KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley met with members of the media on Thursday afternoon to preview the upcoming season and recap preseason practice.
Below are quotes from the press conference.
Jim Chaney, Offensive Coordinator
On if he thinks QB Jarrett Guarantano has a better understanding of the offense this year and if that’ll lead to more consistency from him…
“Without any question. That’s exactly the goal of every quarterback, is to get them to execute the offense the way we want to, obviously. There’s so much subjectivity that comes into the evaluation of quarterbacks – he did this, he did that, he shouldn’t have done that. We try to eliminate that and get rid of the subjectivity and we quantify as much as we possibly can on the practice field. Every ball that comes out of their hand, it’s either on target or not, the decision is either good or not, and that’s what goes into these things. We have a category that sometimes is not good that when we do something really stupid with the ball that puts our team at risk. So far to date you can see that he’s demonstrating the importance of the ball and also understanding within our concepts, those numbers continue to rise and it’s our objective way to be able to see growth and development and I feel real comfortable that he’s doing that right now. Are we where we need to be? No, not at all but we got to continue to work to get better. So yes, to answer your question, I feel very comfortable that we should see some growth and development out of that position.”
On where he has seen growth in J.T. Shrout and where he see’s him factoring into the quarterback competition…
“Well the same thing with J.T. It’s just familiarity, once again of just knowing the concepts and I feel like, once again like I just mentioned to Jimmy, by the numbers he seems to be doing a better job with the ball. With J.T. and young quarterbacks within new concepts, they tend to be a little reckless with the ball and putting it in spots we don’t want it to go into. So, we feel like being able to monitor that they’ll continually get better and I think J.T. has done a really good job of that. There’s a couple practices there that he did some things we prefer him not to, like all quarterbacks do, but we have seen growth on that. It’s just the security of the football is what we’re looking for. I feel like he’s much more familiar within the concepts and progressing through where we need him to go.
On dealing with the pandemic and if the players are becoming more comfortable with what he wants on offense …
“It is what it is. As a coach you learn real quick what you can control and what you can’t control. We preach it all the time and unfortunately, we were forced to live what we talk about here for about six months. We can’t control some of the stuff that we have to do, so we’ve learned to live with this and coach has put schedules together for us to follow and we have to follow protocols like everybody else does in how we train our kids. I feel comfortable that we’re kind of in a way of doing things, doing business right now that is going good.
“So far so good with the development of the quarterbacks. It’s just been a constant learning curve. I think anytime, I don’t know if it’s just me, any coordinator you look at, I think it the systems don’t change on them from Year 1 to Year 2, you will see improvement. You should see improvement. Our anticipation is we see that also.”
On the backup quarterback spot…
“Right now, everybody is playing football, equal reps across the board with J.T. (Shrout), Brian (Maurer), also with Harrison (Bailey). We’re giving everybody as many reps as we can. Everything is up in the air. We’re way too early to make decisions on that and coach is trying to keep us in the most competitive environments we can. They got to be put under the fire, we got to see how they’re going to react when things happen like that to feel comfortable with them playing. They’ll earn that two spot and that three spot and that fourth spot. Unfortunately, that’s life, somebody is going to get a little better than the other one and we’ll sort that out as the thing goes on. I feel like that’s where we’re at right now, so nothing’s cut and dry one bit. There’s competition throughout the team, but particularly at that spot.
On the young wide receivers…
“Talent. Very talented. They’ll go fast man. They might go the wrong way fast and that creates some problems, but they’re going fast on the football field. I’m very pleased with the kids that we brought in here as young wide receivers. I think they’re going to be just fine. I think you’ll see them on the football field helping us quite a bit. It’s our job to get them ready to roll. I think they all have a passion for the game, which you really never know when you walk on the football field the competitive character of these freshmen until you get them out there. You have an idea, but you really don’t know. These kids all love the game of football, that’s the one quality they all share. They all want to be good and they can all run. And they can all catch. There’s even an added quality to a good wide receiver. They can catch, run and they love football, so there’s really not a lot of barriers other than knowledge that gets in their way of being productive for us.”
On the offensive line and how they’re going about coaching that group with everything going on…
“I think that’s always the issue. Early in camps we tend to try and move people around as much as we can to try and kind of force some uncomfortable stuff with them, try to find out how many kids we feel we can line up at tackle and play with, how many centers we possibly have, how many guards we have. So, there’s a lot of stuff moving around. We have a lot of moving parts now. I will say this, Will (Friend) has done a good job with these guys and technically they’re getting better every day. It’s just keeping that pressure on them, and we have more competition at positions, which inevitably should make you better as we work our way through it, so I’m pleased with that. Am I pleased with everything we’re getting done? No. I’m not just talking about the line. Every day it seems like we’ll take two or three steps forward and take a step back, so we got to get some consistency is the word we’re looking for in just how we perform and how we practice. Just overall practice habits, we’ve got to continue to get better at that and focus on that when we go out on the football field.”
