstanding. We made sure we kept them hydrated. [Sports Nutritionist Allison Maurer] does a great job in terms of nutrition. I believe we even went and got hot dogs. So we kept them eating, and we let them relax for a little bit, and then all of a sudden get them started. Coach Lawson would stretch them. We had music, and I'll tell you what, they were dancing and they were keeping each other fresh and loose. We made them take their socks off and put new socks on, do some things with buckets of water. You stick your hand in there and it kind of shocks your central nervous system. We tried anything and everything but it's a tribute to our support staff and our players."
(On if the performances from Hurd and Kamara tonight were what he envisioned)
"Yeah. They feed off of each other. The great thing about them is they're selfless. When one scores, we all score. You could see the excitement in them and in their body language, whether it was Jalen [Hurd], or whether it was Alvin [Kamara], or whether it was John Kelly in there. We had some youngsters gain some valuable repetitions today when things didn't go all our way, and that was great to see."
(On if this game presented everything he could have asked for in a first game)
"Yeah, first game of the unknowns. Curt [Maggitt] goes out after the first play of the year. First play of the game, he's out and his hand was all bloody and all that. So, for a first game, there's a lot of things that you try to simulate in a first game but you really can't, like with the lightning delay and all those things, and the adversities that come about in a football game and in a long football season. So, we had just about anything and everything."
(On if there were areas of play that did not meet his standards)
"Well obviously, there's always areas for improvement. We have to take great strides in moving forward. I just spoke about the 4th downs, the deep footballs, little different things when we watch the video. Again, you can't take touchdowns off the board. We took two of them off the board. It was great to see Aaron [Medley] bounce back and hit the field goal at the end of the game from a confidence standpoint, and that won't affect him one bit. But yeah, we have to take big, big strides in moving forward as an entire football team from Week One to Week Two. The great thing about it is our players realize that."
(On the importance of Nashville players to the program)
"Well, they've meant so much to us and the mid-state has meant so much to us--middle Tennessee. You look at Jauan Jennings and what he was able to do tonight, making his first career start and we said it, you know, getting Tennessee football turned around is going to start in the state of Tennessee and it's going to start right here in Nashville. It was never more evidenced than tonight when you look around, if you're a young man from Nashville, why would you not want to represent your home state? You look at the crowd, you look at the excitement, you look at the Vol Walk. I mean that's what college football is all about."
(On Cameron Sutton's big returns)
"It was great. We spent so much time on special teams and obviously Cam does a great job with the ball in his hands, but also Cam would be the first to tell you that there's ten other individuals really working exceptionally hard and a lot of those ten individuals were youngsters playing for the first time. Again, those were momentum. I thought the score at the end of the half was big. That was momentum for us: managing the clock, getting the return and then cashing in on the touchdown to Ethan Wolf. That was big for us going into half time. That was real big."
(On the play of the offensive linemen)
"I'm pleased with them in terms of you look at the production we had tonight. Now obviously we'll go back and we'll watch the video and I'm sure there will be some things, yards that we left out there, but I thought it was a very, very good start."
(On Mike DeBord and the offense not being rusty)
"It wasn't and I don't expect for him to be rusty. That's why he had NFL opportunities to be co-coordinator at different places. There's so much that goes into calling a game. A lot of times offensive coordinators think solely their job is just to score points. And they're supposed to score points but you also got to manage the game. There's a couple times we're going to take shots because our defense had an extended drive, we were running the football, so we're trying to protect our defense and give them a rest. That's what Mike DeBord brings to the table is that wealth of experience of playing to the team and managing the football game, not just calling plays."
(On the play of junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs)
"I thought he did a good job. Obviously we'll go back and we'll look at the video but he did a good job, I thought, of commanding the line of scrimmage, getting us in the appropriate place, making good reads with his keeps, to keep the football. I know there's one or two throws we'd like to have back. I thought overall he did a really good job at managing the offense. I believe we didn't have any turnovers. That's something that we pride ourselves on--of taking care of the football. Our defense forces a turnover and we go 94 yards and respond with a touchdown. That's complementary football. You heard me talk about all last year is that great teams are able to play complementary football. Offense, defense, special teams. I thought tonight we were able to play some complementary football and possess the football when we needed to to give our defense a rest."
(On Colton Jumper at the MIKE linebacker)
"It's hard to see. I'll know more about it probably at the press conference and be able to fill you in on a little bit more, but I know they gained valuable repetition. That's things that you can't put a price tag on are valuable game repetitions, speed repetitions. We'll know a little bit more when I watch the video."
(On his expectations for turnovers forced)
"Well, we talk about taking the football away on defense and ball disruption. We were opportunistic but we dropped a couple interceptions and that's something we'll continue to work on. We pride ourselves in taking the football away. That's one of that area from game one to game two, we have to continue to improve in that area."
