KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones spoke to reporters at Wednesday’s press conference in the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio.

Tennessee hosts No. 7 Georgia on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS. Jones spoke about some of the challenges that the talented Bulldogs present on both sides of the ball.

“They are number one in the nation in red zone scoring,” Jones said. “They are number one in red zone defense in the Southeastern Conference. They have many plays on offense over 20 yards. They are one of the few defenses in the nation that have not gave up a play over 40 yards. They have great depth. I know our players are looking forward to Saturday.”

Jones said that it is important for the Vols to be productive on first down.

“Everything is about first-down efficiency,” he said. “When we talk about first-down efficiency, four yards, whether pass or run, is considered efficient. We have to be about 65 percent at first-down efficiency. When you look at scoring drives, most first downs occur on first or second down opposed to third down. When you go and look at the video from last week, we had way too many 2nd-and-12 and 2nd-and-15 plays. Against a team like this, we have to be ahead of the sticks. Like I said on Monday, against this defense, a two-yard run can be a productive run. What we have to do is, stay ahead of the chains and work to eliminate negative yardage plays. That’s one of the critical elements of this game, staying on schedule, so to speak, on first and second down. They do a great job on third down, so we can’t be in third and long situations.”

Peyton Manning To Be Honored, Joined by College Football Hall of Famers On Field and At Vol Walk

Peyton Manning will be honored at halftime on Saturday by the National Football Foundation. The midfield ceremony will serve as the NFF’s official “on-campus-salute” of Manning’s selection to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Per Manning’s request, some of UT’s living College Football Hall of Famers will join him at the recognition and at the Vol Walk, which will begin at 1:15 p.m. ET at the Torchbearer statue on Volunteer. The VFLs include: Doug Dickey, Frank Emmanuel, Phillip Fulmer, Bob Johnson, Chip Kell, Steve Kiner, Johnny Majors and John Michaels (represented by his daughter).

Additional Quotes

Opening Statement:
“We will start off with our injury update for this week. Evan Berry, Jakob Johnson and Latrell Williams will all be out for this game. Everyone else should be available and they are progressing very well. Some things that stick out about Georgia are, they are number one in the nation in red zone scoring. They are number one in the nation in red zone scoring. They are number one in red zone defense in the Southeastern Conference. They have many plays on offense over 20 yards. They are one of the few defenses in the nation that have not gave up a play over 40 yards. They have great depth. I know our players are looking forward to Saturday.”

On first down production:
“Its critical (to be productive on first down). Everything is about first-down efficiency. When we talk about first-down efficiency, four yards, whether pass or run, is considered efficient. We have to be about 65 percent at first-down efficiency. When you look at scoring drives, most first downs occur on first or second down opposed to third down. When you go and look at the video from last week, we had way too many 2nd-and-12 and 2nd-and-15 plays. Against a team like this, we have to be ahead of the sticks. Like I said on Monday, against this defense, a two-yard run can be a productive run. What we have to do is, stay ahead of the chains and work to eliminate negative yardage plays. That’s one of the critical elements of this game, staying on schedule, so to speak, on first and second down. They do a great job on third down, so we can’t be in third and long situations.”

On his relationship with Jim Chaney:
“I’ve had a chance to watch Jim Chaney for a very long time. That dates to when he was at Purdue. I have a lot of respect for him. He has a very good offensive mind. I’ve enjoyed spending time with him. They give you so many different personnel groupings it hard to get ready for them. They have a lot of talent and I’ve followed Jim Chaney for a long time.”

On how defensive line has performed so far after losing defensive ends DerekBarnett and Corey Vereen:
“Obviously, they were extremely productive for us. Not only did they impact the game, but they also impacted practice and they impacted the locker room with their leadership. Obviously, a Derek Barnett (is someone) you just never replace, or a Corey Vereen. You look at what LaTroy Lewis has been able to do. I’m proud of those individuals, but the beauty of college football is new opportunities. I think we’ve had some individuals really step up. When you look at Darrell Taylor, he continues to progress. He’s one of the leaders on our football team. You look at the constant growth and development of Jonathan Kongbo, and last year from him starting on the outside and then by the end of the year having to play defensive tackle, and now having the ability to move him back to his natural position has really helped. I’ve been really pleased with the progression of Kyle Phillips. Kyle has really done a nice job, and you can see him from game one all the way throughout the course of the season now continuing to get better inside with Kahlil (McKenzie). Then, what can I say about Kendal Vickers. He’s a warrior, he’s a mainstay, he’s extremely tough, and he’s also developed into one of our leaders as well. So again, we’re going to need that, but as we all know, we have to continue to grow depth at that position. Going into the UMass game, we knew that they had a controlled passing game. We spoke about it last week; there’s many ways to impact a quarterback, and it just doesn’t come with sacks. It comes with tipped balls, it comes with overthrows, it comes with hits on the quarterback. So much of sacks on the edge are dictated by your interior defensive linemen with getting a push in the middle of the pocket, being stout, and allowing your defensive ends to be able to work freely and make the quarterback reset his feet and move his feet in the pocket. So there are so many things that go with impacting the quarterback, and then obviously it’s the back end of your defense as well. We had seven sacks, and on some of them last week, the quarterback didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball. Our secondary did a good job, and he had to hold on to the ball a little longer than he would’ve liked to. When we talk about team defense, we talk about all 11 individuals working together as one.”

