Butch Jones Not Talking Injuries; Should He Be?
By Zach Ragan
After an erroneous report about the severity of junior wide receiver Marquez North’s “leg” injury surfaced last week, it appears that Butch Jones has decided to no longer talk about injuries to the media.
True freshman defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie wore a green jersey (reserved for injured players or precautionary purposes) in practice on Thursday and Jones was of course asked why McKenzie was in the green jersey. The Tennessee head coach didn’t give up any information.
"Jones: “We are not going to talk about injuries. That is part of the policy we have put in place. They are out there practicing, that is all I care. Sometimes, it is precautionary.”"
It’s not unusual at all for coaches to take this approach. In fact, Jones has actually been quite forthcoming about injuries in the past, compared to some others coaches.
He’s also, however, displayed a willingness to evolve his policies with the media during his time in Knoxville (such as now letting freshmen speak to the media).
It’s probably best for Jones, and the program, (but not for the media or fans) to take the Bill Belichick approach and be very vague about injuries.
Jones will still disclose season-ending injuries, as he did with Austin Sanders, but I wouldn’t expect him to start talking about nagging day-to-day injuries any time soon.
And to be honest, there’s really no reason to address them. From a competitive standpoint, there’s no point in disclosing a nagging injury to your opponent.
If Marquez North is being slowed by a bum ankle, but he still plans to play, there is no reason for Jones to talk about that. Perhaps he’ll be used as more of a decoy in Tennessee’s game that week. If Jones talks about the injury that isn’t significant enough to keep North (or whoever) out of the game, but could slow him down, why would you want to tip your hand?
Jones is doing the right thing here. It might not be popular with fans and media, but if your main focus is watching Tennessee win, you’ll be on board with this policy.