Tennessee football: Vols' Butch Jones made himself look worse Monday

Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones only made himself look worse when speaking Monday following the Volunteers’ loss to the Florida Gators Saturday.

On Monday, Butch Jones gave his weekly press conference looking ahead to Tennessee football’s next game. With that next game coming up against the UMASS Minutemen, who are 0-4, Vols fans expect another easy victory.

So that’s not what they focused on. Instead, the focus was on the terrible play-calling that cost Tennessee against Florida in The Swamp on Saturday.

How could you have seven plays on two trips inside the 10-yard line and throw it seven times, including one time on the half-yard line?

Jones’s explanations made things look worse than they already did.

Regarding their first time inside the 10, when they reached the half-yard line, Jones explained the pass on first down.

Apparently, Dormady checked off to a pass play the first time. Honestly, that’s worse than even calling one.

Why would you even give that freedom to your quarterback? It doesn’t matter if Peyton Manning is under center! When it’s first down from the half-yard line, you run it, especially when John Kelly is your guy.

More from Vols Football

The fact that Jones and Larry Scott would even allow Dormady to check off there is embarrassing on them. Add in the fact that he is only starting his third game, and it’s his first true road game, and it’s even more ridiculous.

But it gets worse. Remember, that pass was almost intercepted, then it was waived off due to a penalty, and Dormady got hit, so he had to go to the sideline.

As a result, Jarrett Guarantano came in. And he was put in shotgun. A false start happened, pushing Tennessee back to the six.

Although you could say Tennessee football should have used a timeout there, I didn’t really blame the coaches for that false start. And having Guarantano back there in shotgun is not a terrible idea because he should be good enough to run it in.

However, Jones gave an explanation for the play that made it look bad. He said it wouldn’t be fair to put Guarantano under center there because he hadn’t practiced that yet.

What?

Again, this would be a non-issue from my end. But the idea that Guarantano hasn’t practiced under center raises even more questions beyond the game.

Jones insisted all offseason there was a quarterback competition. Scott insisted they wanted to go more under center this year. If all those things are true, then why in the world did Guarantano not get any practice under center?

What the heck are they doing on the practice field?

Of course, this all comes before the succession of three straight pass plays on this drive, the final one being intercepted by Duke Dawson. Jones acknowledged that they need to run the football there.

Well, at least he states the obvious.

But then, things got worse.

On their final offensive drive, Jones tried to blame the execution for why they didn’t score a touchdown. Remember, they’re inside the 10 again. On first down, they call a pass-play to John Kelly, which he dropped.

Yes, that was a good play-call and should have been executed. Jones can defend the coaching on that play.

But how does that explain the next two play-calls, both of which were passing plays? Again, you have Kelly still as a runner. Use him!

No, putting it on his players not executing is not fair there because the simple call was always the right call.

Finally, though, Jones doubled down on his explanation for the Hail Mary at the end of the game. He said they don’t have the personnel to run a dime package.

Again…what?

There are two things wrong with that. First off, he brought up Shaq Wiggins in the press conference Monday. Wiggins would be a fourth cornerback. Jones said he’s working hard to earn playing time.

Why can’t he get some on the final play? If he’s ready to go, what could possibly prevent a four-year veteran from being able to knock down a pass at the end of the game?

But even worse than that, how many times have you seen coaches throw receivers back there at the end just to knock the ball down? It’s very common.

Next: 4 things Butch Jones should have to do to keep his job

Jones, however, couldn’t figure that out. So his explanation is even dumber than the play-call itself. And that was the story of his press conference Monday. For the full video, you can click here. But know that nothing he said helps his case. And he’s still on the hot seat in our book.

Home/Vols Football

Tennessee football: Vols’ Butch Jones made himself look worse Monday

By Caleb Calhoun | Sep 19, 2017

Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones only made himself look worse when speaking Monday following the Volunteers’ loss to the Florida Gators Saturday.