WKU Head Coach Bobby Petrino On The Tennessee Volunteers

Aug 31, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Western Kentucky Hilltoppers head coach Bobby Petrino on the sidelines during the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats at LP Field. Western Kentucky won 35-26. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Volunteers are set to take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Saturday.

The Hilltoppers are led by Bobby Petrino. The former Louisville and Arkansas (and briefly Atlanta Falcons) head coach is in his first year with Western Kentucky.

On Monday Petrino spoke about his team’s upcoming game against the Vols.

Here’s what he had to say.

(On Tennessee’s roster) I know a lot of the players, either in recruiting, or going against them. They’re a big physical offensive front. Rajion Neal is a guy I’ve known since high school, he’s a very very good runner, he has good instincts and good vision. A.J. Johnson, the middle linebacker, is a guy that’s a really good football player that really understands the game. There’s some of them that are very familiar and some of them that are new.

(On Daniel McCullers) He’s a big guy, he’s a big physical guy that moves around pretty well. We have to do a good job with our pad level, finishing and playing hard. Those guys we went against last week were big physical guys, but not as tall.

(On Tennessee’s offensive line) They’re good and they know what they’re doing running the ball. We’ve got to do a good job of making sure we’re where we’re suppose to be in our gap responsibility.

(On matching up with Tennessee) We get to watch them on video from last week’s game. They’re very very good, very sound in their technique, very well coached. We’re going to see how match up with them when we get going against them.

(On Tennessee’s new coaching staff) We’ve studied Cincinnati all winter and summer. We’ve got a good idea of what their package is. They’re good coaches, they really understand what they want to do. Their guys at Cincinnati played extremely well and extremely hard.

(On the similarities between WKU and UT offenses) Their’s has a lot of similarities, like a lot of offenses, but he (Butch Jones) knows what he’s doing, he’s been doing it for a long time.

For more on the Vols’ upcoming game against Western Kentucky, make sure to follow us on Twitter @AllforTennessee