Vols CB Bryce Thompson & LB Daniel Bituli / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Homecoming festivities have subsided and its back to business for the Vols as they prepare for their penultimate road trip.
Tennessee faces Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (ET). The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network with Tom Hart (PxP), Jordan Rodgers (analyst) and Cole Cubelic (sideline) on the call.
Even with the Vols winning three of their last four outings, UT is focused on overcoming another strong defense against the Wildcats, which head coach Jeremy Pruitt regarded as one of the best in the SEC. UK is coming off of a 29-7 win over Missouri and ranks third in the league in pass defense (180.5 ypg) and fourth in opponent first downs, holding teams to just 18 per game.
“At Kentucky, with that identity they kind of play with, they are physical and tough,” Pruitt said at his Monday press conference. “They play together. They are very opportunistic. It will be a hostile environment, so we are looking forward to the challenge. But Kentucky has a team that is really talented and playing really well right now and we will have to be at our best to have a shot Saturday.”
A key to slowing the Wildcats will be containing converted wide receiver Lynn Bowden, Jr., who has stepped in at quarterback due to injuries. Bowden rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns against Missouri on Oct. 26 to pick up his second SEC Offensive Player of the Week honor before UK went into its bye week.
“We need to win the line of scrimmage,” Pruitt said. “This will be a line of scrimmage game. We need to keep edges on the defense. When the ball is out in space, we need to be able to tackle one-on-one. We cannot give up one-on-one to a blocker defensively, you have to make two guys block you. And, we can’t let the ball be thrown over our heads.”
Defense Digs In
Early in the season, UT’s defense was plagued by inexperience and injury, but as the Vols look to even out their season record this weekend, things are starting to look more auspicious.
In back-to-back weeks, the Orange and White have had a defensive representative on the SEC’s weekly conference honor. This week, defensive back Bryce Thompson, who missed the first three games of the season, was named the league’s top defensive player after tying a school record with three interceptions in the Vols’ 30-7 win over UAB. Senior linebacker Daniel Bituli, who missed the first two games of the season, shared the same honor in Week 9 after smothering South Carolina ball carries for 15 tackles and returning a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Senior linebacker Darrell Taylor has also been a dominant pass rusher, pacing the SEC, along with two other players, with 6.0 sacks.
The Vols have also seen contributions from newcomers like Henry To’o To’o, a freshman linebacker, who has the second most tackles on the team (48).
“We had some guys who were injured at beginning of the year or didn’t play,” Pruitt started. “We were young. It was a recipe for not a whole lot of good. Our kids have come and our coaching staff has done a really nice job on coming to practice and buying in, competing hard.
“We have some good leadership on our team. Our guys have never flinched. They just keep working. They believe in what we are doing here. It is amazing that when you believe in something, you stay the course, and our kids believed.”
In the prior four-game stretch, UT’s defense has limited Mississippi State (10) and No. 1 Alabama (35) to season-lows in points, kept South Carolina off the board in the second half and only allowed UAB 63 yards on the ground.
Proven Punters
Tennessee has the luxury of having two solid options at punter this season in redshirt sophomore Joe Doyle and sophomore Paxton Brooks.
Brooks has been the Vols starting punter over the past two games after Doyle started the first seven this season, and has been solid for Tennessee.
Increasing his total yardage each game he’s played, Brooks has averaged 44.0 yards per punt over the last two games. He also recorded seven touchbacks on kickoffs against the Gamecocks, matching his season high.
“Paxton has done a good job in practice to earn these opportunities,” Pruitt said. “It could change this week, so we’ll see. We’re going to play the guys who give us the best opportunity to have success. Fortunately for us, we have two pretty good punters, and there’s lots of competition there. It will make them better as they continue to grow and develop as football players.”
Vols K Brent Cimaglia / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
PALM BEACH, Fla. – Junior kicker Brent Cimaglia was named one of the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award “Stars of the Week”, as announced by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission on Monday.