(On the debut of Shy Tuttle)
"A body of work. We've seen it in practice. Again those game repetitions that he received will prove to be invaluable"
(On Bowling Green's passing attack)
"I would just point to the secondary. First of all, that's a skilled group and we knew that we had a great challenge in front of us. Playing great team defense or pass defense, you know the naked eye you want to point to the back end but it starts with the generation of a pass rush, it starts with your drops at the linebackers, sometimes your linebackers being in man coverage, so I think it's too early to really sit here and say what happened. I'll be honest with you, players make plays. There were a couple throws that they made and catches that they made that you couldn't have been any more perfect for coverage and that's the game of football. Everyone's going to have success at some point in time. That's why we talk about a snap and clear mentality with everything that we do. It would be premature for me to sit up here and comment on that. We always talk about your corners have to be the most mentality tough players on your football team because you've got to be able to snap and clear all of that. I'll know a little bit more when I watch the video."
(On offensive tempo)
"I would like to think that it did. We have worked exceptionally hard on our tempo. That's the fastest we've played, but also we were able to control the game and control the line of scrimmage while managing our tempo which was great to see and then at the end managing the clock as well. We had eight scoring touchdown drives under two minutes. I don't think we've ever done that. So we've worked very, very hard and that's a tribute to our players and our style of play and our practice habits. We've worked really hard in that and we've invested in that. Our players showed very, very good conditioning levels in this heat and in this humidity so I was proud of them."
(On Justin Martin's health)
"Getting him in at the end of the game helped. He's just going to continue to get better and improve health wise as time goes on. I think each and every day he continues to get healthier, healthier and healthier. Hopefully now he'll be able to grow into some roles of helping us on special teams and helping with some other things on the defensive end."
Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd
(On coming back to Nashville and playing well)
"It was great. I'm really happy we had a game like this in Nashville. The rain delay had us a little shaken up, but we were having a good time in the locker room. We came out. We were excited and we played hard."
(On joining Alvin Kamara as the first Vol RB tandem since 2009 to run for over 100 yards apiece)
"That's pretty awesome. It's great. We're just trying to rep and do everything we can to do awesome for the Tennessee Vols and get this team to a championship."
(On the run game having success)
"Tennessee Football runs the ball. Off of that we can do anything. We have the best wide receiver corps in the nation. We're a great team in that and we're gonna do great things this year."
(On scoring eight touchdown drives that took less than two minutes)
"We're working, but we gotta get better. We're never gonna be satisfied"
(On Josh Dobb's being a CEO quarterback)
"He's always been 'the guy' and the CEO, even last year and the year before that. He's the leader all the time. Anytime we look for anything, we go to him and he did a great job tonight as well."
Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara
(On his 56-yard touchdown run)
"It started with the O-Line. They had a great push up-front, great cutoffs. Just bounced it outside. Had a great block outside by Josh Smith I think. I was just stroking down the sideline. I wouldn't say I almost got caught, but I looked up at the and he was kinda close. I had to pick it up."
(On how good this team can be if the offense plays well)
"Very good. Very good. We were just talking about this in the locker room. We have another game next week, Oklahoma. We have to keep getting better, correct our mistakes and keep getting better."
(On how the offense interacts with the defense)
"We were interacting on every switch from offense to defense. Curt [Maggitt] might come over and say ` We need you. We need you. It was good complementary game. When the offense was down the defense picked them up. When the defense was down the offense picked them up."
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs
(On the play of the offensive line) "The O-Line has always been great. They're a dynamic group. They've been a group that's very competitive within each other, and pushing each other to get better everyday. We saw that throughout camp. Today they really dominated the line of scrimmage. Coleman [Thomas] did a great job. The whole O-Line did a great job. They did a great job of run blocking and pass protecting."
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(On Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara in the backfield)
"It's great. I told Alvin after his long touchdown, it was like middle school again. I've been playing with Alvin for a long time. So being able to see that explosiveness back out on the field was great. Obviously we know what Jalen can do because of what he did last year. They're a very experienced group."
(On the fast tempo and scoring)
"It felt like we were moving really fast. I mean, our offensive line came up to us and said. 'we are flying.' Half the time the defense wasn't even set, and that's what we love. We love to see that, and keep them on their heels, and keep moving the ball down their throat. So, it was great to see that tonight."
Tennessee tight end Ethan Wolf
(On having Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara in the backfield)
"If we don't get our blocks in time, they are good enough to the point they can make us right. It's big time to have those two guys back there, and we can only expect more out of them."
(On the run game opening up the passing game) "We scored the first two or thee touchdowns with only throwing the ball five or six times. They definitely knew we could run the ball on them, so they made adjustments, and with that, we made adjustments. The passing game opened up. Again, it's complementary. It's awesome that we have the ability to do that."
Tennessee offensive lineman Kyler Kerbyson
(On the play of the offensive line)
"We played great. All together it was really nice, we meshed really well. It's really not all of us. It's [Joshua] Dobbs, and [Jalen] Hurd, and Alvin [Kamara], and the wide outs. All of them making huge plays. You know, if we mess up on first or second down and its a third and long, the wideout goes up and makes a play and keeps the drive alive. It's all complementary football on the offense."
(On center Coleman Thomas) "Coleman. I mean he's a huge center. He really is. He's a lot bigger than most centers are, even in the SEC. So he brings his size, and he's really athletic too. Once he gets out on the edge. He's really able to cut some guys. I think he had five or six cut blocks which were great."
