KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football returned to the practice field Tuesday afternoon as the No. 15/14 Vols continue preparations for hosting Kennesaw State Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee (2-0) is coming off a 45-24 victory at Georgia Tech in which the Vols rushed for 299 yards and scored 27 unanswered points. Senior running back DeSean Bishop led the way with a career-high 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
Running backs coach De’Rail Sims said the biggest improvement from Tennessee’s season-opening victory over Furman was the decisiveness of his group.
“I think they’re doing a really good job of pressing the line of scrimmage and trusting their eyes,” Sims said. “There’s no hesitation right now with those guys. They’re doing a really good job.”
Despite the strong performance from the ground game, Sims said there were still plenty of opportunities for improvement after reviewing the film.
“It’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad as you think it is when you go back and watch the tape,” Sims said. “It’s all about the details in terms of how we’re executing.”
Sophomore Daune Morris continues to make strides in the Vols’ backfield. Sims credited Morris’ increased maturity and preparation.
“He kind of has that (Dylan Sampson) approach to where he comes back when everybody else is gone,” Sims said. “He does a really good job of getting that extra film time in.”
On the defensive side, cornerbacks coach Derek Jones emphasized the importance of continuing to clean up the details following the Georgia Tech game.
“The most critical thing that stands out is we missed four tackles,” Jones said. “And at our position, when you miss tackles, they turn into explosive plays. They turn into touchdowns.”
Jones also stressed the importance of preparing Tennessee’s corners to handle increased workloads as the season progresses, particularly while maintaining proper technique through fatigue.
“You can have solid fundamentals playing 20 reps, but that looks different when you play 40 because of the fatigue and everything that sets in,” Jones said.
The Vols’ matchup with Kennesaw State marks the first meeting between the programs. The Owls enter Saturday’s contest 1-1 following a 47-0 victory over West Georgia and a 31-17 loss to Georgia State.
A transcript of Tuesday’s press conference can be seen below.
Tennessee Cornerbacks Coach Derek Jones
On his takeaways from last week’s performance by the corners…
“I told those guys coming out of the game, I think we were probably at a C+. The reason I say that is because I’ve been trying to harp on where we have to get to be as good as we can be. I’m grading the fundamentals, I’m grading the techniques, I’m grading the stances, I’m grading being able to receive the cause, being able to read your keys in all the things that you didn’t get tested against Furman, and probably really didn’t get tested against Georgia Tech, that I know we’re going to need throughout the process of the season. So, you know, really am trying to make the kids understand what you have to do and the attention to detail you have to play at that position to be as good as you can be.”
On measuring progress each week…
“It’s more of one week building on the other. I’ve done this for a long time, and I understand that every week you need to be better than you were the week before. But as a coach, you ultimately know where you have to be when you play against elite competition, when you play against elite quarterback play. And like the two starters, they’re going to have to play more and more reps as we get going. And that’s not how we practice. They didn’t have to play a high volume of reps against Furman, so they had to play a few more reps against Georgia Tech. But as we continue to go throughout the course of the season, I know they’re going to have to play more reps. And you can have solid fundamentals playing 20 reps, but that looks different when you play 40 because of the fatigue and everything that sets in. So, I’m trying to give these guys a picture of what it should look like all the time and what they can anticipate week to week.”
On some of the positives from last week and areas that need improvement with the group…
“Well, I think the most critical thing that stands out is we missed four tackles. And at our position, when you miss tackles, they turn into explosive plays. They turn into touchdowns. And making those guys understand how critical that is. In the landscape of college football now, we don’t get to tackle a lot. We don’t get to see our guys tackle a lot. We don’t get to work those drills. As a matter of fact, I was talking to Ty Redmond, and the last time he made a tackle before the Furman game was the last game of the season last year because he missed time in training camp. So, it’s hard to train guys to do things by just putting them in position. And then just having played football and having coached football for a while, it’s a mindset too. It’s one thing to go hit a receiver when he turns around on a hitch route as opposed to hitting a 230-pound running back. It’s a mindset that goes into that. And if you hadn’t hit a 230-pound running back, it’s automatically going to make you stall a little bit. When there’s two yards of space on a hitch route as opposed to five yards of space, there’s a tendency to break down. And again, those are things that you can’t practice until you actually get into play. And so we didn’t look good in that aspect the other night. It didn’t show up, but if you do that against elite wide receiver play, if you do that against elite quarterback play, it’s going to show up a little bit more. So my job is to make them understand we’ve got to tidy those things up. Running really hard on the backside of a play, whereas it didn’t show up this week, getting them used to doing it because as a coach, if you don’t coach those things, it’s going to be the one time it happens where the guy’s kind of lackadaisical back there, a guy pops out, and now he tries to change speed. So, those are things that are hard to simulate in scrimmage. Those are things that are hard to simulate in practice, so you have to try to overemphasize those things in games where they’re not an issue so they don’t become an issue.”
On giving starters extended reps against Kennesaw State…
“Well, you have to go into every game assuming that you’re going to have to play until the end. You just never know. But, if you look at it, we hadn’t been tested a lot on deep routes. Those guys hadn’t had to cover a lot of takeoffs and come back and get in a good stance and do things, so you would like to see them get tested in a way to where it’s not necessarily about the number of reps, but how do they play when they’re tired and how do they respond to explosive plays and some other things. So, I think when you go into a game like this, you have to prepare those guys like it’s any other game and then as the game unfolds, then you make those decisions. But, the way I coach them is we’re not on a rotation right now as far as everything. The starters are going to start and I’m going to spell those guys if something happens or whatever, but I need to be able to see those guys respond to every possible scenario they may see throughout the course of the season.”
