Tennessee football: Notes from Butch Jones’s Week 5 2017 Wednesday presser
Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones held his Wednesday press conference ahead of the Volunteers’ 2017 match-up against the Georgia Bulldogs.
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Butch Jones wasn’t lecturing the media Wednesday, but he’s still on the hot seat as Tennessee football gets set to face the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend. As Jones noted, though, this is a tough team to face to get back on track.
Kirby Smart’s group is looking amazing right now, and they have got to be thinking about a potential College Football Playoff appearance. So the Vols need as much positive news as they can get this week.
Jones touched on quite a few things during his media session, from roster updates to things related to Georgia to looking back at the UMass game last week.
Here are some of our notes from his press conference.
1. Injury situation is improving in the trenches but bad among playmakers.
Jashon Robertson and Shy Tuttle are back, and Butch Jones said he expects them to play on Saturday.
However, Evan Berry, Jakob Johnson and Latrell Williams are all still going to be out. The loss of Berry kills Tennessee football on special teams, and Johnson is a valuable blocking tight end. So those are too huge losses.
Austin Smith practiced but his status still unclear. His return could do wonders at linebacker for the Vols.
2. John Kelly needs fewer reps.
This seems to be what the Tennessee football coaches want. Butch Jones hinted at using Ty Chandler more this week, but added that the freshman backs have to learn blocking schemes and route-running to be able to be regulars in their offense.
He noted they’re improving in that area, though. So expect to see Chandler split more time with Kelly on Saturday.
3. Georgia’s Quarterback situation won’t change Tennessee’s preparation.
Butch Jones noted that the Dawgs don’t really change much schematically with Jake Fromm compared to Jacob Eason. And he’s mostly right about that. As a result, don’t expect to see much different from the Vols on Saturday.
The only thing that might change is more use of the standard 4-3 as opposed to the nickel package. But that’s because of how much the Dawgs run it.
See the full press conference below.
Things were a lot calmer and more standard with Jones and the media today. The atmosphere, though, makes it clear the program is not in a great place.
Next: Week 4 SEC Power Rankings: Vols near the bottom
So Jones has got to be focused on trying to get the Vols ready for this Saturday. The Georgia game has turned around a season in his favor before. It could happen again, and he surely knows that.