Cimaglia continued his stellar 2019 season in last Saturday’s 30-7 victory over UAB, connecting on all three of his field-goal attempts and all three of his extra points for 12 total points.
The Nashville native scored UT’s first nine points against the Blazers, nailing kicks from 36, 48 and 53 yards out. The 53-yarder in the second quarter was a new career-long and marked the longest made field goal by a Vol since Jeff Hall also made one from 53 yards back in 1995.
On the year, Cimaglia has connected on 18 of his 20 field-goal attempts and is a perfect 24-for-24 on PATs. He leads the SEC and is tied for third in the nation in field goals made and also leads the conference in field goal percentage (90.0 percent). Cimaglia has made eight field goals of 40-plus yards this season and has made 20 of his last 22 field goal attempts dating back to last year.
Lady Vols HC Kellie Harper / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper met with members of the media on Monday ahead of UT’s season opener at ETSU. Tip-off is slated for 7:02 p.m. ET Tuesday at Freedom Hall, with the game being carried by MyVLT in Knoxville and WEMT Fox 39 in the Tri-Cities. The game also will be streamed on ESPN+. Mickey Dearstone will have the call for the Lady Vol Radio Network.
The Lady Vols come into the game having defeated Carson-Newman last Tuesday in their lone exhibition game, 70-44. ETSU did not play in an exhibition contest.
This will mark the 26th meeting between the two programs, with Tennessee leading the series 22-2-1. Coach Harper, who will be making her regular-season debut as UT’s head coach, is 4-0 in season openers while coaching a Power 5 school (NC State).
On starting out on the road:
“At this point, I am just excited to get started. I am going to be partial towards Thompson-Boling Arena, so I am going to want to play here as much as we can, but it will be good for us to get a road trip under our belts early in the season.”
On how the first postgame film session went with the team:
“I thought the film session went really well. We were really honest, but I think we are also using that as a teaching moment and teaching opportunity. We try to be positive, and although at times we are critical, we want to be positive. We really worked on talking about our urgency defensively and getting into position on defense a little quicker than what we did in our exhibition game. We just talked about little things. There was nothing huge we talked about, just little plays here and there.”
On if she saw any specific areas that the offense needs to improve on after watching film:
“Our offense needs to get better, period. But we know that is a work in progress. I think right now our spacing, timing and passing – all of those things – can improve, and that would improve our offense. When those things get a little bit better, I think our shooting percentage will go up. Hopefully our defense will help that by turning some plays into offense.”
On how she feels about the team’s ability to hit from behind the arc:
“I think if you pull the stats on this program from last year moving into this year, I think it is a concern on our three-point shooting percentage. We have players that can make shots. I don’t know yet what that percentage is going to be. We hope to continue to improve it. We have players in the gym getting extra shots up. Our staff has really been diligent on making sure that happens. I think we are going to put the work in, so hopefully you will see that pay off.”
On if there is a certain number of three-point shots she’d like to see in every game:
“No. I am not really a coach that lives and dies by the three. I never have been. But I have always had some pretty good shooters on our team, so I think right now we are going to try to maximize what we have and try to get open looks. I just think if we have an open look, we have to take it, because I think when you are shooting in rhythm, you have a better opportunity to shoot a better percentage. But you always have a great opportunity to get to the boards. I think for us that will be a big part of our offense.”
On developing this team into being better shooters:
“You try to get easier shots. You try to work for easier shots. I think a few things… it is kind of like bunting, I guess. We are going to try to get to the free throw line, get some second-chance points and try to score in transition. Those are some ways to find some easier opportunities. But again, when our players shoot it, I want them to have great confidence. I don’t want them hesitating, and hopefully we can continue to give them that confidence as they get into the gym.”
On what she learned from her rotation from the exhibition game:
“I think the biggest thing for us in terms of our rotation is just knowing the minute limitations for some of our players. I think there are some of them that are maybe two-minute max or two-to-three minute max. And it is not that their conditioning is bad, it’s just the level of focus that is required to be successful at this level is tough. It is taxing. Then there are some players I think can go for a stretch of six to eight minutes at a time, so just knowing who those people are and keeping our players on the court as fresh as possible is going to be really important for us.”