On Georgia’s offensive line:
“I think that’s one of the progressions of their football team. I’ve been very impressed with their offensive line. The way they run off the football, they’re physical, they play with very good pad level, and they’re able to protect the quarterback. It’s going to be a great challenge for our individuals up front. Then you add the physical nature of their running backs. I think the other thing with all their running backs, is all their skill sets complement each other. Nick Chubb is a dynamic running back, and he’ll play a long time. Sony Michel does some really good things. I think those two complement each other. So when you look at their running back group that they have, no matter who’s in the game, there’s never any drop off. That’s what you look at with the depth of their football team. Defensively, sometimes they’ll substitute three different units, and by the last play of the Mississippi State game in the first quarter, they had already played 20 individuals on defense. We don’t see any drop off no matter who’s on the field for them, and that’s going to be a great challenge.”

On Jake Fromm and Georgia’s offense:  
“Well, first of all with Jake you see poise. You see poise in an individual, you see the confidence in an individual, and he can make all the throws, and he is very mature. You just look back from little league to everything, and so again I see a poised individual. I believe his teammates around him believe him you can see that. Again we have to do a good job of containing him and impacting the quarterback and that’s going to be a great challenge. They’re going to do what they do. They’re going to run their system, just like us I think it’s a quarterback-friendly system, but there really isn’t much difference schematically from what you see with the two different quarterbacks.”

On the running backs workload and John Kelly:
“It all starts with John Kelly, but we spoke about that as a staff is Ty Chandler needs to be more involved, which will involve him a little bit more. He continues to get better and better from a pass protection standpoint week in and week out in practice. He’s earned that right to play more. Tim Jordan as well. Tim has done a good job of learning, again there’s so much with the freshman running back from pass protection to routes to blocking assignments to your run reads and understanding the tempo of the run play and how the blocking schemes work how to hug the three-technique when to cut at the heels of the offensive linemen. I see those individuals starting to grow and to develop. They’re earning our trust; they are earning the trust of their teammates. I could see more of our running backs being actively involved this week. We are going to need that.”

On Austin Smith and his role when he comes back:  
“He was out at practice yesterday. He participated in practice. With him we anticipate it, but I’ll probably know more by the end of the week. Yesterday was his real first full day back on the grass we want to make sure he is ready to go. Special teams a little bit defensively again he hasn’t played football in a very long period of time, so we have to be very careful we don’t ask too much of him but I’ll know a little more today and on Friday, as well.”

On either playing a 4-3 defensive or having Rashaan Gaulden on the field: 
“Well, there are a lot of things that go into that thought process. I think that first of all is the situation. The down and distance, the personnel groupings, the matchups on the perimeters so there’s a lot that goes into it. Again he’s one of our best football players, and we need him on the field. We ask a lot of him in terms of special teams as well.”

On Jashon Robertson and Rashaan Gaulden involved in practice:
“We fully anticipate them being ready to go on Saturday. They were involved in practice and were able to get some reps and also some mental reps and then today they’ll be full go. so getting them up to practice will be big, but they’ve been involved. I think today their volume of work will almost be like a game type situation for us so we fully anticipate. Hopefully, no one foresees changes there that they’re going to be ready to Saturday.”

-UT Athletics

IRVING, Texas — Tennessee senior defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. has been named as one of 181 semifinalists for the 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy®, presented by Fidelity Investments®, as announced on Wednesday by The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 60th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 28th William V. Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.

“These 181 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton Manning (Campbell Trophy® winner) and Eli Manning were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. “It is important for us to showcase their success on the football field, in the classroom and in the community. This year’s semifinalists further illustrate the power of our great sport in developing the next generation of influential leaders.”

