Fresh Mindset Fueling #21/20 Vols Ahead of Kentucky Road Trip

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Set for its second SEC road trip in as many weeks, the No. 21/20 Tennessee football team looks to mentally reset ahead of Saturday's rivalry bout at Kentucky (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

According to senior linebacker Aaron Beasley, the Vols (5-2, 2-2 SEC) are embracing a next-play, next-game mentality as they prepare for their upcoming road matchup against the Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 SEC). Coming off their second loss of the season at No. 11/8 Alabama, UT's players and coaches are eager to get back on the field and execute at a higher level.

"That is what we preach all the time: next play, snap and clear," Beasley said Tuesday during Tennessee's player availability. "In this case, it's (the) next game we have to focus on. What is next, what is coming up? Which is Kentucky. I feel like it's uber important that we do that. Forget about what happened last week, and just focus on how we get better this week."

Beasley's position coach, Brian Jean-Mary, was complimentary of Kentucky's formidable rushing attack going into this weekend's matchup. Wildcat senior Ray Davis Jr. leads the charge, ranking first in the SEC in rushing yards per game (111.57) and yards per carry (7.04).

"It's one of the best rushing attacks in the country," Jean-Mary said. "We thought (Davis) was one of the better running backs in the conference last year when he was at Vanderbilt, and he's continued that over there at Kentucky. They have a big physical offensive line, great blocking and athletic tight ends. They present a real challenge for us by every measure you can imagine. They run the ball at a high clip, and they do it very well. It's a perfect marriage of Ray Davis with their rushing attack, so it's a big challenge for us. We have to do a great job of being in our gaps and getting off of blocks and tackling at a high level."

Full comments and video from Jean-Mary and tight ends coach Alec Abeln can be found below, along with video and select quotes from Beasley and sophomore running back Dylan Sampson.

Tennessee Football Press Conference | Oct. 24, 2023

Tight Ends Coach Alec Abeln

On if he's seen the tight ends make the most of every opportunity with quarterbacks this season…
"Yeah, I think obviously there's plays you want back, we've had a couple of drops. At the same time, I do feel like we've done a lot of good when it's come our way, as well. It's something that obviously you have to spend a lot of time on at practice. You've got to find ways to find work with those guys, that's offseason, that's in season. I think they've done a decent job maximizing when it's their way."

On what he's seen from McCallan Castles in terms of making plays…
"I think the biggest thing for him is always just playing one at a time and not letting the last play affect the current play. He's an unbelievable talent. Really has some upper-level skills that if he can do that one play at a time, he'll continue to make big plays. I think it was awesome for him to make that one on Saturday."

On Ethan Davis' progress and development…
"He's doing a good job. It's something we talk about a bunch, as far as, when he got here in the spring, the challenge is learning the offense, being able to operate, being able to understand where you're supposed to be, what your assignment is. He's been really good mentally as far as being able to have a chance to do that even as a true freshman which in our room is extremely tough. I do think the physical development, just getting big enough, strong enough to play in this league, to be honest with you, that's where, not to make excuses for him, but the injuries in the spring, the injuries in the summer, it's tough to play at a certain weight in this conference and really hold up in some of the things that we'll ask him to do. He's done a great job working on it, he's just got to continue to get bigger, stronger and more confident with it."

On how valuable it is for Ethan Davis to see tight ends being successful…
"I think it's great. What the expectation level is shouldn't be dictated by what guys around you or what guys before you have done. It is something that, obviously seeing guys that know how to work and how to come in the room every day and handle it like pros, I think that's more important than anything on the field. I can tell you this about Ethan, when it's on, lights are on, he's a competitor, he's a playmaker. He's got those traits for sure, and I think he'll expect that when it's his turn to roll."

On what's been preventing McCallan Castles from making big plays consistently…
"I think there's a bunch of factors, there's a lot of things going on. It's one thing to know it in practice, it's another thing to know it in a walkthrough, it's another thing to go out and execute. I think where he has to continue to play one at a time is understanding that good and bad things are going to happen, you can't let one creep into the next. It's more of a, honestly, an internal desire to be his best. I promise you this, he gets frustrated as anybody out there when something is not right, because he really wants it to be perfect. Understanding that we want to control as much of that as we can, but when it's not you've got to be able to reset, let it go and play the next one."

On where the tight end group is in terms of run-game blocking…
"You're sixth hat in everything that we're doing in the core. It's something that, one I've challenge them, obviously that's something that I feel strongly about, and they've absolutely answered the bell. There's a level of doing your job, being on the right guy with the right leverage and some decent technique. There's another level of really trying to bury people and I think there have been times on tape where guys have seen that maybe for the first time and felt that for the first time and you want that to be contagious where that just becomes another level of how you play. They've done a great job with what they've been asked to do so far."

