University of Tennessee Athletics
Photo by: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Kennedy, To'o To'o, Gray Gear Up for Season Opener
September 22, 2020 | Football
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee redshirt senior Brandon Kennedy and sophomores Henry To'o To'o and Eric Gray discussed game week preparation with media members on Tuesday as the Volunteers approach their season opener at South Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET. For linebacker To'o To'o and running back Gray, Saturday marks their first trip to Columbia, S.C.
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Brandon Kennedy, R-Sr., OL
On the chemistry with the offensive line and what he expects from them this season…
"I think we've been really good at building chemistry. It has allowed us to get different guys at different positions this year, so I think it's been great. Our expectations going in to the first game is we want to be physical up front, and make a name for ourselves with our physicality, so that's what we pride ourselves on with the offensive line."
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On the excitement and expectations for Saturday's game at South Carolina and if he has talked to his peers about it…
"Going into this season, I'm very excited. It's my last season and I've worked very hard to get to this point, so I am just excited and ready to get out there. As far as talking to people on the outside about playing, my mom she's very excited for me. She's been with me through this whole process and just seeing me get this far. All my friends have been talking to me about it and they're all excited and ready to see some football on Saturday."
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On what his relationship has been like this past year with Jarrett Guarantano on and off the field...
"Me and Jarrett have a great relationship. We watch a lot of film and we talk about things other than football, so I think we have a great relationship that boosted over the offseason. We're always trying to watch film and see how each of us thinks. I think that will be good and very helpful for us going into the season."
Â
On if he ever had doubts of a season being played this fall...
"Being honest, sitting back in April, we didn't know what would happen. As a team, and also me as a person, we were just kind of concerned and there was a lot of uncertainty. Now that we've been able to go through the summer and have gotten to deal with COVID-19 and know what to expect, the medical professionals have given us advice on how to attack this. I think we've done a great job and I'm kind of excited now that we've gotten to this point."
Â
On what it has been like to represent his hometown of Wetumpka, Alabama, throughout his collegiate career...
"I'm blessed to have this opportunity. Anytime I get to talk to people back at home, I always give them advice on anything that they may need. I always try to give back and I feel like that's one of the things for me, being an older guy. As far as giving back to my hometown and giving back to some of the younger guys on the team, being able to bring them along, I think that's my role as a senior here and I'm very excited to do it."
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Henry To'o To'o, So., LB
On who the toughest ball carrier is on the team...
"All of our backs, in my opinion. We've got the best backs in the country. I've got so much confidence in them, that they're going to do what they need to do to get us a win on Saturday."
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On how the younger linebackers have stood out to him and how much they have come to him for insight...
"Our entire freshman group has done a tremendous job and guys like Morven Joseph and Tyler Baron on the defensive side have been doing a (great) job of getting the playbook down. They try to come to me, try to ask me for advice, asking me how I adapted and how did I do things when I got here. I just told them to work hard. Those guys, every single person on the offensive side and defensive side is doing a great job of coming in, putting in the work, focusing on the playbook and trying to hone in on knowing what we are going to do this week. Those guys are going to contribute big this week."
Â
On if he ever had doubts that a season would be played...
"First off, when we got quarantined, it was kind of hard to see a football season happening. It was kind of hard, but as we came back and as we transitioned to coming back after quarantine, we took the necessary steps to be able to have a season. It's truly a blessing to be here, to have such a great medical staff, a great coaching staff, to be able to lead us the right way and know our safety protocols."
Â
On what advice has he given the freshmen on their first road game and what type of experience he expects there to be on Saturday...
"You just try to tell every single freshman to come in, put their head down and work. That's probably the best advice that you can give a freshman. It's not high school anymore. Every single freshman that we have on this team is going to do a tremendous job executing for us, contributing to the team and going into any environment. South Carolina is South Carolina. It doesn't matter how many fans they have in there, but we're there to play ball. The environment that we expect to play in is strictly football. We're ready for any challenge that comes upon us and it's going to be fun this Saturday."
Â
On how his relationship with Jeremy Banks and Quavaris Crouch have strengthened the defense...
"We have a close, tight-knit relationship. Those are my brothers right there, those two. It's not only just those two, but it's guys like Aaron Beasley, Solon Page (III), Martavius French, we've all done a great job of coming together as one. We held barbecues. We had our mask on and everything, but we had a barbecue. Every Sunday we had it and we shared Scripture verses and talking about the Heavenly Father's plan for us. That relationship is going to take us a long way. I feel that we're tight. We're close. As long as we're one, we'll be able to excel on the field."
Â
On how ready is to be able to hit another opponent other than his teammates in practice...