Kelly is on the watch list for the 2017 Lott IMPACT Trophy and a nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy. He was also a nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team. As a Knoxville native, Kelly takes a lot of pride in serving the local community. His community service activities have centered on helping children. From cheering on patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to mentoring local fourth-graders at Lonsdale Elementary to serving others via the Emerald Youth Foundation and Read Across America, Kelly is committed to inspiring local youth. He is a member of the 100 Black Men of Knoxville, which serves as a catalyst to empower minority youth to reach their full potential. He has also served as a speaker at local churches and elementary schools.

Prior to the 2016 season, Kelly changed his jersey number from No. 6 to No. 24 in honor of the late Zaevion Dobson. Dobson was a local high school football star who died heroically shielding his friends from gunfire in December of 2015. Kelly is close with the Dobson family and also took part in Zaveion Dobson Day of Service and Project Elevate’s Hero Day on Jan. 24, 2016, which promoted serving others and acts of kindness.

In addition to Kelly’s work in the community, he is also a standout in the classroom. Kelly is majoring Biological Science with a concentration in Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology. He earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 honors in 2016. Kelly was named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2015 and 2016 and he was also named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for the 2014-15 school year.

Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, former chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF’s Gold Medal, the Campbell Trophy® is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient’s grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000, which is endowed by HealthSouth. This year’s postgraduate scholarships will push the program’s all-time distribution to more than $11.3 million. Since 2013, the Campbell Trophy® has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.

“The NFF would like to personally congratulate each of the nominees as well as their schools and coaches on their tremendous accomplishments,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “We are extremely proud to highlight each semifinalist’s achievements, showcasing their ability to balance academics and athletics at the highest level. The NFF Awards Committee will have an incredibly difficult task in selecting the finalists from this outstanding group of candidates.”

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.

Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program became the first initiative in history to award postgraduate scholarships based on both a player’s academic and athletic accomplishments, and it has recognized 828 outstanding individuals since its inception. The Campbell Trophy®, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program’s prestige, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.

In 2011, the NFF and Fidelity Investments launched a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. As part of the initiative, Fidelity became the first presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program. In 2014, Fidelity became the presenting sponsor of the Campbell Trophy®.

Fidelity also helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with an NFF National Scholar-Athlete. As part of the initiative, the NFF presents each of the faculty representatives with a plaque, and Fidelity donates $5,000 for the academic support services at each school with a total of $440,000 distributed from 2011-16.

The past recipients of The William V. Campbell Trophy® include: Air Force’s Chris Howard (1990); Florida’s Brad Culpepper (1991); Colorado’s Jim Hansen (1992); Virginia’s Thomas Burns (1993); Nebraska’s Rob Zatechka (1994); Ohio State’s Bobby Hoying (1995); Florida’s Danny Wuerffel (1996); Tennessee’s Peyton Manning (1997); Georgia’s Matt Stinchcomb (1998); Marshall’s Chad Pennington (1999); Nebraska’s Kyle Vanden Bosch (2000); Miami (Fla.)’s Joaquin Gonzalez (2001); Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)’s Brandon Roberts (2002); Ohio State’s Craig Krenzel (2003); Tennessee’s Michael Munoz (2004); LSU’s Rudy Niswanger (2005); Rutgers’ Brian Leonard (2006); Texas’ Dallas Griffin (2007); California’s Alex Mack (2008); Florida’s Tim Tebow (2009); Texas’ Sam Acho (2010); Army West Point’s Andrew Rodriguez (2011); Alabama’s Barrett Jones (2012); Penn State’s John Urschel (2013); Duke’s David Helton (2014); Oklahoma’s Ty Darlington (2015); and Western Michigan’s Zach Terrell (2016).

2017 NFF William V. Campbell Trophy® Semifinalists Notes

• 59th Year of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Program
• 181 Nominations
• 3.59 Average GPA
• 8 Nominees with a perfect 4.0 GPA
• 40 Nominees with a 3.8 GPA or better
• 60 Nominees with a 3.7 GPA or Better
• 27 Academic All-America Selections
• 114 Captains
• 76 All-Conference Picks
• 19 All-Americans
• 10 Members of the 2017 AFCA Good Works Team
• 71 Nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
• 37 Nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
• 30 Nominees from NCAA Division II
• 33 Nominees from NCAA Division III
• 10 Nominees from the NAIA
• 102 Offensive Players
• 67 Defensive Players
• 12 Special Teams Players