On the running back tandem of Eric Gray and Ty Chandler…
“I like them both. They’re both very competitive kids. They both are determined to have good seasons. You can just see there’s an air of maturity about those two kids when they walk out on the field. They do their business. They’re real professional in how they look at it. They’re trying to get better at specific things as they go on the football field. Jay (Graham) has done a good job just identifying those things that they need to work on. They’re out there practicing with purpose. They’re to a point in their careers, you’re not coaching effort, you’re not coaching alignment, you’re coaching the nuances, the things that make a difference on a play with those two young men. They’re really driven to be successful. They’re fun to be around and they’re practicing very hard and Eric’s done a good job as has Ty. Real pleased with those two.”
On Austin Pope and the tight ends …
“Well Austin (Pope) is that, he’s a stabilizing force. He’s a good kid, been around football a long time. We like what he brings to the table. He will always be that consistent kid that we like. Behind him, we have Princeton Fant, who is a young man who bounced around a lot early in his career. We feel real comfortable where we have him right now doing what he needs to be doing. Jacob Warren is doing a fine job. There is a lot of competition in the room. They all have a little different skill set it seems like, it’s interesting to me. Behind him you have Jordan Allen and you got Sean Brown. You got some other guys that are just mixing around. There’s a lot of competition there, waiting on someone to jump above the other ones and emerge as a solid football player. They’re just continually learning. You’re talking about guys that haven’t played a lot of football for us in those five. That is a position that we are trying to force feed real fast on development and we are doing it, hopefully, through competition.”
On comparing this freshman receiving class to that of a decade ago and getting them involved…
“It’ll be the same, obviously. We’ll get to that game-week situation where we finally hone it down to game plans and making sure they’re fitting in the pieces where we think they can help us at within the structure of what we are trying to do to win that game. I see them doing that. Forcing the overall learning curve, it’s tough. Tee (Martin) is on their butt constantly just about learning. I think some of these kids have just been given the ball a lot of times but there is so much learning, it’s like you’re teaching them how to learn an offense. It’s a whole different way of doing business, a whole different language they have to learn, and it is tough on them sometimes. These kids are having to learn a lot. Tee is doing a good job of getting the boys to figure out what they’re doing. I speculate that’ll it be similar to like Justin (Hunter); they’ll eventually learn and get on the field more and more just like Da’Rick (Rogers) did. CP (Cordarrelle Patterson) was a different story. He was a junior college kid when he got here but the other two that you mentioned would be similar to that. We feed them in. They have skill sets that we can definitely utilize. They will play specific things, I’m certain, as the season comes along. But I sure like what we are seeing right now.”
On Cedric Tillman’s growth this offseason …
“He’s fine. He’s been battling a little hamstring early on but he’s doing what he needs to do. Cedric’s a big, strong kid with strong hands. I feel like he should be a very productive player for us this fall. I’m pleased with Ced. The kids laugh, Ced is one of my favorites. Ced is my man. So, Ced and I are tight, and I get a kick out of our relationship. I like the young man. He’s getting better and better every day he walks out on the field.”
On Jarrett Guarantano battling through adversity last year and staying with UT …
“Your actions speak so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying. His actions spoke for the young man. That’s never been a questionable part for him, his competitiveness, his toughness has never been questioned. His resolve to be a starting, winning quarterback at Tennessee has never been questioned. He’s just going on the field and performing at a high level consistently. That’s what we are trying to get done this year with Jarrett. I’m pleased with him. I like the kid a lot. He wants to be at Tennessee, he is a Tennessee Vol and he wants to win football games.”
On freshman QB Harrison Bailey …
“I think Harrison is going to be a solid football player for us here. He’s learning. It’s the same thing just like those young freshmen wideouts. They’re all learning everything. Unfortunately, Harrison got here early but we only got two days of spring. It would have been really nice to have had him all spring and see where he would be at today. Yesterday, he threw some very nice balls for us. It’s interesting to see how he continues to grow. It’s obvious that some of the concepts he has a grasp on. He plays fast and makes good decisions and there’s other ones that he’s a little confused on and plays a little slower. He looks to me like every other freshman quarterback I’ve had to deal with. They’re just learning but once they know they play quick and fine. I am pleased with Harrison as he continues to develop.”