"I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm not going to lie. I'm ready to hit somebody that's not wearing orange. It's going to be fun."
Eric Gray, So., RB
On some of the things he had to learn to be a successful college running back…
"You just learn that playing in the SEC, those holes close so much quicker than they do in high school. So, you got to hit your track, you got to be aligned right, you got to make sure you're doing everything right, so when your time comes you can hit it full speed. You got to make sure you know what you're doing in the offense so you're not tiptoeing. You can play with confidence and play fast."
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On being on the field with Ty Chandler and what he's seen out of freshman running back Dee Beckwith…
"First, with me and Ty being on the field, that's just like a dynamic duo out there. You got to account for both of us because we're two different types of backs and we can really affect the game. About Dee Beckwith, Dee has really shown a lot. You know he's a taller guy, so him just learning how to use his pads and use his size to become a running back, I think he has a great place back there."
Â
On what he's seen from the offensive line and how excited he is to run behind them…
"That group has really shown me a lot throughout camp. They are a great group. They learn fast and we have so much depth in that group. Those guys are really playing hard at practice. You can see at practice everyone is going hard and everyone's ready, and I'm excited to get to run behind them on Saturday."
Â
On his reaction to Henry To'o To'o saying that they have the best running backs in the country…
"Definitely feel the same way. We've got the best defense in the country and I'm sure they're going to do everything to get us the ball back."
Â
On the excitement for Saturday's game…
"With all the unknowns and everything is so different now, it kind of feels normal again. It kind of feels normal that this Saturday is going to be game day and everyone is feeling like football is back. You can feel the excitement on the practice field, you can feel the excitement in the locker room, around campus. Everyone is ready to go and play South Carolina."
Â
On if he feels the team has been able to hit enough in practice and his comfort after getting hit in a game…
"I think Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt has done a great job simulating that game atmosphere trying to get us ready to take hits, take licks early. You see those early games on TV and there have been a lot of turnovers because people haven't taken hits. They haven't been hitting. I think we've done a great job of simulating that in practice, playing with full pads on in practice. And yeah, I'm definitely that kind of guy. Once you get in the game and take that first hit, I'm like, 'I'm ready to go, let's get it, give it to me again.'"
Â
On who gives the best pregame speech aside from Coach Pruitt…
"Just from being in practice, Coach (Jay) Graham is going to give a heck of a pregame speech. Just all the juice that he brings to practice and the juice that he brings just being in the meeting room looking over film. I'm interested to hear his pregame speech on Saturday."
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Player Quotables and Full Video
Brandon Kennedy, R-Sr., OL
On the chemistry with the offensive line and what he expects from them this season…
"I think we've been really good at building chemistry. It has allowed us to get different guys at different positions this year, so I think it's been great. Our expectations going in to the first game is we want to be physical up front, and make a name for ourselves with our physicality, so that's what we pride ourselves on with the offensive line."
Â
On the excitement and expectations for Saturday's game at South Carolina and if he has talked to his peers about it…
"Going into this season, I'm very excited. It's my last season and I've worked very hard to get to this point, so I am just excited and ready to get out there. As far as talking to people on the outside about playing, my mom she's very excited for me. She's been with me through this whole process and just seeing me get this far. All my friends have been talking to me about it and they're all excited and ready to see some football on Saturday."
Â
On what his relationship has been like this past year with Jarrett Guarantano on and off the field...
"Me and Jarrett have a great relationship. We watch a lot of film and we talk about things other than football, so I think we have a great relationship that boosted over the offseason. We're always trying to watch film and see how each of us thinks. I think that will be good and very helpful for us going into the season."
Â
On if he ever had doubts of a season being played this fall...
"Being honest, sitting back in April, we didn't know what would happen. As a team, and also me as a person, we were just kind of concerned and there was a lot of uncertainty. Now that we've been able to go through the summer and have gotten to deal with COVID-19 and know what to expect, the medical professionals have given us advice on how to attack this. I think we've done a great job and I'm kind of excited now that we've gotten to this point."
Â
On what it has been like to represent his hometown of Wetumpka, Alabama, throughout his collegiate career...
"I'm blessed to have this opportunity. Anytime I get to talk to people back at home, I always give them advice on anything that they may need. I always try to give back and I feel like that's one of the things for me, being an older guy. As far as giving back to my hometown and giving back to some of the younger guys on the team, being able to bring them along, I think that's my role as a senior here and I'm very excited to do it."
Â
Henry To'o To'o, So., LB
On who the toughest ball carrier is on the team...
"All of our backs, in my opinion. We've got the best backs in the country. I've got so much confidence in them, that they're going to do what they need to do to get us a win on Saturday."
