KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee women’s basketball team has added a road game at Indiana to its schedule this week.

The Lady Vols (3-1) and 15th-ranked Hoosiers (2-1) will meet in a 4 p.m. ET contest on Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The game will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus.

UT and Indiana have played only one time previously, meeting in the Communiplex Classic in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Nov. 27, 1987. No. 1/3 Tennessee cruised to a 91-52 victory on that occasion. The Lady Vols carry a 79-14 all-time record vs. current members of the Big Ten Conference into Thursday’s contest.

Indiana is directed by head coach Teri Moren, who is 129-75 in her seventh season with the Hoosiers and has guided them to five-straight 20-win campaigns. LVFL Briana (Bass) Schomaeker is the director of player development for IU.

The Hoosiers, who have been picked for the first time ever to win the Big Ten, return four starters and nine total letterwinners from a 2019-20 squad that posted a 24-8 overall record and 13-5 league mark to place fourth. The squad is led by a trio of players scoring in double figures, including 6-3 sophomore forward McKenzie Holmes (18.3 ppg.), 6-0 junior guard Grace Berger (17.0 ppg.) and 5-11 senior guard Ali Patberg (12.7 ppg.).Berger and Patberg were selected by the coaches and media to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.

IU STATEMENT ABOUT FAN ATTENDANCE
Consistent with IU Athletics’ ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, coaches, staff, spectators and the local community, all men’s and women’s basketball games scheduled at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall will be played without fans indefinitely. IU Athletics’ decision is in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and is consistent with what has transpired on all Big Ten campuses during the 2020 football season.

IU Athletics will continue to work with local and state health officials, the Big Ten and campus leadership to determine if and when fans will be permitted to attend men’s and women’s basketball games at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall during the 2020-21 season.

-UT Athletics

Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes sat down with the media over Zoom on Monday afternoon to recap the Vols opening contests against Cincinnati and Colorado and to preview the next few weeks of action.

On how important the next four games are, to establish a rotation:
“I think it’s important, and obviously we’re just hoping we can get them in. I do think the more we can play right now—before the last game we talked about how long it seemed like we had practiced, how long it had been since we played, so it’s going to be important. These minutes are going to be very important, and the guys have to understand that it’s about us getting better and having great respect for our opponent. But those minutes aren’t going to be given to anybody. They’re going to be minutes that are earned starting in practice. That’s how we’re going to move forward.”

On what attributes are valuable in a sixth man:
“Once you go to that player, they elevate everything. They bring an energy to the court. You know they’re going to make something happen, whether it’s offensively or defensively. Versatility, and again often times that’s the guy that’s the quote un quote sixth man. He’s a guy that at the end of the game is going to finish the game for you as a starter because of the fact that he can do so many things and make so many things happen for you.”

On what makes Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson good sixth and seventh men:
“Again, we’ve talked about it, and we don’t care who starts. I think our lineup will change, because we’re going to keep basing it on performance. We really are still trying to figure out how to get the rotation the right way where everybody can be the most effective. When you look at what’s going on with the minutes, we’re more concerned about that. Guys keeping it between 26 to 28 minutes. To answer your question about those two guys, once they figure out everything—do they know everything about our scheme offensively and defensively? They don’t, and that’s something that they’re going to have to do. I mentioned that they have been hurt more so by the stops and starts than anybody. It’s not that we’re doing a whole lot of different things than we’ve done in the past. It’s something that most of the older guys have seen so they have great recall with it. The younger guys are still learning the base package. I do think their minutes will go up. I don’t think there is any question about that. I can see them starting at one point. It can be both of them or one of them. What we’ve harped on with these guys is just do your job when you go in the game. Players, I’ve always believed they will determine who’s going to be there. Who’s going to play the minutes? They’re going to determine who’s going to finish the game, and I think these next couple of games before we get into the conference are critical to these guys to understand, regardless of who we’re playing, it’s about us and each and everybody doing their job so we can get to the point where we know what we’re going to get night in and night out.”

