Tennessee Volunteers College Football Pregame Quote, 11/25/2024

Opening statement:

‚ÄúGood afternoon. How‚Äôs everybody doing? First, this might be the last time before Thursday. I just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving, everybody in this room. Appreciate all your kindness throughout the year. One of the things I’m thankful for. ‚Ķ I didn‚Äôt even get a laugh out of that. Then obviously our fanbase, too, and our families that are spread out throughout the entire country. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.

“Big road game. Playing a really good football team in Vanderbilt. You look at what they’ve done throughout the season, but statistically they do a great job of tying all three phases together. They play complementary football. They’re smart. They’re tough. They’re physical. They’re disciplined. They make you earn it. Offensively, the quarterback’s a dynamic player. It’s quarterback-run game. He has the unique ability to extend and make plays outside of the scope of the play-call, too. Defensively, don’t give up a bunch of big plays. They play assignment-sound. Special teams, you look at what they’re doing, punt returner (is) dynamic and their punt game, their punter changes the field, so it’s a huge test for us and one we’ve got to get prepared for and get ready for and practice well and get ready to go play well on Saturday afternoon.”

If there are similarities between Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and what Tennessee faced against UTEP last week:

“Their guy (UTEP quarterbacks Skyler Locklear and JP Pickles) extended plays and made plays outside of the pocket. Diego is a special player. In the read game, first-level players, running triple option off of it, all type of read schemes, drop-back situations, extending and scrambling and making plays – he’s done a really good job for them. He’s one of the keys to the game for us. Certainly defensively he’s the key to the game.”

If there is more emphasis for the defense on defending a mobile quarterback like Diego Pavia beyond rush-lane discipline in the pass-rush:

“Yeah, you can’t just let him sit back there, but when you’re applying pressure, you’ve got to do a great job of having lane integrity and not letting him get out the backside of the pocket, and that happened to us a couple times the other night. Within your twist games, you’ve got to continue to keep your lane integrity as well, and that happens off of your pressures too. Your pressures have got to maintain that, so it’s a dynamic player with his feet at the quarterback spot. You can’t just let him sit back in the pocket all day long, so you’ve got to apply pressure, but while you’re doing that, you’ve got to be able to come off and make plays, so that’s the balance that you’ve got to be on the right side of on game day.”

If it is difficult for a coach to address the stakes of the game with the College Football Playoff situation without dwelling on it too much:

“No. I addressed it today, but I said it last week. There’s a lot of football to be played. That’s for everybody across the country. It’s for us. Focus on the task at hand. We have to be our best on Saturday. You can look at how they’ve performed throughout the course of the season, how they’ve played at home, statistically what they’re doing in all three phases – you’ve got to understand you’re going to get their best, and their best is really good. We’ve got to be at our best, too.”

How the emergence of the transfer portal has impacted how Tennessee recruits high school players:

‚ÄúRecruiting is 365 days out of the year. There‚Äôs no days off. The landscape of the portal, it‚Äôs been here for, I don’t know how many years, but probably my entire tenure here. It‚Äôs a part of how you supplement your roster, so you manage it. We build from high school (recruiting) and supplement our roster with the portal.‚Äù

On Georgia having success throwing to its tight ends against Tennessee and Vanderbilt having some weapons at tight end including Eli Stowers:

“Yeah, better know where he’s at, and within the scope of what you’re playing structure-wise defensively, you’ve got to have your eyes in the right spot. If you’re not, play-action pass is going to give you a problem and he’s going to find an opening, so it comes down to the ordinary things. The bigger the game, the better the opponent, it’s alignment, assignment, execution. Your eyes have got to have discipline. That takes you to the plays that you got to make.”

On winning on the road being hard in the SEC this season:

“First of all, the league across the board, the depth of it – it’s really good. You go on the road (into) loud environments, it makes it a little bit more difficult if you’re not communicating at a really high level. Those two things together make it difficult. It’s always been difficult on the road.”

What he’s thankful for on Thanksgiving:

“Man, thankful for our football family, who I get a chance to to be with every single day, players and staff. Thankful for my own family, the health that they have, and thankful that I get a chance to be here and be a part of leading this program and the opportunities that we have as an entire program.”

On the growth of cornerback Rickey Gibson III from his freshman season to now as a sophomore:

“Man, just continued growth, maturity (in) who he is, how he prepares within what we’re doing fundamentally, continuing to grow. Through that, his confidence has grown and is a huge part of why he’s playing the way that he is.”

On the defense pitching a shutout against UTEP and the confidence it gives them going into this game:

“Last Saturday, like every Saturday, has nothing to do with what happens this coming Saturday, but I think the competitive makeup, the physicality that they played with, resetting from play to play, guys making plays – it’s just continued growth in what we’re doing. There’s a lot of things that we can be better at as well as we watched the film today with them.”

On the biggest growth from quarterback Nico Iamaleava over the course of the season:

“I said it before the season started: A young quarterback, every rep he gets is going to make him better – positive result, not a positive result. I think his ability to withstand, push back, continue to compete – however you want to phrase it – from play to play as a young quarterback, just really strong from him and continued growth and understanding of what we’re doing, command and control and being able to to handle everything that’s on his plate, which is a lot. Excited for him to continue to grow throughout this year and this week.”

What makes the rivalry game with Vanderbilt so special:

“Unique thing here at Tennessee is you’ve got a bunch of them, but this is a long-standing rivalry that we’ve had with them. It’s Thanksgiving weekend, you’re playing in a big game against one of your rivals – this is the opportunity that you want to have.”

His evaluation on how the offensive line has played throughout the season:

“Executed really well at times. There’s some things within the scope of the run game, protectionally, that they’ve got to be better at, but some of that’s not them, too. (It’s) quarterback controlling the protections, tight ends, running backs being a part of it. All in all, done a good job.”

On Jackson Lampley starting at right guard instead of Javontez Spraggins against UTEP:

“Just (an) opportunity for Lamp on Senior Day to get a start. Spraggs has been awesome throughout the course of the year, and he’s going to play a bunch of ball for us on Saturday.”