On if she is expecting some fans in Johnson City:
“I totally expect to see orange in the gym when we walk in Tuesday night for the game. I think there are a lot of people that have high expectations and anticipation for what this team is going to look like. I know we have a lot of Tennessee fans up in the Tri-Cities area, so hopefully they will come out and support the Lady Vols.”
On what she is expecting from ETSU:
“I think the hardest part for preparing for them is that they have not played an exhibition game this year, so we don’t have current film. Two of their leading scorers are back, but they lost several key players from last year beyond those two. They have several junior college players and some new folks. For us, it is a little bit of a guessing game in terms of what the personnel will look like, other than we feel like we know their go-to players. We can watch film from last year and get an idea of what their system is and the style in what they like to do. For us, I think they are running a lot of sets. We anticipate we can see both a two-three zone, a press and man-to-man. We are trying to prepare for everything at this point. And at the end, we know we have to key in on a couple of their perimeter players.”
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt held his weekly Monday press conference to review the win over UAB and look ahead to Saturday’s road game at Kentucky.
Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
Vols CB Bryce Thompson / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Sophomore cornerback Bryce Thompson tied a single-game school record with three interceptions, and Tennessee converted four UAB turnovers into 20 points Saturday night en route to a 30-7 Homecoming victory in front of a crowd of 85,791 at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee, which won for the third time in its last four outings, improved to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in SEC play. UAB saw its record fall to 6-2.
Thompson, who had all of his takeaways in the first half, became the ninth Vol to record three picks in a contest. The most recent to do it was Deon Grant, who had a trifecta vs. Auburn in 1999. Thompson now has three interceptions this season and six for his career.
Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who had surgery on his left hand last Sunday after injuring it vs. South Carolina on Saturday evening, handled the majority of the snaps for Tennessee. The redshirt junior completed 13 of 21 passes for 147 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Redshirt senior Jauan Jennings caught five balls for 70 yards to lead all receivers and moved into ninth place in career receiving yards at Tennessee with 1,906. He also added a two-yard touchdown run. Junior Ty Chandler paced UT’s rushing attack with 85 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
Defensively, the Vols limited UAB to 237 total yards, including only 63 on the ground. UT was led in tackles by senior safety Nigel Warrior and freshman linebacker Henry T’o’o To’o, who recorded six and five stops, respectively.
Tennessee wasted little time getting on the scoreboard at the start of the game, and the Vols’ defense came up with a big play to set the table. On UAB’s first play from scrimmage, Thompson got his first interception of the season, picking off Blazers quarterback Tyler Johnston III and returning it 23 yards to the UAB 19. The visitors held their ground on defense, though, forcing the Vols to settle for a 36-yard Brent Cimaglia field goal and a 3-0 lead with 13:27 left in the opening stanza.
Cimaglia pushed the Big Orange’s lead to 6-0 with 4:44 to go in the first, connecting from 48 yards out to cap an 11-play, 56-yard drive. Key efforts on that scoring march were a 23-yard toss from Guarantano to senior tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson and an eight-yard scramble by Guarantano when UT faced third down and seven at the UAB 45.
With the Blazers moving the ball and threatening to score late in the first period, Darrell Taylor ended that thought with a third-down sack. The redshirt senior linebacker dragged down Johnston III for a loss of six, forcing UAB to punt.
UT’s Thompson was in the right spot again early in the second period, stepping in front of a Johnston III pass for his second interception of the night and recording the first multi-pick game of his career. After UT was unable to move the ball, Cimaglia came on and drilled his third field goal of the half, a career-long 53-yarder, to push the lead to 9-0 with 13:38 to go in the second frame. The kick bested Cimaglia’s 51-yarder vs. BYU earlier this season and was the longest by a Vol since Jeff Hall also was true from 53 yards vs. Oklahoma State in 1995.