On what he has liked the most about his team after the first two games:
“I think our defensive effort has been good. We’ve played two really good basketball teams who do some really good schemes, and they’ve got players. We know, because it’s no different than what we’ve done in the past. We play defense initially the way we should, and we lock in with our scouting report. We’re going to force teams into driving the ball. Then, we’ve got to be able to guard whoever’s in front of us. You stay in front of them. We can’t let them get on our hips and get to the rim. Through the first two games, I think we’ve done a good job for the most part doing what we’ve asked them to do. We talked a lot after the Colorado game, because Colorado started driving the ball. We said Cincinnati is going to drive it and they did. Offensively, we want to get fouled. We are a strong team. We are an athletic team. We’ve got a nice shooting percentage, but in-game I still think that some of those guys need to see it go through the basket a couple of times, and they’ll settle down that way. On nights when we don’t shoot the ball well, we proved the other night that we can still win a basketball game against a high-level team by doing it different ways. When it all comes together is what we’re working for, but if not, we still want to be a better rebounding team and a consistent rebounding team. We rebounded the ball great the other night. That has got to be a major emphasis. Every single night we’ve got to rebound the ball, we’ve got to take care of the ball. I mentioned the other night; the Colorado turnovers didn’t hurt us. The other night, our turnovers hurt us. Those are the plays that we have to eliminate. So, we need to take care of the ball better. It’s going to help us with our defense. Just take good shots. Take the shots that we practice, and I’m confident and I want them to shoot them whether they’re going in or not.”

On how important these next two weeks are for the guys getting some confidence behind Yves Pons and John Fulkerson:
“These guys want playing time. They want to play, and every day in practice the get a chance to do that. The games are important, but the bottom line is they aren’t going to get in the game if they don’t get it done in practice. I’ve told them that over and over. If they want a chance to have more rope, they have to go in a game and do what we see them do in practice. The word is consistency. We want consistency. One of the last things I tell them every day, every game, is we do what we practice. Simply do what we practice, and we’re going to be okay. If guys don’t practice well, they’re probably not going to get a chance to play as much as they would like to play. Over these next couple of games, I’d like to get guys minutes, but again those minutes aren’t going to be given out. They’re going to be earned. If a guy goes into a game and right off the bat, he makes a mistake that we see him make over and over again in practice, he won’t get much of a chance, because he hasn’t earned it. We don’t want anybody to think they have a sense of entitlement. Our team works hard. They play hard. I think they like direct, honest answers. They want to know where they stand, and the way I’m talking to you is the way I’m going to talk to them. If they want those minutes, they’re going to have to earn them.”

On Davonte Gaines and what he must do in practice to earn minutes in game
“Going back to the word consistency. You know? What are we going to get? Does he understand the scheme with everything we do? Shooting the ball. We just know what they’re going to do, and it goes back to the consistency. For the guys that you haven’t seen play, that’s the word that I would put with all of them, consistency. The guys that are playing have shown more of a consistent type performance day-in and day-out where we have an idea and that’s not to say they’re perfect. Guys that probably get their names called too much in practice for not doing the right thing. There’s not a guy this team that we don’t believe in that we don’t think can get better. Some guys want to be stubborn. Some guys want to keep fighting it and if they keep fighting the system, then they won’t play. I mean it’s plain and simple. We have a proven formula here that we believe in and the quicker guys buy into it, the quicker they will play.”

On where Santiago Vescovi has made strides
“I think the big thing with him is that he’s deceptive. I think when you look at certain guys on the team, they get down and guard that’s impressive but he’s a very deceptive and very intelligent defender. Same thing offensively. Terrific with pass fakes, ball fakes. Quicker than you think. He understands angles better than most guys, but defensively again, he understands the mental preparation, he understands what he needs to do. He does his work early. Very clever in the gaps. He’s in that gap and you think he’s kind of just there but he’s playing, he’s active in the gaps most of the time. Offensively he has a solid idea of what we are trying to get done. What is good about him, I think as time goes on, it’s going to give him a chance to play off the ball too which I think will help him because he’s so good with moving without the ball. It’s more that we can get guys settled in, handling the ball where you can get him away from it is going to help him add to his game.”

