KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A raucous atmosphere, a sellout crowd and the return of #CheckerNeyland sets the stage for one of college football’s most anticipated games of the season as Tennessee clashes with No. 13 Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee Athletics sold out of tickets on Tuesday afternoon, marking the program’s first sellout since the Georgia game on Sept. 30, 2017.
Neyland Stadium / Credit: UT Athletics
While Tennessee Athletics does not control prices of any tickets obtained via the secondary market, Vol fans are reminded that Vivid Seats is the only secondary marketplace with a 100 percent buyer guarantee on the validity of tickets for Tennessee home games.
In addition, Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White announced that Saturday’s contest will be a #CheckerNeyland game, showcasing Tennessee’s iconic checkerboard pattern through Neyland Stadium. The fan-driven initiative will be the fifth in program history and the first since 2017.
Fans are encouraged to wear orange or white, depending on their seat location. To find out if your seat section is orange or white, go to CheckerNeyland.com and enter your section/row/seat number as it appears on your ticket or click here for a seat map (PDF).
Fans are encouraged to arrive early. Gates to Neyland Stadium open at 5:30 p.m. Fans with digital tickets are strongly encouraged to download them to their mobile devices before arriving on campus. Those with a parking permit, either printed or mobile, are asked to have their permit ready to display upon entering their parking lot.
To expedite entry into the stadium, it is recommended that each individual hold their own ticket to optimize scanning procedures. All tickets will be electronically scanned to verify authenticity. Tickets will be scanned as patrons enter the stadium, and once a ticket has been scanned, it cannot be reused by another guest. For more information on electronic tickets, view the Mobile Tickets Video or visit our Mobile Delivery FAQ page.
The Saturday primetime showdown features the two fastest offenses in the Power Five. Ole Miss and Tennessee run 2.89 and 2.87 offensive plays per minute, respectively. Those are the two highest rates among Power Five teams.
Head coach Josh Heupel‘s Volunteers (4-2, 2-1 SEC) are riding a two-game winning streak, outscoring opponents 107-44 during that stretch, including back-to-back 28-point first quarters for the first time in modern program history. Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1) enters the contest following a 52-51 shootout victory over then-No. 13 Arkansas last Saturday in Oxford.
Tickets for the 2022 campaign will go on sale in November.
Saturday’s contest will be televised live on SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (analyst) and Cole Cubelic (analyst) on the call. For more information on gameday, visit UTsports.com/gameday.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee was back flying around on Haslam Field on Tuesday morning as excitement continues to build for Saturday night’s highly-anticipated showdown with Ole Miss at Neyland Stadium.
On Monday evening, UT announced that it would “Checker Neyland” for Saturday’s game against the Rebels, marking the first time since playing Georgia back in 2017.
Vols WR JaVonta Payton / Credit: UT Athletics
In terms of game preparation, the Big Orange know they will need to execute at a high level on both sides of the ball against a fast-paced and talented Ole Miss team that enters the game ranked first in the SEC and fourth nationally in scoring offense (46.2 ppg).
When speaking with the media on Tuesday, linebackers’ coach Brian Jean-Mary noted that practicing against Tennessee’s up-tempo offense in the offseason would be advantageous for the Vols’ defense this week, but also pointed out that there are a lot of differences within the Rebels’ offense that they will need to be ready for, as well.
“There is a lot of carryover obviously from going against our offense in the spring and fall camp. We feel like we should be prepared for the tempo, but it’s always a different animal when you have to go against it in a game,” Jean-Mary said. “There are a lot of similarities, but there are some major differences also just in the way that they run the ball and some of the pass game.
“The tempo is similar, but they have their kind of go-to plays and we have our own on offense, so we have to do a good job of separating what we’ve done against our offense compared to what Ole Miss (does), how they attack people.”
Offensively, the playmaking ability of Tennessee’s more experienced receivers has played a major part in the team’s high-scoring efforts the past two weeks.
Wide receivers coach Kodi Burns was quick to praise the play of veteran wideouts like Velus Jones Jr., JaVonta Payton and Cedric Tillman, but also stressed that it’ll be important for UT’s younger receivers to continue to develop and be ready when their opportunities come.
“You talk about getting into SEC play, one thing that I do know about the SEC, it’s a big boy league and you really want to go with experience, and we’ve done that the last few weeks. I think it’s paid off,” Burns said. “At the same time, those young guys get a chance to still play a little bit and truly grow, and they’re going to be good players. You just have to make sure to seize the opportunity when your time is called.”
The Vols’ contest with the Rebels kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be broadcast on the SEC Network. Fans are encouraged to arrive early in order to be in their seats for the pregame lights show and kickoff.
Full transcripts for coach Jean-Mary and coach Burns and select player quotes can be seen below.
On Juwan Mitchell being out and what his plan is going forward and if he has spoken with him… “We speak to each other every day. Obviously, it’s a loss, what I stated earlier he’s been banged up basically since we started camp, so we try to, obviously, rotate to keep some of the pounding off of him but it kind of got to a point of no return, so we tried to decide what was best for Juwan and went had the surgery. Obviously, it’s a loss, he was one of my more experienced (guys) but, you know, he was basically playing with one arm. Trying to obviously do the best he could for the program, but at the end of the day I think we were going to hurt the program, hurt ourselves on defense, and possibly (get) in worse of situations. So, happy he got it done, wish he was still a part, but he’s in good spirits and knows it’s going to be a long road back. I think he understands this is going to make him even better next year going forward.”