Tennessee junior defensive lineman Darel Middleton forced another UAB miscue on the very next possession, and fellow junior Aubrey Solomon pounced on Johnston III’s fumble at the UAB 30. Five plays later, Chandler burst through the right side of the line and raced 11 yards to the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. Cimaglia added the PAT to lift UT’s lead to 16-0 with 11:36 remaining in the second quarter.
Thompson notched his record-tying third interception of the game off Johnston III with 6:37 to go in the first half, setting up UT’s offense at the UAB 43. Six plays later, Jennings lined up at quarterback and bulldozed his way two yards to pay-dirt. Cimaglia booted the PAT through the uprights to give Tennessee a 23-0 advantage it would take into the locker room at the intermission.
With 1:08 to go in the third period, Tennessee expanded its lead to 30-0. Guarantano hit running back Eric Gray for a 13-yard touchdown strike, marking the first score of the rookie’s career. Cimaglia added the extra point to remain perfect in his career in 58 PAT attempts.
UAB finally broke into the scoring column with 2:35 left on the clock. Reserve quarterback Dylan Hopkins, who played his high school ball at nearby Maryville High School, connected with Lucious Stanley for a 15-yard touchdown pass. Nick Vogel kicked the PAT to account for the final score.
The Vols will hit the road next weekend, facing the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in a game televised on the SEC Network.
On how much forcing turnovers has been emphasized in practice:
Vols LB Henry To’oto’o / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
“Takeaways (are) huge. The coaches push us every week to try to get a ball out, get an interception, or just make something happen during practice. So, to be able to see it happen on the field was great”
On what the defensive game plan was:
“Just come out and be aggressive. Coach Pruitt and the entire coaching staff kind of just told us throughout the week that the most aggressive team is going to win. That’s how we tried to come out today and play.”
On how Derrick Ansley helps his players within a game and their relationship with each other:
“Coach Ansley, he’s a man. The way he comes up with schemes and stuff like that, and just the entire coaching staff, they all come together as one to be able to make us play how we play.”
On how the earlier adversity has helped the defense improve:
“It was big. It was a big piece. We didn’t like the results on our beginning of the season. Nobody likes losing, but it brought us together. It brought us to kind of tell each other that we don’t want that to happen again. We’re making steps and that’s a big part.”
Freshman RB Eric Gray
On waiting for an opportunity to impact the offense:
“It’s really about just trusting the process. Tim (Jordan) and Ty (Chandler) are great backs and I learn a lot from them, so being in practice with them, seeing them throughout the games, being able to watch film with them, they’ve really taught me a lot, as a freshman.”
On Jarrett Guarantano playing six days after having surgery on his hand:
“It just shows how tough he is, to come back from that. I didn’t think he was going to play, and he came in there and did what he did today, it just shows you how tough of a player he is and the type of personality he has.”
On how the team is focused on becoming bowl eligible:
“We kind of just want to stay one step ahead and focus on the next game, next week. But we are definitely itching to go to it, for sure.”
Redshirt Senior OL Brandon Kennedy
On the improvement the team has made in the past few weeks:
“I think the one thing that’s helped us the most is, obviously the wins, but also just being able to execute when needed. I feel like going out and being able to score on particular drives, that’s what really helped us and getting that juice has helped us win. I feel like that’s what’s been helping us.”
On what it was like to see Bryce Thompson snag three interceptions in the first half:
“It’s always great to see the defense get stops and get interceptions. It really gives us juice, as an offense, to go out there and change the field (position) and have a sudden change. We just want to capitalize off of it.”
On how the team is focused on becoming bowl eligible:
“Most definitely, we just have to focus on one game at a time, because without winning one game, you can’t make it to the next. We just focus on next week and we’ll get there, eventually.”
Sophomore CB Bryce Thompson
On his three interceptions:
“Obviously it was perfect play calling. The first one I was in the flats and my man went vertical to the safety so I went to help out the linebacker over top. The quarterback threw it right to me and that was all she wrote for them.”