On Yves Pons and his production in the first few games of the season
“Probably pressing a little bit because you know again Yves is one of those guys. He’s a perfectionist. he puts so much time into the game and he works at it. I don’t think he can work any harder to be quite frank. He’ll make it, he’ll get it going. You guys have watched him over time. He rebounded well the first game. I didn’t think he had the same mindset rebounding in the second game as he needs to. Maybe that’s pressing a little bit, because he went one-for-nine in the first game, but he’ll be fine. We don’t worry about Yves because he’s going to give you everything he’s got and there’s not a better fix it guy in the country. I mean it’s things that he cleans up and the things that he does defensively a lot of people don’t notice that are really valuable to our team.”

On Tennessee’s fast break offense
“Well our fast break offense has been good. It can be a whole lot better. It’s important because we want to be an attack team. We want play really good defense and get out and run. Like any team in the country we want to get as many opportunities in the open court as we can. Try to have a place of advantage basketball where we got numbers based on the other team and we’ve been ok with it. We’ve shown some good signs, but there’s so much more that comes with our transition game than we’ve shown. Again, it’s a matter of getting everybody to understand it, but we wanted to advance it as quick as we can. We love to get it down the floor as quick as we can but we want to play out of it. If not, we want to be able to flow where it looks like they were. We just don’t want to do a lot of standing around. The last two games we’ve had to go up against zone more than we probably thought. Certainly, in the first game. We’ve spent some time with it today because Appalachian State will do a little three-quarter court 1-2-2 press back to a 2-3 zone. We expect to see that and we just got to continue to work our zone offense but the fast break is so important to us. Teams are going to work to take it away from us. There’s no doubt about it but we still think we can get it and we certainly have to fight to get it and will continue to do that.”

On shot selections against a zone defense and thoughts on EJ Anosike
“Well, our first game we had open shots against Colorado in the zone. Not exactly in the spot of the floor you know like. Instead of 15-foot jumpers, we want that 8-to-10-foot jumper against the middle of the zone, but they weren’t bad shots. They were shots that guys practice. My biggest problem is guys turning down good shots and then having to settle for one that’s not as good. That’s what we’ve talked about. When we’re open, we want to shoot the ball. Again, I think that’s maybe settling here as the season gets started. E.J. is going to bring the energy. He’s a guy that’s terrific coming off the bench. You know he’s going to rebound; you know he’s going to work hard; he’s going to work as hard as he can on both ends to do things the right way. He’s going to try to make the right plays on the defensive end and he had a couple mistakes on rotations the other night defensively, but it was all the cause of his great effort. Trying to help his teammate, try to make the next play. Offensively, I think he’ll continue to figure how to play at a different level now with the taller players, bigger players and he probably is used to playing against all along. He’s going to keep getting better and better just because he works so hard at it and a guy that when he comes in the game, we have a pretty good idea what we know he’s going to bring to us.”

On Tennessee becoming a top ranked team in the country
“Well I don’t know that rankings matter right now, I don’t. We’ve played two games and other teams have played five, six games. It’s not something we talk about. We talk about getting better. All I will say about rankings is when you have a number in front of your name, it becomes an even bigger game for your opponent because they have a chance to build a resume with it. With that said, our whole philosophy is we’re going to talk about getting better and what do we need to do to improve in every area, every player gets better. Notoriety for our program. Is great notoriety for our players. I think they understand if you’re going to be that kind of opponent you better be ready to bring it every single night and that’s what helps you when you do have that ranking, because if you aren’t tough enough mentally and physically to be ready to play every single night, you’re going to get beat. It’s plain and simple, whether you’ve got a number there or not, but I think the great thing about being a ranked team is to see how guys handle it when you know people are going to give you their best shots night-in and night-out.”