On his expectations for Cade Mays …
“I think Cade can be an exceptional football player. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s tough, he’s smart, he’s intuitive. That’s what he needs to do. He needs to go out and play football. He’s a rugged football player. He loves to play the game. Arrows up on Cade Mays, he’s a good player, I like him.”
On Jarrett Guarantano’s 2019 season and how it compares to him this season…
“Being consistent. Flashes of very talented arm talent and good plays but being consistent. He would be the first to admit that. The new system, what was it his third system in college? Some expectations there might have been a little high for him but at the end of the day, whoever we put out there to represent us has got to perform at quarterback. You guys all know, you’re the first ones to realize it, maybe the second. You got to perform at that position with consistency and that’s where I’d say Jarrett needs to perform better at.”
On WR Ramel Keyton and who has stepped up as leaders on offense…
“The seniors, Josh (Palmer) and Brandon (Johnson) in that group. They’re the ones that have to run the show at the wide receiver group, obviously. Brandon Kennedy at the center spot for us is the senior on the offensive line. The running backs, Ty (Chandler) and Eric (Gray), they take care of all that stuff. Outside, I’d say you have Josh and Brandon running that show.
“Back to Ramel. Ramel is a strong kid. He looks a little wiry but very strong, strong handed kid. Had a real good practice yesterday, real pleased with him. He can be as good as he determines he wants to be. That’s Ramel. He’s still a young player, learning but boy when he wants to go he’s a good football player.”
Derrick Ansley, Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
On the defense through the first few practices and the impact of not having spring practice …
“We’re six days in and as to be expected, there’s some ups and downs, some highs and lows. We’ve been inside, we’ve been outside. Weather has brought us inside a couple of days and the heat kind of really caught up to us yesterday. But, I see a lot of guys trying to fight, trying to work, trying to do the things we ask them to do. We just have to do it at a higher clip.
“As far as not having spring. It hurt everybody. Everybody’s got the same situation and you got to make the best of it. I thought we had a really good plan via Zoom when we couldn’t have our players to do installs and meet with those guys every day as a unit and throughout those position groups. So I think the mental aspect of it was very productive. Although you need that, you definitely need that physical preparation as well. We’re just trying to catch everybody up as quickly as we can to get them ready for the first game.”
On the experience of the secondary…
“Nowadays, the secondary is a lot like basketball. You want to be able to match up and put different people in different spots to show off their strengths and put people in a position to make plays. With that being said, we do have a lot of options – a lot of guys that can do different things. We had a couple of guys who got nicks and bruises early on, but for the most part we got a lot of guys back from last year outside of Nigel (Warrior). We should be deeper in the back end – a lot of game experience and playing time back there. We need those guys to be the strength of the defense and lean on those guys a lot more this year.”
On the student-athlete’s march on Saturday to protest racial injustice…
“That’s a question for Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt. We always listen to our players. These are different times. They’re are troubling times. Our kids are very aware of what’s going on around them. We support those guys 100 percent.”
On defensive backs Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor…
“We want to play football, tight close man-to-man. We want to deny the football. We want to affect the quarterback with four rushers and play split safety defense as much as we can. To do that, you need really good corners outside that can hold up and win the one-on-ones deep down the field at a consistent level. With Bryce and Alontae being true juniors now, and basically being two years as fulltime starters, that is a luxury to have experience at the corner position.
“We have other guys that have a lot of play time as well. Kenny George, he started four or five games last year and he’s having a really good camp so far. So is Warren Burrell. We have four really good options at that position. So all of those guys are battling right now.”
On the linebackers…
“It’s an open competition. We have some guys back from last year that were pretty young. Quavaris Crouch, who we played at inside backer and outside backer, has kind of been a journeyman his first year. We are kind of getting him stationary at the inside backer position, the money position, which is a really good spot for him. Backing him up right now is Jeremy Banks. They’re fighting tooth and nail for that one position. Behind Henry (To’o To’o), a guy like Aaron Beasley, he’s kind of a tweener who’s played safety and played linebacker. Now he’s fulltime linebacker rotation. We have four really good guys that are playing and rotating through and the cream will rise to the top of who the best man is. The best two will play.”
On Henry To’o To’o’s leadership…
“The first thing with Henry is he’s changed his body. He’s shredded some body fat and added some muscle. He’s gotten quicker at the point of attack. He’s a lot better laterally, changing the directions and covering the running backs out the backfield. He’s doing a really good job of trying to take on the leadership role of Daniel (Bituli), Nigel (Warrior) and Darrell (Taylor). Those were three really good leaders that we lost and that’s one thing we’re trying to develop during camp is everybody doing things the right way all the time on and off the field.
