Postgame Quotes: Vols 55, TTU 0

Nov. 5, 2016

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Tennessee Head Coach Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
"Obviously great to get back in the win column. I'm really proud of our players. I thought they prepared all week. I loved their focus, and I loved their mindset. I thought this was our best week of preparation. We practiced with energy, and talked all week long about returning to the standards and expectation with passion and energy and the inspiration that it takes to play this game, so I was really proud of them. We need to continue to learn as the season progresses. We played complimentary football in all three phases of the game, and we had a lot of individuals get playing time, and they deserve playing time. They work hard throughout the course of the week. So I was really happy with that. I was happy with starting fast, I believe with scoring touchdowns on our first four possessions. I talked about winning the week this week and going 1-0, and when we got off the buses for the Vol Walk, our fans were outstanding. Just the positive energy and excitement, I thought to stay for the entire game, that was remarkable. I thought Josh Dobbs got us off to a fast start. We were able to run the football, I thought our offensive line did some good things. It was just a complete, complete team win. Same thing defensively, we were able to get them in third and long, and we knew it was going to be a game of patience because we anticipated them running the 40 second clock down. A lot of times you can panic as a football team because you're pressing, you're pressing, you're pressing. I thought our players handled themselves exceptionally well. We're 1-0 and moving on to the next week."

(On playing so many individuals)
"Any time you can gain live-speed repetitions, it is critical. I think you can also see that our lack of depth revealed itself in this game. We are very banged up and limited in a number of positions. I have been so proud of the resolve and resiliency of everyone in our football family. It was great because everyone earned their playing time. Playing time is very sacred. It doesn't matter what part of the game it occurs. It is very special to get the opportunity to represent the University of Tennessee."

(On Joshua Dobbs' bounce-back performance)
"He had a great week of preparation, and our receivers did a good job of catching the ball and advancing it. The second touchdown pass to Josh Malone in the corner of the end zone by the Peyton Manning Locker Room was one of [Joshua Dobbs'] best throws this year. Our offensive line got the protection that he needed to drop back and set his feet. We always say that the quarterback is the byproduct of everyone around him. I thought everyone around him played well and led to him playing a solid football game as well. I'm proud of everyone."

(On importance of getting off to a quick start)
"It was critical. We talked about getting off to a fast start, especially when we knew they were going to run the clock down. I respect Tennessee Tech's football program, and I understand the growing pains of rebuilding a football team. It was very important that we started off fast. I liked the way we executed, and I thought we threw the ball very well, especially the deep ball."

(On the team's best week of preparation and continuing that moving forward)
"We need to learn from these lessons. We have to be a team that plays with great passion and energy. We have to be a football team that prepares the way we prepared this week. It began with the mindset of our players. They were disappointed with the outcome of our performance last week. The great thing about sports is that you get an opportunity to prove yourself. Everyone was very disappointed, but instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they came in with a mental focus and a mindset to get better. Our energy was consistent across the board the whole week from everyone in our football family. We have to be that type of football team. Now, how do we learn from that moving forward into next week?"

(On Nigel Warrior and Marquill Osborne's play)
"Those individuals continue to grow, and the repetitions they gained tonight are invaluable. We are going to need them. Nigel has great closing speed and does a great job of open field tackling. Osborne is starting to get more confidence. They are starting to get more confidence. They are doing a good job and are starting to stand out. Nothing beats game repetitions."

(On how Brandon Johnson played and looking back at Marquez Callaway's punt return)
"What we have noticed in practice about Marquez Callaway is that he is a natural at fielding punts. It was great that he was able to get a touchdown. We take great pride in our return game. I bet when we watch the film that there were a lot of individuals who won their one-on-one matchups. We will continue to let him do it. Brandon Johnson did as well. He provided a spark for us. He got injured in camp, which really set back his growth and development. You hope a game like this builds confidence amongst these youngsters. I thought they played very well."