On what E.J. Anosike needs to adjust on offense when going against the better competition:
“One, he needs to slow down a little bit and second, he needs to go back to fighting for his space on the floor to get it where he wants it. He’s going to have to play above the rim. I’m sure he’s used to throwing his body into people, knocking them off and then finishing. He can finish, he’s just got to adjust. It’s a more physical game—and he’s not afraid to be physical, don’t get me wrong, but he’s being guarded in ways he’s never been guarded before night in and night out. I would say for all of those post guys with the exception of Fulky probably, is all about doing your work early. Knowing where you want the ball on the floor. Getting your feet organized and ready to play when you catch the ball as opposed to just standing there wondering what’s next. I think for E.J., Olivier, Uros and all of those guys need to understand that if they get themselves ready to play, especially with the guard penetration we’re getting right now, they’re going to get to do a lot of different things with the ball, because the ball will be passed to them. But, they’ve got to get their feet organized and those three guys are still learning how to do that at a consistent level.”

On if the veterans struggle to find their roles much like the new guys do:
“Can it be tough? Yeah, but I think all of us early in the year are trying to figure it out. But, when you have a group of unselfish guys like we have—I think our guys really have great respect for the work we put into our program. I think they understand that there’s no one that doesn’t work hard. Are their guys that work harder? Absolutely. Are there guys that put more time in than others? Absolutely. For the older guys, the more versatile they become, the more effective they become for you. I’ve watched Josiah now where he’s gotten to the point where he can play pretty much every position on the floor now, which is going to help him in so many different ways. Is he going to play a bit of a different role? He’s going to do a little bit of everything. Last year he didn’t have the advantage of having someone coming in when things weren’t going well. For the most part, he had to get those lessons taught the hard way. I don’t think we have a team that we have to do that with this year, but I do know that he’s going to buy into whatever we need him to do. We know E.J. will as well. We need to get Olivier going to the point—we know how good he can be and he hasn’t figured it out yet. The last two days he’s been better, but a big part of it is that when you’re coaching guys and you ask about roles and things like that, it all goes back to buying into the program and what you have to do. When Grant Williams started out, we went through all of the same things with him until he realized that he had to do certain things a certain way and once you get a few things down, then you can build on it. It still goes back to that word consistency. No matter what role guys are playing in, they have to show consistency to where they understand what we’re trying to accomplish as a team every possession. We have a saying that ‘Every possession matters.’ The guys that play the most minutes understand that simple fact that every possession matters both offensively and defensively.”

On how he can evaluate Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer:
“I think sometimes as coaches we can overthink it. Going into it, Colorado is a tough opener. We knew it was going to be a high level, high stakes game. You don’t want to put those guys in a position where they don’t have success early, because you don’t want to lose them for a week with them keeping it in the back of their minds. I think what we learned about those guys is that they have short memories which is a good thing and the second thing is just the second game. You have to look at me for this, but I think we should have subbed earlier. I knew going into the game the other night against Cincinnati that we were going to get two or three guys in before the 16-minute mark. I think you’ll see that pattern continuing. Unless I change my mind from now until tomorrow we’ll start the same way, but that doesn’t mean that the game after that we won’t start another way and the game after that another way. We’re still searching through some of these things. Again, that was my decision during the first game not necessarily to baby them, but just to try to make sure—we didn’t want to get them on the floor together. We wanted to get some young guys with older guys. Then, the other night we just said, ‘Hey, we’ll put two guys out there at one time and go.’ And try to get three guys in before the 16-minute mark. Normally that means Fulkerson will come out. We’re going to try to use the timeouts. We’ll get him out at the 16:30 or 16:45 mark and let him use that and the timeout and get him back in and work him down like that. The whole thing is so we can be the freshest and most competitive team we can be in the last six minutes of the game. We don’t want to be tired. We want to be running full speed then. We want to be guarding at a high level then and if we want to do that, we need to manage the minutes in the first half and the first part of the second half.”