On initial impressions of Aaron Beasley and what he likes that he is doing now… “Well, I was familiar with Aaron from high school, I know he played a lot of running back. I know he was an athletic kid coming out of high school, so, you know, I had a little bit of knowledge about him. When he was in spring, I thought he did a good job. We asked him to move to a different position, which was a little different for him, I’m looking for the best word to say because he was more of a MIKE. he was a backup, and we asked him to play WILL actually in spring because Jeremy Banks wasn’t available. So, you know, he kind of jumped into that and, just through progression because of the way the numbers worked out, we had to move him to MIKE this fall. He’s a kid that thinks his best football is still ahead of him. I tell you that because he’s had to play basically all three linebacker spots for us when we do play our base defense and do have our three linebackers on the field. He’s also the SAM, so he’s one of the guys we count on as far as getting us lined up, and he’s one of the few veteran guys, if we can even call him that, that has a little bit of game experience. He really helps us keep us on task and keeps us where we feel like he gives us the best chance on defense.”
On what Beasley is excelling at right now… “Making tackles, like I said, I tell that story, I think in his own way he does provide a little bit of leadership. He’s not a big talker but he’s more of a calm influence for our room and probably for the defense because of his personality. I think that is the biggest factor, doesn’t get flustered and kind of doesn’t get out of sorts when things aren’t going well. I think we need that at times. Like I said, he’s made plays when they presented themselves and he’s done a good job there. I would say his number one, probably, thing that he is doing the best is keeping us calm and providing some leadership.”
On who the fourth linebacker in the rotation would be… “It’s still up in the air. As we did before Juwan (Mitchell), we’re rotating guys and we want to make sure we put the guy in that’s going to give us the best chance to win. Whether that be Aaron Willis, whether that be (Kwauze) Pakk Garland or William Mohan. All three of those guys are kind of all rotating, all practicing well. If that situation did present itself, I feel like all three of those guys would give us an opportunity to win, but I don’t think any one of them has separated themselves to be that fourth linebacker that we would put in definitely.”
On if he feels like they need a fourth guy given how well the top three are playing… “It’s the SEC, in one play you could go from three to two. The goal is always to have five (guys) ready to play just because of the nature of injuries, especially with the collisions that you’re going to have in this conference. We rotated three on Saturday down from four, but we always want to have those guys prepared to play. The last thing you want to do is get caught were you might have one or two guys go down. I’ve been in games where we’ve had three guys go down in one game and the opponent, they don’t care, they’re going to go attack the weakness. So, you want to make sure you have guys that are at least serviceable that can go out there and run the defense and can give you the best chance to win.”
On how he’s seen Jeremy Banks progress and keeping him from committing penalties… “The personal fouls, which we’ve talked about … it has to go away. We basically stated, if the personal fouls don’t go away, we can’t put him in the game. Those are going to be the difference when we’re in tighter games and we just can’t do that. Those 15-yard penalties lead to scoring drives and really take the momentum away from us. So, we have to eliminate those. Besides that, I think he’s been a little bit more under control as far as making tackles, breaking down and being in good balance. The one thing with Jeremy, he’s going to play hard but sometimes when he plays hard, he’s a little out of control and kind of out of whack where he ends up on the ground a lot. I think he’s been better at that the last couple weeks.”
On Brandon Turnage winning SEC Player of the Week after not playing much early in the year… “I can’t say it surprises me. Well, I’m going to take that back, of course it surprised me, but I’ve seen the kid, I’ve seen the work ethic he’s put in. One of the guys I think is one of the unsung heroes – Theo Jackson knew he wasn’t going to play or there was a good chance he wasn’t – he worked with Brandon every day and every night. Watched film with him and really helped prep him. That’s when you know you have good teamwork and you have a brotherhood on your team because Theo knew how much we were going to need him this game if he didn’t play. I have to give Theo a lot of credit. But Brandon is a very talented kid, and we always say, when your opportunity comes, you never know when it’s going to come so make sure you stay prepared. Brandon was a great example about that. So, to answer your question, I was surprised, but I wasn’t surprised.”
On the advantage of practicing against the kind of tempo Ole Miss runs on a daily basis… “Yeah, there is a lot of carryover obviously from going against our offense in spring and fall camp. We feel like we should be prepared for the tempo, but it’s always a different animal when you have to go against it in a game. There are a lot of similarities, but there are some major differences also just in the way that they run the ball and some of the pass game. The tempo is similar, but they have their kind of go-to plays and we have our own on offense, so we have to do a good job of separating what we’ve done against our offense compared to what Ole Miss (does), how they attack people.”
On Matt Corral’s abilities stressing the defense… “It’s unbelievable stress on the defense. Watching him, I know he gets a lot of praise in the media and coverage for the way he plays, but when you watch him on the coach’s tape, it’s well deserved. He is a complete quarterback, doesn’t make any mistakes, doesn’t have any interceptions this year which tells how much he is taking care of the football. He makes the right reads and he is a super athletic kid. I think there was a play we watched versus Arkansas where he runs through an arm tackle of one of Arkansas’ better defenders. It tells you about his athleticism and is super impressive throwing the ball, so we know we have our work cut out for us.”