On if there's a difference between Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles in terms of the situation they are most successful in…
"Obviously, they've got different skill sets. Any coach will tell you, you want to use guys to the best of their ability. With what we do, a lot of the stuff, they have to be able to do all of it. Now, there's certain concepts that, 'hey, we like this one more for J' or 'hey, we like this one more for Cally'. At the end of the day, they're both capable of going out and executing everything we're putting on tape."

On Emmanuel Okoye's development so far…
"It's fun to watch scout tape on Thursday's. It's like kind of the one lull in the week where you get to go and watch scout guys and make sure they're doing a good job getting in a look. With what he's doing down there, he's continuing to get better. I think some of that, just playing football, it takes a little bit of time. It's something that, when he does put it together, it's going to be really fun. Seeing just jumps from fall camp where you're having to line him up everywhere and it's like totally drinking water through a fire hose. Now, it's out there, he's playing ball, he's making plays down there. It's been really positive to see his growth. He's in the same boat as Ethan where he has to continue to eat, continue to gain weight, got to get stronger. I'm excited about where he's at through half of the season."

Linebackers Coach Brian Jean-Mary

On what challenges Kentucky's running game presents…
"It's one of the best rushing attacks in the country. We thought Ray Davis was one of the better running backs in the conference last year when he was at Vanderbilt, and he's continued that over there at Kentucky. They have a big physical offensive line, great blocking and athletic tight ends. They present a real challenge for us by every measure you can imagine. They run the ball at a high clip, and they do it very well. It's a perfect marriage of Ray Davis with their rushing attack, so it's a big challenge for us. We have to do a great job of being in our gaps and getting off of blocks and tackling at a high level."

On the expectations from Elijah Herring coming into this season…
"With the season still going on, I think there is still room for improvement. Obviously, the expectation was for him to play. We never know at what level, injuries are a part of the game, so you never know when your number is going to get called. Obviously, it was probably a little earlier than we expected. Elijah has gotten better and better as the season has gone along. From a kid from last year that really never played stack linebacker, he was an edge rusher in high school, then learning how to play inside linebacker, you see flashes of a kid that's got a chance to be a very good linebacker. There's still some of those moments where the inexperience starts to show, but all in all we're happy with him. He plays physical and he's going to give you, effort wise, the most he has every snap. So, I think the best is yet to come, but he has gotten better since the season has started."

On the change of the linebacker's mentalities when facing a team that runs it straight downhill…
"Even with the spread, I like that our offense spreads us out, you still have to meet and defeat blocks. You're still going to have offensive linemen that are going to be blocking you. So, you still have to meet and defeat blocks if you are going to be successful and you have to tackle well. They (Kentucky) do look like a little bit of a different style because they are a little more condensed and a little more downhill, but at the end of the day, we're going to have to recognize formations, we're going to have to tackle well, and the most important thing is we're going to have to get off blocks."

On how he would rate the performances of Jeremiah Telander and Arion Carter so far this season…
"Kind of like the Elijah Herring question, when the guys are here and they actually show that they can play and get on the travel squad, I think the expectation is to get them ready to play no matter how young they are. I've been, knock on wood, I've been (in a situation) one of my years where we lost three of our top five linebackers in the first game of the season for multiple weeks. So, you have to have those guys ready to play. If we bring them here and if we recruited them here, we think they can play at a high level, obviously the speed of the game with their level of maturity and how they pick up the defense is always going to be a question, but those two guys have come here with eyes wide open with an open book to learn as much as they can and we've been thrilled with their development. Obviously, you're playing high level SEC football, it's not going to be perfect, but once again, we can't fault the effort and their ability to make plays. Like I said, I think their best football is obviously ahead of them, but I think they're ready to play if they're called upon. We've put them in games in some critical situations in these last couple weeks and they've done a good job."

On why Alabama was able to run the ball more effectively in the second half…
"You got to give them all the credit in the world. They came out at halftime, they made minor adjustments and put us in some, I'm not going to say difficult situations, but different situations. I think the quarterback run game picked up in the second half that they didn't show in the first half and we didn't do a great job of fitting that. The first run that happened, that was us. We pressured and we didn't fit the run that first play of the second half. But all in all, outside of that first run, it was the quarterback in the second half that kind of got on the perimeter on us. Felt like we did a decent job on the running back (Jase) McClennan kid and some of their other running backs. I know he got on the edge to score the touchdown in the second half but that was more, once again, us getting off of blocks and being able to edge on the perimeter. To answer your question, I thought they did a good job but I still think if we had our eyes in the right spot and were able to fit the run the way we were supposed to we would have given ourselves a better chance to stop those two runs."