(On the long game)
"It was definitely bizarre, and very long. A very long game, but you've just got to take everything in stride. Like Coach Jones says...you're going to have sudden changes all the time, and that's what the rain delay was...a sudden change. We had to work through that, and be able to succeed after, and I think we did a great job."
Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton
(On if there is a concern moving forward after giving up deep passes) "I don't think it will be a concern at all. You know a lot of those little things are at the line, having good technique, wedging the receivers, things like that. That is something you always have to work on to get better at, so we just have to continue to get better."
(On what he credits the long punt returns to)
"My front 10. They do a great job, even in practice. They are locked in and tuned in at practice, getting extra film in to study their guys that they're faced up with on punt return. Then, they can create lanes for me to run through."
(On the importance of the first cut on a punt return)br> "Very important. At punt return, you are probably always going to have to make one or two guys miss from the beginning, and that is just part of being a punt returner. Being able to make guys miss and getting to the heart of the punt team affects them. Going forward, guys may start shanking punts. That is still good for field position."
Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin
(On getting confident with more stops) "We just started playing our game. We had to have that snap and clear mentality. When one thing would happen, we would just move on to the next play. We had a couple of calls go our way, and we were able to make some stops."
(On Todd Kelly Jr. playing after being sick)
"It was crazy. I didn't really expect for him to be out there at all. For him being sick all week and not practicing, it was definitely big to see him out there with us. I told him that I loved him after the game just for being out there with us."
(On what he saw from LBs Colton Jumper and Darrin Kirkland Jr.)
"They rotated a lot today. Darrin came in and, on the first play, almost [stripped the ball for a touchdown on his sack]. I had to try to get them calmed down out there, with everything going so fast. I wanted them to calm down and let the game come to them."
Tennessee defensive back Brian Randolph
(On the good defensive plays late in the game)
"It wasn't all doom and gloom. A couple explosive plays here and there, actually quite a few, but we also had some good PBU's, good pass breakups. We didn't get the pick like we wanted to. But we had a lot of contested passes."
(On being surprised by Bowling Green)
"We took them seriously since we found out we were playing them. We've been watching their offense. We knew that had a bunch of talent. We knew they liked to go fast and had a bunch of good plays as well. We tried to prepare for it. They came in and made some plays on us."
(On what the team did during the delay)
"Just trying to stay loose, not get uptight. Not worry about the bad plays we made, worry about the good ones. A little bit of dancing. Just trying to get everyone's spirits up."
Bowling Green Head Coach Dino Babers
(On punt return coverage)
"[Tennessee] was really good. Their guy, if he had some space, he is a big-time player. I just think it was a whole team effort. Their football team is really good. Their punt returner is really good. When you play games like this, you have SEC twos and threes versus MAC twos and threes. You can line up 15 to 19 guys versus offense and defense and stay, but there is such a differences between their backups and our backups. That's what normally makes a big difference in the game. The team knew that going in that we had to break even on special teams, and obviously we didn't do that."
(On his team's defensive performance)
"I think it's hard. I think our defense played as well as their defense. We gave up a lot of yards rushing, but when you look at their players versus our players and the field position that we had compared to the field position that they had, I think the two defenses came out as a draw. Now, it is not like that statistically, but I promise you somebody is not going to sleep over there based off their defense, either."
(On being unable to convert drives to touchdowns)
"When you have some of the drives that we had, certain personnel and people you can risk a little bit more, but those guys are really good. We took our risks. What was that--fourth and something [from the 13-yard line]? I think it all pays off. You have to get something. You go all that way, and to go for it on fourth-and-eight and not get anything is tough. We get a little bit more yards, maybe we can take a little more chances."
(On the delay's effect)
"They got to rest. Their whole team--they got two halftimes against us. They had a [15-point lead] at halftime. It's hard to say that, but we wanted to play. We wanted to keep playing. We didn't want to go in at halftime. If would have been nice to continue to play since we were warmed up."
Bowling Green quarterback Matt Johnson
(On the Falcons' offensive play)
"I thought the offense did pretty well for the most part. We moved the ball and put some points on the board. There were some dry spells here and there, but, overall, I think the offense played well."
(On the high amount of opportunities)
"That was the game plan going in. We wanted to take advantage of their defensive backs. Sometimes, they made plays on it. Sometimes, we dropped the ball. Sometimes, I overthrew them. We did make enough plays on the deep balls to keep us in the game, and that was the game plan going in. I thought we did okay with it."
(On trading field goals for touchdowns in parts of the game)
"You talk to anybody on the offense, and I think they would tell you that there were some points left on the field. But, you go up against the No. 25 team in the country and are able to put up 30 points, you can't be too upset with it."
Bowling Green linebacker Austin Valdez
(On fixing the defensive issues)
"We have to come back and prepare even more and even harder. We have to get used to this defense, getting it down pat and making sure everyone knows their assignments. You have to limit all the mistakes. We always say do your one-eleventh. If one person isn't doing their one-eleventh, that offense can take advantage of it."
(On defending Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd)
"He is definitely a big back. He is very good. I felt like we could have handled him though. If we limited the mistakes, we could have handled him."