On tackling drills in practice during the season… “We handle a lot of the full-speed tackling, mainly, individually. Going into game seven, we have to be careful about tackling each other, just because of the nature of injuries and a lot of guys are banged up. We definitely still make that a big point of emphasis, tackling. A lot of thud tackles, where we’re going to coach them up to make sure they’re in the proper position, wrapping up, feet, and that the body is in the proper position. It’s hard to go full-speed, live tackling at this point, just because of our numbers. Like you said, we want to make sure we stay away from injuries. But it’s still a big point of emphasis, that is still the basis of everything we do on defense.”
On the play of linebackers in coverage and in space… “I think we’re getting better. Obviously, we have gotten our hands on a couple of balls the last couple of weeks. It can always be better. When you ask those questions, I always think of the ones we do wrong, but I have to catch myself and say we were in position probably a couple of times the last couple games. A lot better than we were earlier. I think we are getting better, obviously, we are very multiple on defense so the stress a lot of times is on the linebackers, as far as the play action passes and with the tight ends and the backs coming out of the backfield. So, we have to do a great job and be disciplined in our pass drops, but I feel like we’ve gotten a lot better over the last couple of weeks. We really haven’t changed what we’ve done, the linebackers have just been a lot better. This week will be a big-time challenge. They do a great job of getting the ball to the tailbacks out of the backfield and throwing the ball to the tight ends.
On feeding off the energy and momentum of the offense… “That’s the way this team has been structured since the first day coach Heupel got here. We are together as a team, he says ‘it’s one’. When the defense is going well, the offense is going to feed off of it because we are getting the ball back to them. When the offense is going well, and they’re scoring points, the defense is going to feed off of it because now they know that offense we are going against is going to have to speed up what they’re doing. They have the stress of trying to score it to match us on offense. We add special teams to that also. When those guys are flying down on kickoffs and punts and getting big returns on kickoff and punt, it energizes the entire team. That’s how this team is structured, you can really see guys starting to buy in to what coach Heupel and our staff envisions because It is truly a team. I’m not saying it’s an aspect they didn’t have before, but you can see it growing. Just sitting on the sidelines when we are trying to draw defensive plays, their eyes are on the jumbotron because they know something good is about to happen. You listen to the offensive coaches and they say the same thing as far as, when the defense is on the field, they have a hard time keeping their guys focused on what they are trying to adjust because their guys are so excited about what’s going on. I’s a good feeling, obviously we want them to still focus on our adjustments on the sideline, but you can tell they are really enjoying what we’re doing.”
On if Velus Jones moving to the slot gave him more confidence and what makes him so hard to tackle… “Confidence for Velus is not an issue, at all. He really does believe he’s good and he is a really good player. A veteran guy that you can move from outside to inside, like I spoke about earlier in the spring and summer as well. He’s been very productive in the slot, and like you said, he’s almost like a running back with the ball in his hands. He’s really hard to tackle. He’s strong, he plays through contact, he has really good ball skills. Once again, just a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football, and really excited to see his role continue to grow and build.”
On the emergence of the veteran receivers this year… “For sure. I think a lot of times you just have to have an opportunity and a chance. I think (Cedric) Tillman – I heard a crazy stat – I think he’s been here three years and only had eight receptions up until this year. You just see his growth and instill confidence in Tillman – and he was a guy I’ve been talking about since the spring – that he could be problem for defenses. Whenever you’re that big, you can run and have good ball skills, he’s a good player. I think it just came down to him getting reps, time on task in games and he’s a confident player right now. JaVonta Payton, another guy that was at another school, didn’t really get the opportunities that he wanted to. Now, just instilling confidence into him, that’s why I recruited the kid. I thought he was a good player, good ball skills, explosive, can run. He just needed that opportunity, and he has it, and he sees the moment. You see him each week, I think he’s scored a touchdown in the last four games, so he’s a really good player and starting to improve every single week. Really excited about these veteran guys.”
On what role the younger receivers have played the last couple weeks and what led to pairing down the amount of reps for receivers since SEC play… “We have some talented young players that have to really grow up. It’s all about an opportunity. When those guys get the opportunity to play, you have to capitalize. I think you saw Jalin Hyatt do that this past game. And then really, you talk about getting into SEC play, one thing that I do know about the SEC, it’s a big boy league and you really want to go with experience, and we’ve done that the last few weeks. I think it’s paid off. At the same time, those young guys get a chance to still play a little bit and truly grow, and they’re going to be good players. You just have to make sure to seize the opportunity when your time is called.”
On JaVonta Payton’s early success in games then lack of touches after and the importance of Jalin Hyatt’s touchdown catch after early season struggles… “JaVonta early in games, obviously has made some big-time plays. Every game just transpires different. I think the last couple games the ball was really pushed more to (Cedric) Tillman, which is fine. Tillman was making plays. Then JaVonta, these last six or seven weeks, very well could be him being the guy. So, you just have to be ready when the opportunity presents itself and I think he will be. I think you’ll continue to see JaVonta make plays and not just a one touchdown deal and kind of goes missing. We’re going to try and find ways to get him the ball because he’s a really good player. Then you talk about Jalin Hyatt, the few drops he had early in the season, just really have to work on his ball skills and grip strength. I think that you see him growing because that catch in the end zone is not something that a normal, every single day receiver makes. You have to really work on those things, and he’s put that extra work in as far as working on his ball skills and making those competitive catches. That’s one thing about this league, in the SEC you have to be able to make competitive catches and if he continues to do that, he’s the fastest guy we have on the team, so it will be very, very hard to cover.”