On how disappointing it was to see the same issue from Florida in terms of everyone not being locked in…
"I thought we had a good halftime. We will always be truthful, if we had guys that were eyes bugged out, like, 'man are we up in Bryant-Denny Stadium?' It wasn't like that. I thought we had a really good halftime. I thought the guys were locked in. We knew they were going to come out with a little bit more fire than they had in the first half. I really feel from being on the sideline that wasn't the case. Maybe some guys were reaching, maybe playing outside the framework of the defense and that's something we have to correct. I thought even after the first touchdown, we were able to regroup and do a better job. We let the quarterback get out on the perimeter a couple of times. All in all, I thought the focus was better than it had been on the road the last couple of times, we just have to be able to finish. There was a couple of passes that were thrown that we felt like we had a chance to go really affect in the second half that could turn the game around. We talked about it, if we contain that quarterback a little bit better in the second half, it comes down in the fourth quarter and we're still right there. We felt like we were still right there, it was a one score game for most of it until they scored that last touchdown. It thought our kids were better, just me personally, I know everybody might feel different. We just have to go out there and go execute at a high level and finish the game the way we started."

On if it's more difficult to keep things from snowballing on the road…
"It's adversity. You can't feel the crowd, you can't feel the energy in the stadium. Obviously, it's their home crowd so if they do something positive, obviously the stadium is going to be a little different. When you're playing really good defense on the road, you don't hear the fans, you don't feel that. That's the challenge if you're playing really good on defense, you kind of have a chance to take the crowd out of it. You feel like you're in control when you're on the road and that's the challenge. I thought we did that in parts. We got a couple of turnovers in the first half and then got a couple of stops and that's always the challenge to go out there and go do it for 60 minutes. The communication, I thought, was good. I think our eyes got away from us a couple of times in the second half and that was where a couple of their big plays came from. I'll still say it, I still thought we were better, obviously not good enough to go win on the road in a big time SEC game, but we have to be obviously a little bit better. I'm not going to say a lot there, we have to be a little bit better going into Lexington and going to go win on the road."

On how Aaron Beasley has played this season and what he wants to continue to see from him…
"I'm an Aaron Beasley fan. I feel like he's one of the better linebackers in the conference. The biggest thing with him, and I tell him, is to just empty the tank. I still think there is an even better football player out there than what he's shown. Like I said, I'll tell anybody I think he's one of the better linebackers in the conference. There's still plays I think he can go make, game changing plays, because he has that kind of ability. That's always the challenge he'll tell you we challenge him with every week, to go out there and go be the difference because he's got that kind of ability. We have several guys on our defense that have that kind of ability, and he's one of them. We just want to see him take it to another level and help us obviously go win on the road in some of these hostile environments."

Sophomore RB Dylan Sampson

On the team's mindset after the loss Saturday... "Just eager to get back on the field. After games like that, everybody just wants to put the cleats back on, go out there, and let it out. That's a hard loss, so we all are just eager to get back on the field."

On what Alabama did well in the second half and what Tennessee can do to improve... "It's all about execution. You can go and pinpoint things in the film. It's easy to look at on film. Alabama is a great team. Nick Saban is always going to get them right at halftime. The thing is, we have to maximize the opportunities that we had in the first half. We left points out there. That was a concern, there were multiple times our defense was out there stopping them. We should've taken advantage of those points because in SEC rivalry games you cannot expect them to be down the whole game. They did a good job adjusting and we just have to finish. We have to play four quarters. Credit to them. We have to come back and do a better job."

On if the team has been able to flip the page to focus on Kentucky... "We have no choice but to. You let it hurt on Sunday. You watch the film on Monday, but you have to clear it. That's what everybody on the team is forcing everybody else to do. That's why you put your trust in your brothers. We hold each other accountable. We don't have any other choice but to wipe it clean and go out and focus on the next game, which is Kentucky."

Senior LB Aaron Beasley

On if there is a different preparation for the type of run game Kentucky has… "I think each week you want to go in stopping the run. That's the mindset going into any week, no matter who it is. I feel like they do a little more of that, which is running the ball downhill. I think just being more disciplined is our focus with our eyes and stopping the run."

On having a new mentality going into this week with Kentucky… "Yeah, definitely. That is what we preach all the time. Next play, snap, clear. In this case, it's (the) next game we have to focus on. What is next, what is coming up? Which is Kentucky. I feel like it's uber important that we do that. Forget about what happened last week and just focus on how we get better this week."

On what kind of season he has had so far and what he is looking to do for the next game… "I feel like I've had an okay season, personally. I feel like I can keep getting better. More discipline. I feel like I have not been as disciplined as I should have been through the past couple weeks. Just doing that, which would make me more comfortable out there. So yes, being more disciplined."

University of Tennessee Athletics