On Keyshawn Lawrence…
“Keyshawn Lawrence is very talented. He’s playing some safety position right now for us. Playing some special teams. We expect him to make a push at safety and compete and see what he can get done here in this camp.”
On developing the pass rushers after losing Darrell Taylor…
“Losing a guy like Darrell, a second-round draft pick and one of top ends in the draft last year, it’s going to be tough to replace that kind of production, that kind of talent. It’s going to be kind of by committee. We have a guys that played a little bit last year and we need we’ll need younger guys to step forward. Kivon Bennett has pass rushing ability. Deandre Johnson has pass rushing ability. Both of those guys are redshirt juniors, so they’ve been here for four years. Backing them up, giving some push is Roman Harrison and John Mincey is playing out there. Morven Joseph and Tyler Baron are two young guys that we need to continue to develop and bring along to add more pass rushers to our staple of guys.”
On what he wants to see from the defensive line improvement-wise this year…
“The first thing is controlling the line of scrimmage – playing on the offensive side of the ball. If we can strike blockers up front and come off our hips and press and reestablish the line of scrimmage, then the linebackers can fit off of them and the secondary can do a great job of squeezing the ball. If we can do that consistently with four guys, and not having to take guys out of the second and third level to add to the front, we’re going to be successful. So we just want those guys to play hard, to play with toughness and dominate their box.”
On what excited him about the defense and what concerns him…
“What excites me is that we have a 10-game SEC schedule. Every week you have to be ready to go and you’re going to be judged every week by how you perform, so I’m excited to see these guys gel together early on and see where we can progress to by the end of the year. What concerns me is the lack of spring ball and lack of playing time together. But we do have a lot of guys that played last year and have played multiple years, so we just have to get back in football shape and continue to do things the right way.”
On players besides Henry To’o To’o that have impressed him with leadership…
“Up front you talk about guys like Matthew Butler and LaTrell Bumphus that have really done a really good job of trying to lead their group by doing and verbally. Henry obviously is our inside piece as far as leadership is concerned. Trevon Flowers, Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson, Theo Jackson, all those guys in the back have really taken it upon themselves to bring along guys like Keshawn Lawrence and Doneiko Slaughter, guys that have talent and we’re counting on to add depth to our back end. When we get everybody doing things the right way, we have a chance to be okay.”
On Trevon Flowers and Jaylen McCullough and the development of the rest of the safety position…
“We moved Trevon from the free safety position to the strong safety just kind of experimenting with that and trying to replace Nigel Warrior’s production there, I think that’s a good position for him. Tank (Jaylen McCullough) is still playing free safety and he’s also capable of playing the strong and the STAR. Theo Jackson is rotating in back there, as are Keshawn Lawrence, Cheyenne Labruzza and Tyus Fields. We have six or seven guys that are rotating back there and we’re going to need them all. We coach every guys like they’re the starters because you never know when you’re going to need that quality depth.
On J.J. Peterson’s current position on the defense…
“J.J. started camp at inside linebacker and he’s moved around to outside linebacker and we’ll probably play him inside here and there. But he is on the edge as of today.”
On what made new defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh a good fit for the defense and what he likes about the reconfiguring of the coaching staff…
“I think Jimmy Brumbaugh is one of the best defensive line coaches in the country. Me and him worked together at Kentucky for three years and go back to his college days at Auburn and my days at Troy. I think he’s very technically sound, very technically oriented, very meticulous in his approach, has a drill for everything that they need to do up front, has video evidence to back that up with his coaching, and the kids like that. They like to get feedback, they like knowing different ways to do different things, and I think he’s going to be a really good fit and add a lot of value to those guys up front.
“Brian Niedermeyer is a young guy with a lot of energy. The kids really like him, I really like him, I’ve known him for a long time, he’s a bright young mind. He’s been an offensive guy but he has a defensive background working with Coach Pruitt and myself on defensive staffs before we got to Tennessee, so he’s just picking up where he left off.
“Shelton Felton is doing a really good job with outside linebackers getting those guys to go and getting them to come off the ball the right way, striking blockers and being multiple, because those guys have a lot of responsibility. They have to be apex players, they have to be the edge of the line, they have to pass rush, they have to drop. So they’re all doing a nice job. We all have room for improvement and we look to get that done every day.”
-UT Athletics