On how quick it took to see that JaVonta Payton was a guy that could play well for this team… “Not very long. Part of the reason we recruited him was because I saw a skillset. I saw an explosive player with really good ball skills that was twitchy and can really run. One thing that we like in this offense is we like receivers that can run and really blow the top of the coverage. I think you’ve seen that in these games, all of his touchdowns have been big, big plays where he’s getting behind the defense. So, it didn’t take long when he stepped on campus to know JaVonta can be a big-time playmaker for us, and he’s done that so far. So, it’s our job to put him in positions to continue to do that.”
On the chemistry between Hendon Hooker and the receivers since taking over at quarterback… “That’s what it comes down to. It’s time on task, it’s chemistry like you talked about, being able to get those one reps with the one receivers, the guys that you’re actually going to play with, because everyone runs different. His ball is different than the other quarterbacks. It’s all about the reps, and I think it’s really starting to show and really pay off as far as us in the passing game being able to hit those timing throws and some of those shots down the field. I think that is really the difference in the season. Early on, we weren’t making the big plays down the field, we weren’t hitting those shots, and now we’ve really hit those shots. It’s opened up games, it’s opened up big leads early in games where you can kind of relax and continue to play football without the stress we’ve had in some of the games.”
On importance of getting off to a quick start and what it does for the mentality of the players… “I believe that the quick starts here at Tennessee has not been successful in the past years, and really what you want to do is get off to quick starts to get guys confident. You want to make sure early in the season that we instilled in our players that we’re going to get off to a quick start, be able to score points, and it’s not the same old story where ‘oh here we go again.’ I think we’re really starting to feed off of that. The defense is off to a quick start, the offense is playing, and we’re really starting to put four quarters together as a team. I think that is what it’s all about, us coming together as a team, us scoring points on offense, and defense coming up with some big time TFLs.”
On what it says about the stamina of the top three receivers running in this offense and if they track how much their receivers run… “We track how much our guys run in practice every single day. We track how much they run in a game, and I think it just speaks to what we do offensively, how we play up tempo, that’s how we practice and that’s what we do and who we are. So, when you get into a game, some of those guys are getting upwards to 70 or 80 reps, it’s not a problem and they get stronger as the game continues to go because that’s what we do, that’s who we are and that’s our identity on offense. I’ve been very impressed with the way they’ve preformed so far. Obviously, it’s a long season and we have to continue to stay healthy, but I think we are going to continue to get better and play better on the backend of games.”
On Hendon Hooker’s play allowing the coaches to be able to evaluate the receiver room… “For sure, you always want the receivers be given an opportunity to make a play. As we all know, I believe in if the ball touches your hands, you need to catch the ball and we’ve been given those opportunities and I think for the most part we’ve made the big time plays down the field. And like you said, it gives you an opportunity to see where you are in the receiver room and when those guys’ numbers get called, they have made plays, and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
On preventing the team from relaxing during the second half of the game… “I think just continuing to be aggressive. Our style of offense is up tempo, we play fast and whenever you get those big leads, it’s an easy tendency to kind of slow it down and run the clock out a little bit, but we are an aggressive offense, and we are going to stay aggressive. Like coach Heupel talked about, it’s one or two guys on every play that can really be the difference in us continuing to move the ball on those drives, so it comes down to a lack of focus and a lack of execution in those moments and we cannot relax to be able to push through.”
On Hendon Hooker’s progression and what he has seen from him.. “Tell you what, Hendon, a phenomenal quarterback, great competitor. What I see more than anything with Hendon is the moment is not too big. He sits in the pocket and the guy gets beat up, and he runs the ball 15, 20 times a game and he is really the toughest guy on the field. That’s what you want to see from a quarterback, that guys have confidence in him. That when you sit in the pocket and take hits like he does, and you’re still able to complete balls down the field, that’s big time on his part. We got confidence in whoever the quarterback is and obviously Hendon has taken the bull by the horns the last two weeks. (I’ve) been extremely excited or him. Great kid, phenomenal, humble competitor and it shows up on game day.”
On Jaylin Hyatt’s catch for TD… “Extremely happy, as you could see. I was right behind him when he scored and especially with him being from South Carolina, it was big for him. All my guys getting into the end zone, I’m extremely excited to see them guys get yards, get touchdowns and have all the fans happy. It’s a great feeling.”
On moving forward and building chemistry with Hendon Hooker… “It’s just a lot of repetition in practice, doing the same thing over and over again. Going our scheme, just trying to execute the small things, do the little things, making sure we are getting the right dips, running the right routes. It’s just about those things.”
On playing big games against Ole Miss before… “It’s feels pretty much the same, even though it’s different playing, they called it the ‘Egg Bowl’ back at Mississippi State. You know, Ole Miss has a very talented team. Coming into this game it’s just the same mindset. You got to go out there and be ready to do everything you can to come out with the win. Like I said they have a very great team, so it’s going to be a very competitive game.”
On how the defensive line can get more sacks… “Just keep rushing. Keep pushing the pocket, just keep doing what we’re doing to a higher standard. I mean sacks come once in a blue moon, so you just got to get there and keep working.”
On Brandon Turnage’s performance Saturday… “Man, I was so proud of him. Him and Theo Jackson worked very hard this last week on getting him ready and prepared for that game and, man, for him to go out there and show out like that, I was very proud. I mean as a (new) guy in your first start, you know, big game, hostile environment, it’s very impressive when you can go out and have 14 tackles and have a day like he did.”