Â
On how the younger linebackers have stood out to him and how much they have come to him for insight...
"Our entire freshman group has done a tremendous job and guys like Morven Joseph and Tyler Baron on the defensive side have been doing a (great) job of getting the playbook down. They try to come to me, try to ask me for advice, asking me how I adapted and how did I do things when I got here. I just told them to work hard. Those guys, every single person on the offensive side and defensive side is doing a great job of coming in, putting in the work, focusing on the playbook and trying to hone in on knowing what we are going to do this week. Those guys are going to contribute big this week."
Â
On if he ever had doubts that a season would be played...
"First off, when we got quarantined, it was kind of hard to see a football season happening. It was kind of hard, but as we came back and as we transitioned to coming back after quarantine, we took the necessary steps to be able to have a season. It's truly a blessing to be here, to have such a great medical staff, a great coaching staff, to be able to lead us the right way and know our safety protocols."
Â
On what advice has he given the freshmen on their first road game and what type of experience he expects there to be on Saturday...
"You just try to tell every single freshman to come in, put their head down and work. That's probably the best advice that you can give a freshman. It's not high school anymore. Every single freshman that we have on this team is going to do a tremendous job executing for us, contributing to the team and going into any environment. South Carolina is South Carolina. It doesn't matter how many fans they have in there, but we're there to play ball. The environment that we expect to play in is strictly football. We're ready for any challenge that comes upon us and it's going to be fun this Saturday."
Â
On how his relationship with Jeremy Banks and Quavaris Crouch have strengthened the defense...
"We have a close, tight-knit relationship. Those are my brothers right there, those two. It's not only just those two, but it's guys like Aaron Beasley, Solon Page (III), Martavius French, we've all done a great job of coming together as one. We held barbecues. We had our mask on and everything, but we had a barbecue. Every Sunday we had it and we shared Scripture verses and talking about the Heavenly Father's plan for us. That relationship is going to take us a long way. I feel that we're tight. We're close. As long as we're one, we'll be able to excel on the field."
Â
On how ready is to be able to hit another opponent other than his teammates in practice...
"I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm not going to lie. I'm ready to hit somebody that's not wearing orange. It's going to be fun."
Eric Gray, So., RB
On some of the things he had to learn to be a successful college running back…
"You just learn that playing in the SEC, those holes close so much quicker than they do in high school. So, you got to hit your track, you got to be aligned right, you got to make sure you're doing everything right, so when your time comes you can hit it full speed. You got to make sure you know what you're doing in the offense so you're not tiptoeing. You can play with confidence and play fast."
Â
On being on the field with Ty Chandler and what he's seen out of freshman running back Dee Beckwith…
"First, with me and Ty being on the field, that's just like a dynamic duo out there. You got to account for both of us because we're two different types of backs and we can really affect the game. About Dee Beckwith, Dee has really shown a lot. You know he's a taller guy, so him just learning how to use his pads and use his size to become a running back, I think he has a great place back there."
Â
On what he's seen from the offensive line and how excited he is to run behind them…
"That group has really shown me a lot throughout camp. They are a great group. They learn fast and we have so much depth in that group. Those guys are really playing hard at practice. You can see at practice everyone is going hard and everyone's ready, and I'm excited to get to run behind them on Saturday."
Â
On his reaction to Henry To'o To'o saying that they have the best running backs in the country…
"Definitely feel the same way. We've got the best defense in the country and I'm sure they're going to do everything to get us the ball back."
Â
On the excitement for Saturday's game…
"With all the unknowns and everything is so different now, it kind of feels normal again. It kind of feels normal that this Saturday is going to be game day and everyone is feeling like football is back. You can feel the excitement on the practice field, you can feel the excitement in the locker room, around campus. Everyone is ready to go and play South Carolina."
Â
On if he feels the team has been able to hit enough in practice and his comfort after getting hit in a game…
"I think Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt has done a great job simulating that game atmosphere trying to get us ready to take hits, take licks early. You see those early games on TV and there have been a lot of turnovers because people haven't taken hits. They haven't been hitting. I think we've done a great job of simulating that in practice, playing with full pads on in practice. And yeah, I'm definitely that kind of guy. Once you get in the game and take that first hit, I'm like, 'I'm ready to go, let's get it, give it to me again.'"
Â
On who gives the best pregame speech aside from Coach Pruitt…
"Just from being in practice, Coach (Jay) Graham is going to give a heck of a pregame speech. Just all the juice that he brings to practice and the juice that he brings just being in the meeting room looking over film. I'm interested to hear his pregame speech on Saturday."
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Players Mentioned
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