On what he’s seen from Appalachian State during scouting:
“They had a really nice win the other night at Charlotte. They’re a really well coached team. I think predominately want to play man-to-man. Even though I mentioned that they have a little three-quarter court press that goes back to a 2-3 zone, which I could see that coming at some point in time. We worked on it today. I think we’ll be better against the zone. It’s also not like we’ve been bad against them. We’ve won two games against two teams that do a pretty good job with their zone defense. I love their offense. They open it up. Sometimes they’ll have a five-out type of spread with a motion offense where they like to play off the elbows. They do some nice scissor actions where they can do some good things. They have two guards that can shoot the ball really well and they’ve got a guy they think they can go through like we do with Fulkerson. Again, they’re a really well coached team and like I said they’re coming off a really nice road win at Charlotte.”

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee returns to Neyland Stadium for its final game of the regular season against No. 5/6/5 Texas A&M (7-1, SEC) on Saturday at noon ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. The Volunteers (3-6, SEC) are coming off of a decisive 42-17 win at Vanderbilt, to face their fourth top-5 and fifth top-25 opponent of the season. UT will also recognize its seniors with a ceremony before kickoff.

Head coach Jeremy Pruitt recapped the Vols noteworthy victory in Nashville before previewing their matchup with the Aggies with media members during his Monday press conference.

Below are quotes from Pruitt’s press conference:

Opening Statement…
“Going back and looking at the Vanderbilt game, I thought offensively we created some explosive plays that really helped during the game. Did a pretty good job protecting the quarterback early in the game. I felt like as the game went, there’s a couple of plays there that we didn’t do as good a job. We had a turnover there in the red area and had a turnover there about the 45-yard line. We really got to eliminate those plays. Both of them came from protection, not busts or anything, just got to be better technically there and get the ball out of our hand. I thought we ran the ball well. I liked the way that Ty (Chandler) and Eric (Gray) and Jabari (Small) and Dee Beckwith all ran the football. The wide receivers created explosive plays there. I thought Cooper Mays, again, continues to improve up front. Jerome Carvin played really well. Glad to see that he’s back in there competing and getting a chance to play.

“Defensively, first of all, we were much better on third down. It’s far and away the best game that we’ve played on third down in a long time. The one drive in the first half, we let them convert a third-and-10. They checked and we probably should have checked there to a different call, we didn’t, and they get a first down and then converted a couple. Then just didn’t get the middle of the field – we got it but didn’t get it properly there – and gave up a touchdown. And then they made a good throw and catch there on Alontae (Taylor) and end up getting a field goal. I thought we affected the quarterback, obviously scored on defense. Bryce Thompson, I think, is the Co-Defensive Player of the Week this week in the SEC. He only played on third down, but he made a big play in the game that kind of got us jumpstarted there on defense.

“If you look at special teams, Paxton Brooks really continues to execute very well in the punting game. He’s done a nice job on kickoffs all year. I thought Toby (Wilson) came in and did a really nice job. We just asked him to kick PATs, but he did a nice job. One thing to me, just disappointing in the game, it’s probably the first game that we’ve had penalties. I think we had nine penalties and they were during the play. Got to make good judgement and finish people off the right way. Thought it was a good effort by our guys. I thought our coaching staff did a nice job getting the guys prepared. Our kids continue to play hard.

“Looking at this week, it’s the last game for this season in Neyland. We have a lot of seniors that this will be their last time. And getting an opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the country. Texas A&M is having a really good year. They’ve got an experienced team, experienced quarterback that’s playing really well. Their offensive line is one of the best in the conference. They’re doing a really nice job protecting the quarterback, creating explosive plays. They’ve been very efficient on third down. I think they’ve ran the ball as well as anybody in our league, both really good running backs. Defensively, playing really good team defense. Keeping the ball in front of them, not giving up a lot of explosive plays, creating negative plays. (They) give you a lot of different looks and then they’ve got really good weapons on special teams. We’ve got a great opportunity on Saturday. I know our guys are looking forward to it. It’s kind of like bowl practice this week. We don’t have school, so we’ll get a lot of opportunity to get prepared for this game and I know our guys are excited about it.”