On if he’s playing his best football right now… “I wouldn’t say I’m playing the best of my career. I feel like I’m playing pretty good, but I feel like the moral of my success is my brothers and what we do. We work as a unit. I mean, one person does their job, everybody does their job.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Looking for its third-straight victory in conference play, the Tennessee football program turned the page to Week 7 and began preparations Monday for No. 13/14 Ole Miss to visit Knoxville this weekend. The Vols and Rebels will square off under the lights on Saturday night, with kickoff from Neyland Stadium set for 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
In his opening comments to the media on Monday, head coach Josh Heupel discussed the team’s review of film from the 45-20 victory over South Carolina and called upon Vol Nation to create an imposing atmosphere when the Rebels come to Rocky Top Saturday night.
“I’m looking forward to an electric atmosphere this weekend,” Heupel said. “We need everybody in orange and white at the stadium. Be there early, be loud and make it a hostile environment for the opponent that’s coming in.”
Saturday’s matchup will feature the Power Five’s two most up-tempo offenses. Ole Miss is averaging 2.89 offensive plays per minute (No. 2 FBS), while UT puts up 2.87 plays per minute (No. 3 FBS). The Rebels and Vols are averaging 1.75 and 1.58 points per minute, respectively, which also ranks second and third in the FBS.
Tennessee’s head coach has familiarity with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who worked under Heupel at UCF as quarterbacks coach in 2018 before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019.
“Jeff does a great job, was our quarterbacks’ coach at UCF when I first got the job there,” Heupel said. “He’s a highly competitive guy, does a great job. You can see offensively that there’s a rhyme and a reason behind everything they’re doing. They’re going to put defenses in a conflict. Up-tempo, similar to what we do … They do a great job of being balanced and creating big plays, too.”
Tickets for Saturday’s clash with the Rebels are on sale now at AllVols.com.
The full transcript of Heupel’s Monday press conference as well as quotes from senior defensive back Alontae Taylor and senior offensive lineman Jerome Carvin can be seen below.
Opening statement… “Good afternoon, everybody. Great day in the building with the guys. Great energy. Obviously, they know the challenge that we have here at the end of the week. It’s an opportunity for us to point out a lot of positives the other day. I thought we played extremely hard, played smart for a good portion of the football game and had some young guys that had their first action on an offensive or defensive unit that took advantage of those opportunities and played extremely well. I’m proud to see that, great learning lesson for all our guys inside of our program. Then there were things that we have an opportunity to correct, too. I think guys took coaching on that side and the coaches took the coaching too. All of us got a chance to get better and we’re going to need to be better as we go into this stretch because Ole Miss is a really good football team. I’m looking forward to an electric atmosphere this weekend. We need everybody in orange and white at the stadium, be there early, be loud and make it a hostile environment for the opponent that’s coming in. A really good football team that we’re facing, in all three phases. Obviously, offensively, their quarterback [Matt Corral] is a special player and has done a tremendous job, this season in particular, but last season as well. He’s a dynamic playmaker and we got to make it tough on him all night long. Got to do a great job of bottling him up as well.”
On his familiarity with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby… “Jeff does a great job. (He) was our quarterbacks’ coach at UCF when I first got the job there. He’s a highly competitive guy, does a great job. You can see offensively that there’s a rhyme and a reason behind everything they’re doing. They’re going to put defenses in a conflict. Up-tempo, similar to what we do and I think we are the top two teams as far as plays per minute in power five football. They do a great job of being balanced and creating big plays too. It starts with the quarterback but they’re really efficient in the run game, him being a part of that as well. He does great job on scrambles too, so even though you want to push the pocket on him, you have to do a great job of bottling him up and they have special playmakers on the outside too.”
On how analytics plays a part in his in-game decisions… “It’s a part of what we do, for sure. As soon as I became a head coach, we started looking into that, used it when I first got there (UCF), and still use it. A lot of it is that gives you parameters, (but) at the end of the day you still go with situational football and what the flow of the game is and where you feel like you’re – offense, defense and special teams – to make the final decision.”
On how similar Ole Miss and Tennessee’s offenses are… “There’s similarities. Everywhere you go your offense is going to be different based on the personnel. What I’ve done at Missouri to UCF to here is different just based on your personnel and year-to-year with your personnel too. The overall structure is similar in that you’re trying to put people in conflict, you’re trying to play with tempo and use that as a weapon against the defense.”
On Juwan Mitchell’s status… “Juwan, of the guys that weren’t able to play last week, he is the one guy that won’t be with us on Saturday. I believe a majority of them have an opportunity to get back and play for us. Juwan will be out for the rest of the season. (He) had shoulder surgery so he will not be with us.”
On the how the pass protection has been picking blitzes this year… “At times we’ve been highly efficient. At times we haven’t. There were a few the other day that (we didn’t pick up). It’s a combination of the offensive line, tight ends at times being in the protection too, and running backs. We’ve been really solid at times with all those positions and at other times we’ve been deficient. We need to be better and can be better.”
On injury statuses for players that missed last week’s game… “Believe that all the guys that were not able to play this past week will have an opportunity to be back with us this week.”
