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Tennessee Vols morning report: 2018 schedule, assistants speak

By Caleb Calhoun

GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 17: A fan holds a sign in support of the Tennessee Volunteers before the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 17, 2011 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 17: A fan holds a sign in support of the Tennessee Volunteers before the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 17, 2011 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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The 2018 Tennessee Vols football schedule and comments on the Florida game from assistant coaches lead the Volunteers news for Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017.

The middle of the week is here, so the Tennessee Vols football team should fully be thinking about UMass this weekend. But, just as it was yesterday, the Florida loss is still hanging over the heads of everybody in Rocky Top.

And Butch Jones has to be feeling the pressure from it.

As we get set to bring you the news on Rocky Top for today, Tuesday was the day for the assistants to go out in front of the cameras and explain their failures from last Saturday. We’ll get to what they said in this post.

We’ve also got a position change on the football team. So there is some personnel talk looking ahead.

And speaking of looking ahead, we also have a big story to break about next year. In fact, let’s start with that.

Tennessee Vols announce 2018 football schedule – UTSports

The 2018 Tennessee football schedule is out. They take on West Virginia in Charlotte to open up the season, and later in the year, they ironically play Charlotte at Neyland. Their other two non-conference opponents are ETSU and UTEP. WVU, ETSU and UTEP are the first three games of the season before they face the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs in back-to-back weeks. Similar to 2016, they have all their tough games in a brutal stretch. Following Georgia, they face the Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide and South Carolina Gamecocks. However, they at least have their bye between Georgia and Auburn.

"The Vols face the Mountaineers for the first time in school history and will begin the year in a neutral site game at an NFL stadium for the second straight year after defeating Georgia Tech 42-41 in double-overtime to start the 2017 season."

Tennessee Vols DC Bob Shoop speaks on Florida –  Blake Toppmeyer, Knoxville News Sentinel

UT defensive coordinator Bob Shoop had a lot of explaining to do after his defense gave up that Hail Mary pass to lose to the Florida Gators on Saturday. This was not a good team the Vols faced, and the offense was the worst part. Shoop talked about the game as a whole and took full responsibility for the last call.

"“I think some of the criticism of coach (Butch) Jones is unfair. I made the call on the last play,” Shoop said.The play started with nine seconds remaining from the Florida 37.“We thought they were going to play for getting the ball in that 35- to 40-yard area and kick a long field goal,” Shoop said."

Tennessee Vols OC Larry Scott speaks on Florida – Dan Fleser, Knoxville News Sentinel

While Bob Shoop had to explain the Hail Mary play against Florida, Larry Scott had to explain the seven passes inside the 10-yard line to allow it to even come to a Hail Mary. Scott talked about execution on plays and then defended Quinten Dormady’s check-off on the half-yard line.

"“He understands we don’t have enough to block what they’re going to send (on a blitz),” Scott said.Scott also indicated that Dormady’s audible might not be advisable going forward.“A lot of that is continuing to understand the situation,” Scott said. “We understand a lot of times you may run against an uneven box in that situation. With that, going back you learn from all these things and you probably say, ‘You know what, hand the ball off on first and goal.’"

Tennessee Vols move Labruzza from CB to safety – Patrick Brown, GoVols247

Freshman cornerback Cheyenne Labruzza is moving from cornerback to safety to help add depth there. The move is to offset a pair of injuries facing the team back there.

"Veteran Todd Kelly Jr. is set for undergo season-ending surgery on his troublesome knee injury and Evan Berry, also Tennessee’s electric kick-return man, hasn’t played since the first half of the season opener against Georgia Tech, which left the Vols razor thin with just freshman Theo Jackson behind starters Nigel Warrior and Micah Abernathy."

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