(On the energy in the lock room)
"That was one of the most spirited celebrations that we have had in our locker room. That is a byproduct of the investment of everyone in our football program. Everyone brought it. We had great energy and practices and competed throughout the course of the week. Now, we need to learn from it and move on. There was a lot of excitement and energy in the locker room. You can't ever take winning for granted. Half of the teams in the country lose each week. Every win is special."

(On how the running backs play and any updates on Alvin Kamara)
"We will know more on Alvin on Monday. He is supposed to practice this week. I know he is very driven. He was out in pregame warmups working out and had recovery in the training room today. I thought our running backs ran the ball hard and behind their pads. We didn't have many negative yardage football plays, which is always critical. The only thing I didn't like was that I didn't want to kick a field goal at the end of the first half. With the teams coming up on our schedule, we have to come away with seven points in those situations instead of three."

(On what can be taken into the rest of the season from today's game)
"Execution, winning critical downs. Our defense did a great job on third and fourth down. Winning the field position battle, making explosive plays, being able to run the ball, protecting the quarterback. We have to shore some things up in the back end of our defense in terms of throwing the ball. We're going to be challenged with that the next three weeks. But again, just the passion, the energy, the drive to win, the will to win. One of the most challenging things as a coach is at the end of the game with substitutions on special teams and all that that goes into the game management when the score is where it's at and you're pulling people. I thought our players and our coaches did a really good job of really handling the substitutions."

(On the different starting lineup on the offensive line)
"Jack has been battling injury with his cast. Jack did a great job tonight and I'm proud of all of the offensive line, I thought they did a good job. But again, it's just trying to work our way into a five, and then they'll compete again this week. But I'm proud of all those individuals, and they work so hard throughout the course of the week. I believe in all of those individuals."

(On being able to get a win following a loss last week and a dramatic week)
"I can tell you there was no drama inside of our building. I think you know me by now. I'm going to be brutally honest with you and not keep anything from you all. Our team was very focused. There wasn't anything in our building in terms of distraction or clutter. And that's why I'm proud of our players. Every day they worked exceptionally hard and they communicated. On the outside it may have seemed [dramatic], but that was all manufactured. That's why I'm proud of this football team. They were a very driven, very focused football team, and this has been a very tough-minded football team. We're going to be challenged the next three weeks, and if you remember, when we started on this journey, I said that these last five weeks would be much more difficult than the first seven weeks. And it's a byproduct of opponents and getting everyone's best shot, injuries, next man up - all of that. Again, it's just a good win for us tonight."

(On how stressful the past couple of weeks have been for him and decision making at the end of the half to kick a field goal)
"Not at all. I believe in our players, I believe in our coaches, I believe in our process. But I was animated there because I wanted to score a touchdown. I didn't want to kick a field goal. So I thought that was very important that the players kind of feed off of my energy, and they understand that. I was trying actually to get the attention of the officials as well. There are a lot of things that as coaches and players we'll review those final plays. We'll do some timed plays with four seconds left - could we have done a sprint-out or could we have thrown a fade and had some time left, and we'll look into some of the things that go into that. I'm extremely competitive, and just like everyone on this football team, I want to win. I take great pride in the way we play. And I think you all know me by now, I love this place, I love our fans, I love our players, and I love the University of Tennessee. And with every loss, I am responsible for the losses. And when we lose I take it personally because I feel that I let everyone down in the state of Tennessee. So I put more stress and more pressure on myself than anyone could ever write, anyone could ever speculate. Because the number one thing I don't want to let down is our players, our institution, the state of Tennessee, and our fan base. And I take great pride in being the head football coach here. And I know how special this football program is to a lot of people. And I think we also need to celebrate the small victories. If you look at how you continue to motivate players, how you motivate youngsters, you have to celebrate the small victories. If you're going to lose 30 pounds, when you lose 10, celebrate it. When you lose another 10, celebrate it. I listen to Joel Osteen about that. Celebrate the small victories. You know what, we're bowl eligible. It's the first time since 2002 that it's three consecutive years. You know what, that's something to be very proud of. These players and this program have come a long way. We're 6-3 right now, we haven't been in this spot since 2007. Let's celebrate the small victories, but also keep the drive and the hunger for more. Are we satisfied with that? Is that the expectation here? No. The expectations far exceed that. But also let's celebrate the real small victories, and that's how you constantly build success and keep the morale of everyone. And that's why I'm really proud of our players, and I'm proud of the way our fans showed up for the Vol Walk. You have no idea when we got off of those buses, and the way our fans met our team, with the positive energy, that was invigorating."