On approaching that next man up mentality… “Guys know they have to step up when they’re in there getting those reps. At times you don’t know, Brandon (Turnage) didn’t know until the very end of the week that he was going to be the guy. It’s who you are and what you’re about every day inside your building and we talked a lot about if you’re not overly excited about what your role was this past week, you got to keep investing. The more you put into it, the more you’re going to get out of it. Brandon’s a great example of being prepared when his opportunity came, and he’s done a great job on special teams. Gets an opportunity last Saturday to start, does a great job in alignment, assignment, technique and communication, playing with great effort, and then doing a great job in tackling in space.”
On how Hendon has progressed as a quarterback… “Confidence, comfort, decision-making, taking care of the football, all that comes with some time on task inside of the offense. Whether it’s check and run-run, check and run-pass, whether it’s RPO [Run-Pass Option] game, whether it’s drop back, better decision making. The more time you have in it, the more comfort you have. The ability to handle and play within himself while we’re playing with tempo, all those things. He’s become a better, more vocal, more ownership on the football field and in the locker with our team as well.”
On if he feels like the linebackers are improving each week… “Yeah, for sure. I feel like we’re doing that at every position too as you go through the season. Good teams, good players get better as you go through the season. It’s why your practice habits are extremely important. You’re going to gain reps during the course of a game too and learn from all those situations you’re in. Like what those guys have done, their ability to recognize formations, communicate, get second and third level and first level all in sync. Done a really good job in some of the pressures. The other day we let one get out at quarterback. We can be better there and pinning the QB in, understanding the situation. But overall, I like what they’ve done.”
On Brandon Turnage being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week and what he saw from him on Saturday… “Congratulations to him. But a young man that since he’s come in the building, he’s had great work habits and has continued to invest and battled a little bit of injury during training camp which set his timetable back maybe just a little bit. Guy’s done a good job on the special teams when given the opportunity, has continued to invest, has great knowledge, ability to play multiple spots. (He) gets his opportunity last Saturday. Smart, competitive and played with great effort and played with great technique. Proud of what he did on Saturday.”
On defensive execution since the beginning of the season… “I think we continue to get better. Fewer missed assignments, we’re better on our communication. I think our ability to be multiple has been important in our success. I think our guys have a better grasp of the technique, in particular in our front seven and we’ve had some young guys have to play, in particular on the back end. Those guys have stepped in and done a really nice job too. I think there’s just as you go through the season, in particular your first season, there’s more comfort and understanding of what you’re doing, ability to go out and perform at a higher level.
On calling plays in anticipation of high scoring game… “I don’t think you want to go into this one just assuming that it’s gonna be a race for points. Every game is going to unfold differently. You’ve got to play situational football and you want to make sure you’re getting the first first down, moving the football, but you know the game will unfold as it kind of unfolds. Each game has its own identity a little bit.”
On the second half struggles in the South Carolina game… “Not taking anything away from them, but a lot of ownership on our side of things that we didn’t do that needs to be better for us to perform at a higher level. Simple things, like really simple things, that we did in the first half that we didn’t do in the second half. I talked about after the game kind of being on that competitive edge and being on the right side of it. There’s a really fine line and we were not on the right side of that. That’s why your focus isn’t where it needs to be and all of a sudden some simple, everyday, ordinary things that you need to be doing weren’t done at the level that we need them to be done at.”
On Theo Jackson and Brandon Turnage’s versatility… “Yeah, they both do have the ability to move to multiple spots and perform at a really high level.”
On why he thought his type of system would have a lot of success… “I’ve been a part of tempo dating back to 2008 at Oklahoma. We played in the Fiesta Bowl and got beat by West Virginia and made a transition that offseason from 2007 to 2008 with a bunch of guys who were returning. So, we’ve played with tempo at different times in the offenses. Some of it just based on your personnel, experience with the quarterback and what you felt like the head coach may have felt like the style of play between the three phases, what he wanted that to be. Tempo is a form of pressure that you can apply on a defense. You know, the last five years in particular we’ve ran at a pretty regular pace, I guess. Offensively, it’s a portion of what we do. It has the ability to stress a defense. Our spacing has the ability to do that too. I think it helps your five guys up front during the course of play too. So, you incorporate that into your game when you can.”
On the challenges Ole Miss presents defensively… “They’re playing with six DB’s, a multiple and what you’re seeing on the back end and then their fits too. They’ve done a great job of creating turnovers as far as fumbles, you know what I mean? They do a great job of ripping it out and punching it. They haven’t given up a ton of big time, over the top plays. Play soft on the backend of it a little bit so they make you snap it again and again. You know for us offensively, we’ve got to be highly efficient. It starts for us in the run game and then got to be able to make plays out on the perimeter.”
On familiarity with Lane Kiffin from his time at FAU… “For sure, you understand that he’s going to be aggressive in certain situations. Playing with four downs quite a bit on both sides of the football field. I think defensively, our players and our coaches certainly need to understand that going into the football game. Does a good job with his personnel finding ways to put them in a position to be successful. He’s done it with a lot of different styles of offense.”