On how Senior Day will be handled since players can return next season if they choose…
“I think there may be some guys that may participate and some guys that may not. I don’t know. We’ve really been focused on improving as a team every single day. When you talk about this kind of unique circumstance we have with guys getting their eligibility back where they can play another year, we’ve kind of treated it like it would be a junior that may be thinking about declaring for the draft. We’re just going to wait until the season is over with, so we’ll have some guys participate and some won’t. It’ll be their choice.”

On playing two quarterbacks…
“Well, I really think you would rather play one, but we got two guys right now that I think are really competing hard in practice in J.T. (Shrout) and Harrison (Bailey). We are giving them the same amount of reps and I’ve told both of them that we will look at these last three games and give them the same opportunity. I mentioned before we played Florida that J.T.’s shoulder was bothering him a little bit, which he was a game-day decision that day, but he felt like he could play so we got him in there and he played really well. I thought he played well on Saturday too, a couple of drops and he obviously made one mistake there that we need to eliminate, but I thought both guys operated and played pretty well. They are going to continue to improve and we are going to play both of them. I think the way this season is, it is a great opportunity to know what we got. Because of the circumstances early in the season, and not having a lot of scrimmage time, this is a great opportunity for these guys to go out there and get live-game action and see how they are going to do. I think both of them continue to improve every week.”

On splitting reps between quarterbacks in practice…
“You’re always going to practice more than one quarterback. You’re always going to practice two and the guy who gets left out is the third guy most of the time. First and second team reps are probably, usually pretty equally split. These guys are going with each group so they’re getting the same opportunities.”

On if J.T. Shrout and Harrison Bailey feed off each other…
I think both of them are really good teammates and throw Brian (Maurer) in there. With Brian, we’ve tried to create a little bit of a role with him. He made a really good run down there and kind of turned his ankle a little bit. Just with the quarterback room on Saturday, I thought Jarrett (Guarantano) did a heck of a job on the sideline with Coach (Chris) Weinke and helping those guys. I really like the way that room is. These younger guys are getting opportunities and they are trying to make the most of it. They probably make mistakes that a lot of people don’t see, but they are learning from it. They are gaining confidence. The game is going to slow down for them the more they play. It’s good to see both of these guys go out there and improve each week.”

On Gus Malzahn and three coaching vacancies in the SEC during a pandemic…
“Absolutely, it is unusual circumstances and nobody knows the circumstances around each individual job. I got a lot of respect for all three of those men. Coaching against them, getting to know them coaching in this league, I think they have done a phenomenal job at the places that they have been. It’s really the rough part on this when there is a coaching change. Whether it is somebody leaving or somebody getting another opportunity, the people who suffer are the student-athletes. You build the relationships, you recruit them to come to a certain school. I’ve had it both ways – I’ve been fired before and I’ve had opportunities before. The worst part of it is, in either scenario, the people that you have created these relationships with and built a bond with to come to a certain school – that’s the people that suffer in all this.”