On his time away from the team and how Coach Pruitt handled the situation:
“I feel like Coach Pruitt handled it the best he could. At times those three games away, just not being around my team for three weeks it did hurt, but it was definitely a learning lesson and I’m just glad to be back on the team with my family honestly. I feel like with anybody they would be thankful for having this opportunity right here and that’s what I am. I’m extremely grateful and I couldn’t thank the University of Tennessee and Coach Pruitt enough.”
On where he is physically compared to last year:
“Definitely I’m feeling more confident. I like the way our defense is playing, they’re making it extremely easy for me to come back because everybody else is playing so well, so they can pick up from our mistakes and I have no doubt in them at all.”
Junior OL Trey Smith
On the Team’s confidence level:
“Everyone loves winning. A win is a hard fight and hard earned. I would say it’s easier I think, the mentality always stays the same; we’re going go to work, we’re going to prepare each week on our opponent, focus on them, go to work and do what we have to do to be successful.”
On the progression of Darel Middleton:
“He’s a hard worker, really a great guy. He’s blessed with a lot of physical attributes, obviously his immense size and stuff like that, but a hard worker and working his tail off everyday. I’ve seen him play better and he’s playing his butt off.”
Redshirt Junior QB Jarrett Guarantano
On the challenges he faced getting ready to play with his hand injury:
“There was a lot honestly, having surgery Sunday then trying to get my hand back to normal. There was a lot done on it and thankfully Geronimo and the staff really got me right and I was able to play tonight with a cast on, which was able to get the job done for tonight so I was proud of it.”
On his confidence level:
“I was always told to have unwavering confidence and I think throughout the season obviously there were peaks and valleys and at this point I’m back to normal and I’m feeling really good about the guys are playing around me and how I’m playing right now. Obviously, there’s a lot of things to fix and a lot of room to get better but my confidence is there and I think the team’s confidence is there as well.”
On Coach Pruitt’s toughness:
“Coach Pruitt and I have a good relationship. Even today I made a stupid mistake in the red zone and I was throwing off my back foot trying to avoid pressure and it was stupid, and he got on me and rightfully so. I expect him to coach me hard as I want him to, and it’s not a love-hate thing its always love with him and me.”
The Southeastern Conference unveiled its 16th annual men’s basketball coaches preseason All-SEC teams Monday, and Tennessee seniors Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner were second-team selections.
Turner had previously earned second-team inclusion on the media’s preseason All-SEC team.
Both players enter the season on the verge of joining UT’s 50-man 1,000-Point Club. They are the team’s top returning scorers, as Turner averaged 11.0 points per game, and Bowden averaged 10.6 points per game.
Turner, Bowden and the rest of the Volunteers open the 2019-20 season Tuesday when they host UNC Asheville at 7 p.m. ET at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tickets remain available at AllVols.com.
All 14 schools are represented on the two teams with Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee each having multiple selections. In all, 40 different players received votes for the coaches’ teams.
The coaches’ preseason All-SEC first and second teams consist of a minimum of eight players on each squad, voted on by the SEC basketball coaches. No ties were broken, coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players, and no predicted order of finish was made.
Opening Statement:
“Looking back and reviewing this last game, just starting with offensively, (there were) way too many negative plays. There was too much pressure on the quarterback and got him off the spot. Not as much schematically, but just kind of getting whipped and pushed back into the quarterback. (We had) too many negative plays in the run game. We have to eliminate those plays. There were lots of positives too. There were a lot of four and six-yard runs. We popped a few out there. There were just too many 3rd-and-7 and 3rd-and-8s. We have to put back-to-back plays together and we didn’t do a good job doing that. We turned the ball over in the red zone right before the half. There were really two ill-advised throws throughout the game. We have to do a better job all over the field offensively, starting at the offensive line, quarterback, running back, tight end and wide receiver and blocking in the run game.