On if he foresaw the team’s older wide receivers taking the next step in their careers this season… “I thought Cedric (Tillman) really continued to grow. I think I spoke to him during spring ball – each third of spring ball, the first five, second five and third five (practices). You saw him make a real jump in who he was as a player. His work ethic, his attention to detail, being in the meeting room and spending extra time has allowed him to really grow and gain confidence and that’s showed in the way that he’s played. When JaVonta (Payton) got here, we felt like he would have an opportunity to help us athletically. His experience inside of the league, we felt like that would allow him to grow pretty quickly. It was how fast he was going to grasp what we were doing offensively. He’s done a really good job there. Velus (Jones Jr.) had a fantastic spring. He has the ability to play outside. We brought JaVonta in and didn’t know where Velus was going to end up (but) we knew that he was going to help us. He got hurt early in training camp and missed really almost all of training camp. Getting him back healthy and then up to speed was something that had to transpire the first couple of weeks. Those guys have played really well. They’ve been good as far as being able to read coverage and settle down in zones, be in the right spot versus a man-to-man for the quarterback. They’ve won one-on-ones. They’ve taken great care of the football at this point when they have the ball in their hands. Velus has done a tremendous job with yards after the catch. We felt like that group had a chance to grow. I still feel like their best football is still here in the back half of the season, but they’ve got a great understanding of what we’re doing right now.”
On if the team having no turnovers through three SEC games is a result of the players’ comfortability within the offensive system… “I think a part of it is decision-making and comfort in what we’re doing. I think part of it is protection. The quarterback’s doing a great job of taking care of the football too. Guys with the ball in their hands have done a great job. It’s something that we practice and rep every single day. It’s how we start our practices once we get done with our walkthrough. They’ve taken ownership of it. They’ve done a great job of taking care of it. It’s going to be critical in this football game. You can’t give away possessions and give them (Ole Miss) short fields.”
On how quickly he turns the page after a game… “Well, I went and recruited for a couple of hours with guys that we had on campus and turned it around before dinner hit. I started watching video and now it’s about how you’re getting better from what you saw on the video. For your players, I think it is important that they enjoy it Saturday night and Sunday. Then, when you come back in the building on Monday it’s time to learn from it and gain that experience and push forward to the next week.”
On if freshman Aaron Willis would be an option to help fill in at the linebacker position… “Aaron’s a guy that’s traveled with us the last couple of weeks. He continues to grow in an understanding of what we’re doing defensively.”
On how he would assess the team’s downfield blocking… “I think at times, it’s been really good. At times it’s been really good. Some of the big runs that you’ve seen, some of the perimeter screens that have gone for chunk plays, that happens because your skill guys out on the perimeter are doing a great job. We can still be more consistent in our habits there, but that’s like a lot of what we’ve seen throughout the course of the first part of the season.”
On the environment for Saturday’s game vs. Ole Miss… “I’m into whatever our fans want to do on Saturday night for this one. You want to play an exciting brand of football. You want to compete really hard and bring fans to the stands. I think we’re doing that right now. Then, you want your fans to enjoy the moment. Saturday night will be a great environment. We need it to be a hostile environment. We need to make it tough for those guys to communicate. Our fans understand that they’re playing with tempo in their communication. We need to make it loud and make it uncomfortable for them.”
On challenges going into Ole Miss… “I feel like the biggest challenge is going to be doing our assignment. This offense is kind of like our offense, we went up against it in the spring and against it in the fall. As far as the high tempo, wide splits with the receivers and Matt Corral is a great quarterback. He makes great decisions. We just need to make sure to contain him and do our assignment and we will be best off.”
On players filling in well with injuries… “We just hold a standard here, making sure you know your assignment. It doesn’t matter if you’re a walk-on, it doesn’t matter if you are on scout team, everyone is supposed to know exactly what they are supposed to do, and on the defense, but really more on the secondary we hold that standard of knowing the job and our responsibility. When guys are on the sideline, the first-string guys come off the field, second string goes on, we are asking the third strings, ‘what is your responsibility’ as the play is going on. Just making sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do so that when their number is called, they aren’t going out there wondering what their job is. They know exactly what to do.”
On seeing the hard work pay off… “I wouldn’t say it gives me more juice, I would just say it’s kind of one of those things like, ‘I told you so.’ Talking to myself, I’ve always felt like we have had the right defense, the right guys (on defense) – it is just putting it all together, and if you notice when our defense is clicking, we are clicking. When we are flying around, we’re all flying around. Throughout this season if you have noticed, we have been playing fast. We’ve been playing physical and that is one thing I have always known we can do as a defense, it’s just about seeing it. Now that I see it, it’s like wow, I knew we could do this the whole time.”
On celebrating scoring touchdowns… “Man, it’s a lot of fun, especially going at a high tempo, a high pace offense, you get a little tired. So, whenever we get in the end zone, you know, I’m happy. I was just excited for our playmakers, excited for our skill guys, just getting in the end zone because they deserve it. They work hard during the week, and so just going in there and go help celebrate with them. It’s great.”
On staying mentally sharp for four quarters… “Coming out (of halftime), we kind of dragged out of it in a sense. We have to have the same mental focus and locked in as we did in the first quarter. And so, I feel like that’s probably the main thing. It happened the third quarter, we ended up stringing some drives together and end up scoring to put it away (in the fourth quarter), but we definitely have to start early out of halftime.”
On the unique atmosphere Saturday with the black jerseys and former players being back… “I mean it was great. Definitely switched it up from our traditional uniforms. It was good for the fans, good for us as players, good for recruits as well. Having a legend there was amazing. Having Al Wilson there, he talked to us after the game, and any time he talks, man it’s something special. He makes you want to run through a brick wall so he’s great. I mean he’s a pumped-up dude, looks like he could still play football now. We were definitely pumped up for this game, any time it’s an SEC east opponent man, we’re pumped-up, we’re ready to roll, so it was a big game for us and glad we got the dub.”