Tennessee QB Joshua Dobbs

(On his night tonight - 12-of-13 for 183 yards and 3 TDs)
"It should have been zero incompletions. It was efficient. That was my mindset coming into the game. That was my mindset for the entire offense, just to come out and play an efficient game. If a throw is there, make the throw. If there is a play to be made, just simply make the play. Have an efficient day, play with energy and enjoy what you're doing."

(On what he saw from the young guys)
"Execution. The level of play didn't drop off. It was time for them to get out there and make plays. I had 100% trust in them that they were going to go out there and make plays. It was really exciting to see guys like Malone and Jauan catch touchdowns and see Brandon Johnson, Marquez Callaway and different guys enjoy themselves. Carlin Fils-aime got in the end zone for his first touchdown and Marquez had his first punt return. It was a lot of fun to see those guys have success tonight."

(On the team avoided having drama in the locker room this week)
"We're a mature football team. At the end of the day we want to focus on the people that are here. Since I've been here, we've been through a ton of adversity. Losing one guy during a week isn't big enough to throw off this team. We're a mentally tough team, and we're focused on the task at hand. We know we need each and every person on this team to be successful. Those guys came ready to play today, and we had a productive day."

Tennessee DL Corey Vereen

(On how was the locker room tonight was different than last Saturday)
"There was a lot of energy before the game. Everyone was ready to go and locked in. Everyone was focused on doing their job."

(On how important it is this team persevered)
"Perseverance is a trait we've always had on defense, even all the way from the offseason and coming into camp. It's helped us because we've had a lot of injuries. People talk, but we don't listen. We come to work everyday. We have some dogs on the field, and we just play ball."

(On if he thought the team would come out focused)
"I knew."

Tennessee WR Josh Malone

(On the 43 yard touchdown catch)
"It was a three verticals play. I was running the route to win. I trusted Dobbs to put up a good ball and he did. We made the play and that was all she wrote."

(On how it felt to get the deep ball going again)
"It's just about executing, taking advantage of your opportunities, and executing on offense as a whole."

(On how it felt to have a 100-yard receiving game and two TD's)
"It was great because I finally broke the hundred-yard mark. This whole season I kept coming close. It was frustrating when I would see games where I would have 94 yards. It was a great feeling to finally break 100."

Tennessee RB Carlin Fils-aime

(On playing in a game and putting himself on tape)
"It felt really great. Just being out there with the team. There's nothing better than I could ask for, being out there with my o-lineman, quarterback and wide receivers. I just love them to death, and just having a chance to be out there with them was anything I could ask for."

(On if he nervous)
"No sir, not at all. Coach had prepared us for this season. If anything were to happen, if someone were to get hurt. Next man had to go up, when my time was up I was not nervous. I knew that I had to step it up and be prepared if the team needed me, and I did my best."

(On scoring two touchdowns)
"It felt great, I hadn't been in the endzone in a while. The first touchdown that I got, it felt amazing. I couldn't believe that I was actually in the endzone. It wasn't until I got up, and the o-lineman were picking me up. I thought to myself I really just got in here, and I got excited. At the end of the day, still couldn't have done it without the o-lineman and the help of everyone."