Credit: Ut Athletics
“Defensively, we got four turnovers and should’ve had another. But (that) kind of changes the game. Give the offense short fields. We didn’t do a whole lot with it at some times, but we got field goals. And for every turnover, (there) were really points there. Special teams continue to do a pretty good job there. We have to improve there every week. We will spend a lot of time on that today. We came out of the game pretty healthy.
“Looking at Kentucky, a team that has kind of changed its identity a little bit. Obviously with the injury at quarterback, (they) had to revamp a little bit what they were doing offensively. (Assistant head coach) Eddie Gran has done a really, really nice job on the changes that he has made there. Finding a way to win, with (Lynn) Bowden playing a little bit of quarterback. I followed Mark (Stoops) at Florida State and he really, really does a nice job recruiting guys and evaluating talent. The intangibles of how they play. The season they had last year and what he has done to that program at Kentucky with that identity they kind of play with, they are physical and tough. They play together. They are very opportunistic.
“You look at their defense, they are one of the best defenses in our league. And they do great on special teams. The punter punts the ball all over the place, on kickoff cover they do a really nice job placing the ball, and they have great skill players to return it. We have got to continue to improve this week. We have to make tons of strides in all three phases to give us an opportunity to have success Saturday night. It will be a hostile environment, so we are looking forward to the challenge. But Kentucky has a team that is really talented and playing really well right now and we will have to be at our best to have a shot Saturday.”
On what it is with this team to be able to turn this season around and move forward:
“You have to figure out why we were 1-4. It was pretty simple. We turned the football over. We didn’t get enough turnovers. We didn’t play clean. We had some guys who were injured at beginning of the year or didn’t play. We were young. It was a recipe for not a whole lot of good. Our kids have come and our coaching staff has done a really nice job on coming to practice and buying in, competing hard. We have some good leadership on our team. Our guys have never flinched. They just keep working. They believe in what we are doing here. It is amazing that when you believe in something, you stay the course, and our kids believed. They believe in what we are doing. They believe in our strength and conditioning. They believe in our nutrition. The people that are teaching them and (with) player development. We have kind of stayed together and just keep grinding it out.”
On the challenges of facing a team using a wide receiver at quarterback:
“They’ve had an off week this week, and if you look in their last three games – that’s when he’s started playing the most – you’ve seen their offense grow in that period of time with things that they’re doing. They really do some nice stuff in the run game with the read stuff. They’ve always kind of been an 11-personnel running the football, but they really do a nice job. So, you kind of don’t know exactly what you’re going to get there. And, he has talent to throw the ball. He’s not a guy that can’t throw the ball, he can throw the football. They’ve really kind of shortened the game with how they’ve played. They’ve been very efficient with their drives. The last two games that they’ve played in, it looks like it’s been a monsoon on tape. So, they’ve played in very poor weather, so you don’t know what you’re going to get with throwing the football.”
On what he emphasizes in the game plan prior to facing a mobile quarterback:
“We need to win the line of scrimmage. This will be a line of scrimmage game. We need to keep edges on the defense. When the ball is out in space, we need to be able to tackle one-on-one. We cannot give up one-on-one to a blocker defensively, you have to make two guys block you. And we can’t let the ball be thrown over our heads. We have to eliminate explosive plays. We have to find a way to get some turnovers. It really doesn’t change every week, it’s kind of the same thing. Maybe what the other team does changes, but our philosophy is never going to change on how we want to play defense.”
On Paxton Brooks handling punting and Jauan Jennings being a team leader as a wide receiver:
“Paxton has done a good job in practice to earn these opportunities. It could change this week, so we’ll see. We’re going to play the guys who give us the best opportunity to have success. Fortunately for us, we have two pretty good punters, and there’s lots of competition there. It will make them better as they continue to grow and develop as football players.
“Talking about Jauan, we have lots of good leaders on our team. Jauan is a passionate guy and probably the oldest guy on our team. He’s kind of been through the wars a little bit. He’s probably developed some wisdom about how to handle your daily business, he’s probably learned how to do lots of things right. The older we get, we learn from our mistakes, we learn from others’ mistakes and we try to pass it on to the people that we care about. Jauan cares about his teammates, and he’s a guy that really wants to finish this season the right way.”
