Tennessee football head coach Brady Hoke spoke Wednesday about the Volunteers’ match-up against the LSU Tigers. Here are notes from the press conference.
Related Story: 5 Vols to watch for vs. LSU
The 2017 Tennessee football season still goes on, and at 4-6, the Vols are looking for a huge upset over the LSU Tigers Saturday at Neyland Stadium. Amidst all the other talk, that still has to be a big focus on Rocky Top.
After addressing the media for the first time as Tennessee’s head coach on Monday, Brady Hoke was back in front of the stand again Wednesday. Hoke remained very vague for the most part, but there were some things he couldn’t avoid.
It’s clearly a rough time for him, the coaches and the players. And this is the third time in four years Hoke has dealt with a transition like this. So he’s the perfect guy to guide the ship for now with Butch Jones gone.
You can see the full Wednesday press conference video above. Here are some key notes from the things that he said.
Quarterback race appears open.
Hoke didn’t say much when asked about this, but he did say they would “let this thing play out.” After how Will McBride played last week, many Tennessee football fans would probably be happy to see him start again. He showed a lot of heart and guts.
However, Jarrett Guarantano is still in the race. And in a key piece of news, Hoke mentioned that he was back at practice on Tuesday. So that makes this race wide open, and it leads to our next note.
Some positive but vague news on injuries
We already mentioned Guarantano being back at practice. In other good news, Hoke said that the Vols were trending towards having more offensive linemen than they had last week. Part of that was mentioning that he’d know later in the week if Trey Smith can move back to guard or if he has to play tackle again.
Either way, the injuries have devastated this team. So if Tennessee football can get a few guys back, that will be extremely helpful.
Changes in communication among coaches
Brady Hoke is shaking up the press box! Offensive coordinator Larry Scott is apparently going to come down to the sidelines, and Hoke said they don’t know yet which person will replace him in the box.
He added that he will wear a headset and let the offensive coaches run the offense. Meanwhile, Bob Shoop will remain Tennessee football’s defensive coordinator, but Hoke said he’ll have input on plays as he has all year.