Tennessee RB John Kelly

(On starting in the beginning of the game)
"It felt great. I've honestly been preparing myself to be a starter since I got here. Once I was able to actually go out there and start a game, it felt really good to go out there with those guys, and pretty much start it off."

(On scoring on the second carry of the game)
"It felt good. It was a perfectly executed play. The guys up front really took care of everybody. I was just able to see the small seam, trust the play and ran as fast as I can. I know the coaches want us to trust every play that we call, so I just trusted it."

(On the importance of showing the running back skill set)
"We trust every guy that is in that room because everyone has been hand picked by the coaches to be here. I'm pretty sure they're confident in every player in the running back room. For those young guys to be out there and show what they can do was a really good thing."

Tennessee LB Cortez McDowell

(On the increased energy in the locker room)
"It was just another opportunity for us to get back on the field and compete. We have had a tough three weeks prior to this game so we just had to understand what was in front of us and get back to what we were doing at the beginning of the season, and we went back to just having fun. That showed today through all of the energy that we had."

(On having new guys out on the field)
"It was exciting seeing a bunch of young guys go out there and get to play. It was great for us because we gave them a lot of energy, and they added back to the energy with a couple of big runs by a couple of different guys with big plays. Marquez Callaway's punt return sparked our team. We have been missing that in our special teams game, and he brought it back today for us and gave us energy we have been missing."

(On his interception)
"We knew it was a passing situation. We knew they were going to give us protection. We saw it in film study and so we went for it with a mindset of not letting them beat us over the deep ball, so we had a lot of eyes watching the quarterback. We had a great pass rush from the four guys up front, and I guess he did not keep his eyes down field, he just threw it, so I guess the interception goes to the D-Line because they got a great pass rush and the other guys on the field just executed our jobs."

(On the fans)
"It's great when you get off the bus and you see Vol Nation. We feed off of their energy. It is like a marriage; we feed off of them and they feed off of us, so to come out here on Saturdays after putting in work during the week and perform for Saturdays like these and give the fans excitement is great."

(On the team's improvement)
"Communication. We had to get everything back to the beginning. From energy and passion to loving each other, it all went back to what we had when we all got here together as a group."

Tennessee WR Marquez Callaway

(On being a natural punt returner)
"If it wasn't for the punt return team as a whole blocking for me, I would not be able to have any of those returns, so I have to take my hat off to those guys."

(On the team's unity)
"We needed this win, coming from a three-loss deficit. This win really boosted us up."

(On what tonight will do for his confidence)
"Well my confidence is always there, so I think this will make it better and hopefully it will make the team better all around."

Tennessee DB Rashaan Gaulden

(On how it felt to win tonight)
"It's definitely a confidence booster going ahead. Seeing the young guys step up and keep that clean sheet for us is a good feeling to have. This win, being able to dominate all facets of the game, special teams, offense and defense is very eye-opening for us. Playing complementary football coming into this three-game stretch, this championship stretch ahead."

(On what makes Marquez Callaway an effective punt returner)
"He's very dynamic, and any time I see a guy from Florida I just kind of feel like he probably has the wheels and he probably has a very good skill set. He's a really good player for us, and his role is only going to get bigger in the punt return game after what he did today."

(On the pride the defense takes in getting a shutout)
"It's definitely awesome. Actually it's my personal first shutout since my sophomore year of high school. Back when I was in high school we used to get shutout cookies, so I might make a call about some shutout cookies. Getting this clean sheet, no points on the board, that's very big for our defense--lots of confidence. We let them have over 150 pass yards, and we didn't want that, but at the end of the day we played good all around."