On his assessment of some of the younger players who played in the win over Vanderbilt…
“Going through the defense there, Omari Thomas continues to play more and more snaps each game. Tyler Baron has played a lot throughout the season and continues to improve. Tamarion McDonald is a guy that we’ve started playing in the last couple of weeks. He didn’t have hardly any practice leading up, until about halfway through the season. I think those guys have done a really nice job. Keshawn (Key) Lawrence played a little more on Saturday. All of these guys and more have played on special teams, including Doneiko Slaughter. Morven Joseph continues to show flashes. He had a couple of quarterback pressures on Saturday. Offensively, Cooper (Mays) has played the last two weeks at center some. The wide receivers (have played well), whether it’s Jimmy Calloway, Jalin Hyatt or Jimmy Holiday. Jimmy Holiday couldn’t make the trip Saturday. These guys continue to improve, including Malachi Wideman. I thought on Saturday for the first time, he’s played the last two weeks on special teams, but Dee Beckwith got to touch the football. You kind of see a little bit about what kind of abilities he has. I know it’s late in the game, but still. Jabari Small is a guy that I’ve felt like all year has made people miss and done a really nice job. There’s many, many more in this signing that have potential to be really good football players. I’m kind of excited about the offseason, when we get started on that, or maybe if we do go to a bowl game – the opportunity to work some of these guys and get back to having these extra periods, opportunity periods. We really have a young football team. I think there are 50 freshmen and sophomores on our team. Most of them have just experienced two days of spring ball. There’s a lot of development and a lot of growth for these guys. They’re going to have an opportunity to really improve this offseason.”

On Cade Mays’ status…
“I think Cade will be day-to-day.”

On the trick play run in Saturday’s win…
“I like to put in one or two plays a week. I actually put in two this week and neither one of them worked. We ran a reverse to Kenney Solomon. Kenney Solomon is probably the fastest guy on our team. Probably, if we had gotten one block out there, we would have gained nine or 10 yards, but we only gained one, I think. Then, we put a reverse pass in there, getting in wildcat. We’ve jumped in wildcat a couple of times and we’ve never thrown a pass out of it. They just happened to bring field pressure, so we didn’t get it off and took a sack, so that was my fault because I put the play in and I told Jim (Chaney) to run it at that time. I thought it might work, but it didn’t.”

On the decision to start Tamarion McDonald instead of Jaylen McCollough…
“Jaylen (McCollough) played his best game of the year. Jaylen has really been fighting a foot injury since the Missouri game. He missed all of fall camp and got released the day we played South Carolina. He’s just been battling this all year, but it was good to see him play well. Tamarion (McDonald) has been playing some on third down during the games in our Dime Rabbit package and playing on special teams. We really like the combination of both of those guys and I feel like they both have a chance to be really good players for us.”

On if playing a Texas A&M team that is vying for a spot if the College Football Playoff impacts the team psychologically…
“I don’t think it’s going to affect us psychologically. I think we’re playing against a good football team that’s very well coached. It’s a great opportunity. We played against a bunch of good football teams this year. It’s the last game in Neyland. I know our kids are excited about playing at home again. So, it’s a great opportunity.”

On Texas A&M’s run game…
“Well to start, their quarterback (Kellen Mond) is very athletic. He’s probably not ran it as much this year as I’ve seen him run it in the past, but he’s a guy that is obviously a threat with his feet. They’ve got really big backs. They don’t go down easy, they’re big up front. They have a lot of experience. They have one of the best tight ends in the conference, whether it’s playing in the run game or the throw game – he’s (Jalen Wydermyer) a really talented young man. They play multiple backs. They wear on teams as the game goes and they’re committed to being a physical football team.”

On freshman Dee Beckwith’s potential role for Tennessee moving forward…
“I like him at running back. When we recruited him, we didn’t know exactly where we’d play him, we just knew we wanted him on our team. This guy has a lot of versatility. We started him off at wide receiver, but when he got here, he was a lot bigger than he was when we signed him. He’s a guy that continues to grow and develop, but he’s really good with the ball in his hands. So, putting him back there at running back and trying to create a home for him has been really good for him. I know Coach (Jay) Graham is excited about him and some of the other younger backs and so I feel like that’s where he’ll be.”

On moving DB Bryce Thompson to different areas of the secondary…
“I think he’s a guy that can play multiple spots. You would like to sign guys that can play multiple spots. It’s easier to create depth and keep your best players on the field and so Bryce is a guy that can do that.”

-UT Athletics