FORT WORTH, Texas – Hendon Hooker was named to the Davey O’Brien Award’s Great 8 list this week after accounting for 291 yards and leading the Vols to a 45-20 win over South Carolina.
The award marks Hooker’s second consecutive week earning recognition after being named a Manning Award Star of the Week by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The redshirt senior accounted for 291 yards and four touchdowns in Tennessee’s return to Rocky Top. He matched his totals from a week ago, throwing for 225 yards and three scores while adding 66 rushing yards and another touchdown on the ground.
Vols QB Hendon Hooker / Credit: UT Athletics
Hooker leads the SEC in QB Rating (185.89) and is the first quarterback to throw multiple touchdowns in five consecutive games since Tyler Bray had six in 2012. The North Carolina native has thrown 10 touchdowns without an interception since making his first start for the Vols against Tennessee Tech.
Against South Carolina the offense rolled to 472 yards of total offense and six touchdowns. Hooker has recorded at least three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in three games this season, the first Volunteer QB to do so since Joshua Dobbs had five such games in 2016.
After being named to a Great 8 list during the season, Hooker has been added to the Davey O’Brien Award Midseason Watch List and becomes eligible for consideration for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.
The Vols are back in Neyland Stadium for a showdown with No. 13 Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 23rd, on SEC Network. Tickets for the game are on sale no at AllVols.com.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference office announced Monday that Tennessee redshirt sophomore defensive back Brandon Turnage has been named SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
Turnage, making his first career start in place of Tennessee’s leading tackler Theo Jackson, finished with a game-high and career-best 14 tackles and two tackles for loss in Tennessee’s 45-20 win over South Carolina. Turnage led a Vol defensive effort that limited the Gamecocks to 13 offensive points while starting at the STAR position.
Vols DB Brandon Turnage / Credit: UT Athletics
An Oxford, Mississippi, native, Turnage is the first Vol to earn SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors since Bryce Thompson claimed the award on Dec. 14, 2020.
Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 SEC) will look for its third straight conference victory when the No. 13/14 Ole Miss Rebels (4-1, 1-1 SEC) visit Knoxville Saturday night. Kickoff from Neyland Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Tickets for the contest are on sale now at AllVols.com.
Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, & Geoff Sprung of Old Dominion stopped by the Today Show this week to talk about their new album Time, Tequila & Therapy.
After the conversation, the guys shared a performance video of “I Was On A Boat That Day” – watch it here…
Brett Young stopped by Live With Kelly And Ryan this week to perform his new single “You Didn’t” and talk about his holiday album, Brett Young & Friends Sing The Christmas Classics.
Check out Brett’s performance from the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville – which Brett joked that while he’s sang in there many times, he never did it that early…
After his performance Brett chatted with Kelly and Ryan – watch the conversation here.
Happy anniversary to Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren Akins. The happy couple was married on October 12th 2012.
To celebrate Thomas shared this message to Lauren on social media, “This picture was taken in a field in Tennessee in 2011. I knew from this one night that we were gonna get married and grow old together. Here we are 9 years into marriage. I’m thankful to God everyday that You said yes to marrying me! What a wild ride of just being us two for 5 years, to now having 3 beautiful baby girls, to almost welcoming our 4th baby! What is life?!?! I love you so much Lauren Akins and I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years has to hold for us.”
Earlier this month Thomas also shared this little bit of marital advice “When you start having kids you never remember to take pictures together. I love you Lauren Akins”
Lauren had a message for Thomas as well, “9 years ago today babe…so grateful for this life with you and our babies…thank you for loving me so well over the years of us.”
Did you catch Disney Week: Heroes Night on week 4 of Dancing With The Stars?
While Jimmie Allen is already having a blast with his time on the dancing competition show, this week, that excitement was turned up several notches for the self-admitted Disney fan as this is a Disney themed week on Dancing With The Stars.
Jimmie and his partner, Emma Slater, performed the Paso Doble to “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” from Mulan as sung by Donny Osmond.
Out of a possible 40 points from the judges, Jimmie and Emma scored a 30 (8,7,8,7) plus they were awarded 2 bonus points for winning the “Mickey Dance Challenge” – which was a pre-determined set of moves that they had to include in their dance.
There was no elimination vote Monday, as it was the first night of Dancing With The Stars this week. Tuesday night Disney Week continues with Villains Night. Jimmie and Emma are scheduled to tackle a Jazz dance to Billie Eilish‘s “Bad Guy” inspired by the Disney movie Peter Pan.
Jimmie got good news on his music career too, as his song with Brad Paisley, “Freedom Was A Highway,” moved into the Top-15 (and still climbing) on the country music airplay chart.
Congrats to Lee Brice as his song “Memory I Don’t Mess With” moves into the number-one spot on the country music airplay chart!
This is the third number-one song from Lee’s album, Hey World. “One Of Them Girls” and “I Hope You’re Happy Now” (with Carly Pearce) also topped the song chart.
After hearing the news, Lee shared this message, “Y’all… We have the #1 song on country radio!! A huge THANK YOU to country radio, my team, and every single one of you who called your local radio station to request “Memory I Don’t Mess With.” I cannot thank y’all enough for showing this song so much love! I’m forever grateful.”
Talking about “Memory I Don’t Mess With” Lee Brice says, “I tell ya, this song is one of my favorites on this record. This one’s very me. If I had to kind of go down one lane and only write one type of song the rest of my life…this is would be the lane it would be down.”