VISITOR QUOTES

Tennessee Tech Head Coach Marcus Satterfield

(Opening Statement)
"We knew the issues we had going in. We knew the personnel advantage they had in every position. I thought we had a pretty good plan put together to try to attack that disadvantage, and we just wanted to come out and play as hard as we could, see what would happen and take care of the football. We did take care of the football for the most part. They just have a lot of speed outside, and it's hard to cover if they protect for two or three seconds, and it's hard for us to stay hip to hip with them in secondary. They made those big plays early. That really put us in the hole. I was really proud of our kids for continuing to play hard. We didn't care about the scoreboard. We just kept playing and tried to get plays when we could. We are always trying to win the game, but in the end, they never quit, which is huge. Moving forward, we have two good games coming up. They're conference games against Tennessee State and Murray State, so we can put this behind us, get back to Cookeville tonight and get ready to play Murray and Tennessee State next week."

(On capitalizing on Tennessee's slow start)
"No, we knew that they were probably going to try and remedy some of their issues. We knew they were going to come out with some tempo and to try and push the ball down the field. We thought we had a plan to make sure we could survive that avalanche that was coming at us, but we didn't execute it. They did a great job. You could tell they were going to try to come out and push the ball and let Josh Dobbs throw the ball vertically down the field early and they did use the tempo to perfection."

(On establishing the running game)
"Up front, we were in disarray. We've got to make sure that we get better and keep progressing throughout the off season. There are too many injuries and combinations up front and to be consistently good. Our two freshmen running backs are two of the best in our conference and two of the best in the country. Yeedee Thaenrat was delivering blows against the best players Tennessee had to throw at us and they knew who he was at the end of the night. He didn't' have the yardage to really show for it, but I know if they tried to tackle him, they'd feel it more and I'm proud of Thaenrat and the way he played. I was proud of Andrew Goldsmith, the way he played tonight. There's not a lot of holes out there to run through, especially against Tennessee. They just kept playing as hard as they could and as physically as they could to take care of the ball."

(On Dontez Byrd's skill set)
"What you saw tonight is what he's been doing all year. He continues to get tougher as the season goes along. He had to make some one-on-one plays today, which were not easy. He had acrobatic catches against some really good defenders. Michael Birdsong did a great job of putting him in a place where he could locate it and go make a play on the ball, but that's what Byrd does. We'd like to get him some more carries with some jet sweeps moving forward, but at least we got the ball in his hands enough where he made somewhat of a difference, where we could get first downs and move the ball a little bit."

(On what Krys Cates means to the Tennessee Tech program)
"He's very unselfish. He's been at Tennessee Tech for a while now, and we came in this year and he really opened up to our new philosophy and standards that we set. I think he's thrived in them. He's a leader on our team. He wasn't playing a lot early in the season. He just kept practicing as hard as he could. He never complained. He always did exactly what we asked him to do. In the last three or four weeks, he's really come on and made a lot of plays for us. He has unbelievable ball skills and made some unbelievable catches in the last two weeks that you should take some time to look it up and watch. Cates is invaluable to us. He's tough, he's always there, he never misses a practice and he never misses a repetition. We've got to make sure that he continues to get better these last two weeks, and that will give us a chance to finish the year out strong."

(On the takeaways from the game against Tennessee and how they can prepare for Tennessee State)
"We can take a big check, and we can go home. We understand it was a fun experience for us. We competed at the highest level of our profession of what we do in division one football. We left it all out on the field and came up short. Our kids can gain some confidence in these last two games that they've played against some of the best players in the country. They didn't just get absolutely overwhelmed, especially offensively. I think that will help us from a confidence standpoint. It will help us go out and make plays in these final two weeks."

Tennessee Tech Running Back Yeedee Thaenrat

(On comparing Tennessee's run defense to other teams Tennessee Tech has played)
"Every team I have faced, I am not scared of them. So, I just bring the heat. I'll punch them before they hit me. They're very fast. They're the fastest team we've played so far."

Tennessee Tech Wide Receiver Dontez Byrd

(On Tennessee's tough pass defense)
"I don't really think it was tough. I think it was basically what we've been seeing all season, off coverage, but to the sideline. Basically, you just use simple defense. We just had to pass and catch."

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