On Trey Smith’s progression this season:
“Well he practiced twice in August. This is the ninth game, so that’s 11 practices. If you think about fall camp and how many practices you have in that three-week period, he would really be getting ready for the first game based off of the number of times he’s practiced. So, that says a lot about him, number one, about his ability, two, his willingness to do other things to help him get prepared to play in a game so he can play at a high level. He continues to improve every game.”
On the latest on the QB situation and Brian Maurer:
“He was full go last week. So, again, we’ll look and see where we’re at and who gives us the best opportunity to have success and we’ll play those guys. It might be one of them, it might be two of them, it might be three of them.”
On the defensive turnaround and what is behind that:
“For the first two or three games, four of our best football players on defense didn’t play. We’re not at a point in time in our program where we can just plug a guy in and there’s no drop off. You’re talking about Emmit Gooden, you’re talking about Baylen Buchanan, Bryce (Thompson) and Daniel (Bituli), that’s a big blow. So, you have to start kind of moving guys around, so yeah, that hurt us tremendously, and getting two of those guys back has helped. I mean, we knew we were going to be young defensively and inexperienced, so the guys are going to continue to improve over the course of the year and they’ve done that. It’s not surprising that we have improved, especially with those guys coming back. Against Mississippi State, we lose Trevon Flowers for the year. That’s a big deal. He’s one of our best defensive backs, and he was a guy during fall camp who was injured. So, he plays the first couple of games not at 100 percent. So, unfortunately, we had an injury bug in fall camp and lost a few guys, but we’re kind of getting some guys back and guys have gained experience over the course of the season, and we are playing somewhat better.”
On what led to the struggles from the offensive line on Saturday night:
“I think UAB is pretty good up front, to start with. I think they did a really nice job. When you’re going to run the football, it takes five offensive linemen, if you’ve got two tight ends in a game those two guys, a runner, and it takes a quarterback to glue it all together. So, when there’s moving parts on the defensive side, there’s one guy that’s standing over the deal that can see all of it, and you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got the right point, so everybody knows we’re working in the right direction. We had too many mistakes from that standpoint. We probably got whipped a couple of times, and maybe we didn’t use the proper technique, or we might have run the ball the wrong way, as far as the quarterback making sure we’re running to the correct side. That’s all important, and a lot of that goes into who our quarterback is each week. As an offensive play caller, you just don’t want to go out there and say, ‘Hey, I want to line up in dot and run zone to the right.’ We’ve got a center, a guard, a tackle, and a tight end, so that’s four. What if they put six dudes over there, are we still going to run zone to the right? You’re not going to get a whole lot of success there. So, you’ve got to be able to package runs and be able to change them and things like that. We missed some of those the other night, which didn’t help.”
On Shawn Shamburger’s improvement:
“Well, I guess he’s been here now in the second year in the system. I didn’t feel like he played very well the other night. He keeps playing, we don’t have a whole lot of numbers back there to play, but he’s a guy that has improved as the season has went. He has really good athletic ability and has some instincts as a player. He needs to be more consistent as a blitzer and more consistent in coverage, but he’s a guy that, based off of the fact that he’s been in the system for two years now, he’s going to improve. The way we practice, you’re going to develop as a football player. That’s why when you get guys that have a little bit of age, they might not have played a whole lot as a freshman or a sophomore, but if they stay in our system, the way we practice, the way we develop players, they’re going to continue to improve and get better. Football is a developmental game, you want to be coached, you want to see improvement and Shawn is a guy that has continued to do that. Now, we’re looking at the consistency, he’s played really well early in the year, just the other night he didn’t play as well, I probably shouldn’t have said that, but it’s the truth. But, we’re looking for more consistency there, and he has the ability to be a good player.”
On how he handles game management:
“There’s lots of things that are pretty well documented, kind of when to go for two or a philosophy of going for two. There’s lots of scenarios that you have to work consistently when you have the ball offensively based off the score. Are you trying to score touchdowns? Are you trying to run the clock out? Do you need a field goal? It is before halftime, so there’s lots of things that go into that and you try to go through all the scenarios during the offseason, starting in probably February when we’re doing quality control and make sure that we all have the same philosophy of what we need to do to get us prepped during the spring to make sure were able to hit all these things. Sometimes, you have to go off your gut too, so you see the game, you’re on the field you feel what’s going on. I was watching somebody play the other day and a team was moving the football, and somebody just burned a timeout just to stop them. That’s kind of one of those in high school like when I was a high school coach when a team is moving the ball, hey you might have to call a timeout to settle them down or make a correction or something so that you can keep them out of the end zone. Nowadays everybody talks about keeping your timeouts saved till the end of the half. Sometimes you just you have to go with your gut, but there is a lot of things that are documented that you study and look at.”
On the advantage to making a bowl game and disadvantage to not making a bowl:
“We’re not focused on making a bowl. What were focused on is being the best football team we can be today and continuing to develop as a team and get ready for Kentucky. That’s what we’re worried about. I don’t have time to worry about that other stuff. I think it’s kind of common sense, if we could get fifteen extra practices, that’s got to help you right.”
On his thoughts on the defense starting the second half better now than early in the season:
“It’s a good question. Something that we need to be continuing to look at and see. We’ve really not changed how we prepare at halftime. We’ve been taking the same procedure that we always do at halftime and continue to do it throughout the year. It would probably make sense that maybe our kids, because of youth, have kind of learned to apply it a little bit, all the information that there given. But, we’ve really tried to focus on being a second half team. We weren’t early in the year, at all, but we’ve really tried to get our kids motivated to be that way. There’s certain positions that we have lack of depth right now, whether it’s based on injuries, numbers or experience, and we’ve tried to be smart as a coaching staff to be able to address that as the game goes.”
On if the way the team has been playing has affected recruiting:
“I don’t know how much we played better on Saturday than we played back at the beginning of the year. If you turn the ball over three or four times a game, you’re not going to beat anybody, which is what we did earlier in the year. If you give up 65-yard passes with 20 seconds on the clock, you’re not going to beat anybody. At times, we’ve continued to improve this year, and we’re going to work hard to do that – we’ve got to finish – that’s the goal, to improve every game. We have a huge challenge this week and our kids know that. We’re excited for the opportunity. We have yet to win a game on the road, which is a mark of a good football team – being able to go on the road and win football games – and we have yet to do that. We have a whole lot to prove as coaches, as players, everybody associated with our program. We’ll have an opportunity to do that on Saturday night.”
On changes in coaching in relation to the improvement on the field:
“Well it’s about being efficient, playing cleaner. We’ve talked about it on both sides of the ball, it’s the details. You look at each week, the team that usually wins the turnover battle usually wins the game. Start with that, let’s just take care of the football, let’s get some turnovers on defense. It’s no magic pill, it’s about details, execution, doing the little things, and our kids have continued to work at it. We were younger, a young team, and the guys have kind of developed. We have a long ways to go. We have not come close to playing our best football yet, and we’re running out of time, so we’ve got to be able to do that.”
On his decision when to play Jarrett Guarantano and how it affects the offense:
“He practiced last week with his hand after surgery and did it on Wednesday and Thursday. There wasn’t much issue but it was cooler on Saturday night, so you’re (thinking), ‘how is he going to handle that in warm-ups’ and some of that, so I felt like JT (Shrout) played good enough in the South Carolina game, and he finished the game to start the game. I knew at some point we would give Jarrett an opportunity. He didn’t take as many snaps during the week as he normally does, but he’s a guy that can glue a lot of things together with the other players, and when he does that, we play better. It just comes from having more experience than the other guys. It’s easy for him, he has the maturity to see and learn from what’s going on during the game, and apply it, so that’s one of the reasons that we’ve done it.