On Ty Redmond’s progress and return after missing some of preseason…
“Yeah, I think he’s in a good spot right now, but Ty has so much growing to do. When you have Ty’s size and when you have Ty’s limbs, it’s going to be hard to do some things. He’s a tall guy. It’s naturally hard to play low when you’re that big. It’s naturally hard to be able to do some other things, so those are things that just takes repetitions. And, you know, he’s at a point right now to where I think he’s learning and understanding all of that. The thing I tell Ty all the time is I want to see you strain. I want to see you play like you’re straining all the time. Ty has been so successful just being a good athlete. I want to make him understand if you tidy up the attention to detail and you really practice and play, over-exaggerating your techniques, over-exaggerating your body position, it’s the difference in a pass breakup and an interception. It’s the difference in a tackle and a pass breakup, so we just got to continue to build on that. All of the guys. Ty’s a young guy. He hadn’t really played a lot of football when you think about it. He’s just in a position where he’s one of the most experienced guys we’ve got, so he’s probably exactly where I would anticipate a sophomore that has played the amount of snaps that he’s played to be right now.”
On building Tim Merritt’s confidence after a tough series at the end of the Georgia Tech game…
“Well, I preach to these guys all the time about the importance of maintaining your composure when you play this position. I truly feel it’s the hardest position on the football field to play just because every mistake you make is a glaring mistake. Everybody on the field sees it. Everybody in the stands sees it. In the world we live in of social media, podcast criticism, you know that’s going on. But you’ve got to be mentally tough enough to move on to the next play. And what I told him on the sideline the other night is we can correct those things. That’s my job to get that corrected. We’ve got to go look at it. But I think in that moment, as a coach, you’ve got to know how to handle it. The worst thing you can do to a young player in that situation is yank him out and take the confidence away. And when you get your hands on him, you’ve got to make him understand that if you don’t do this, then it goes from a pass interference to maybe an interception. But I think you have to coach guys like that all the time and I’ve been coaching those guys like that since the first day I walked on campus because the last thing you want as a cornerback coach is for your guys to come to the sideline in fear coming to face you. I don’t think that’s coaching. It’s just like parenting. You don’t want your kids to come tell you things. You don’t want your kids to be afraid when they make mistakes. Just like you have to parent, you have to coach. And we go back to the film room, we look at where he was wrong, talk about his confidence, talk about his fundamentals and techniques and the things that if you don’t do this, you’re in the right position, then it’s not a pass interference call, it’s a pass breakup or an interception. But it’s a trust between player and coach that enables guys to be able to say, okay, I trust you coach, because in those moments, I played the position, you’re at a very low point. And I’ve learned just through coaching that you have to be the source of peace for guys in those situations.”
On what Tim Merritt and Tre Poteat III need to do to close the gap on starting corners…
“Well, the thing of it is the guys just need to play more. The only way you’re going to get better at playing cornerback in particular is to play and to get out there and to make mistakes. Cornerback isn’t a position that you draw up on the board and say this is how it’s going to happen. It’s about athleticism, it’s about posture, it’s about poise and everything that a lot of other positions don’t have to face. But you have to be in those moments to understand how to respond from those moments and it’s just about playing. Ty, Tim and Tre are all true sophomores and none of them have a high volume of reps under their belts, so until they get reps and we coach from those reps, they’re going to make gradual improvement along the way. I have to be patient with them, we have to be patient with them because it’s not about a light switch.”
On teaching corners how to be physical on the perimeter…
“I don’t think it’s as much about teaching them to be physical as the mentality that you’ve got to have. Your mindset has to be this is my job, this is my responsibility, you’ve got to do what’s required to do that. We’re not going to be naturally as physical as most people because we’re not their size, it’s not how we’re built, it’s not how we’re made up, and we’re actually not in those situations a lot. But, if I’m only in that situation four times during the season, I’ve got to have the mindset to say I’ve got to put myself. At the cornerback position, I tell guys all the time, it’s not about making big hits. I don’t need you to be a big hitter, but I do need you to be a willing tackler, and in those situations where it could be the difference in the ballgame, it could be the difference in someone tying up a ballgame or taking a lead, we’ve got to be willing tacklers.”
On where Kayin Lee and the cornerback group has grown thus far…
“I think for all the guys, you want to be able to showcase your ability. And the thing that D.O., Coach (Derek Owings) has done since he’s got here is really improve the speed of everybody at the position. We actually had four guys in our room that were over 22 miles per hour, and that’s pretty impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where I had that, because they put the emphasis on it. And cornerback is one of the positions where speed allows you to make plays, and we hadn’t been tested in that regard in game-wise. So, I think the guys are anxious to be able to see that, and I’m anxious to be able to see. I know we can run with people, but can we make the play? That’s the thing, even as a coach, I don’t have the opportunity to put them in the deep ball position a lot, and that’s the thing that we’re going to be judged on. Ultimately, can we play the deep ball? Cornerback comes down to making tackles and playing the deep ball, and we hadn’t been in that situation a lot, so I think me as a coach and those guys as players are all anxious to be put in those moments because that’s the only way we’re going to improve is to be put in those situations.”
Running Backs Coach De’Rail Sims
On the strengths of the running back room through two games…
“Playing together as a whole entire unit. I think they’re doing a really good job of pressing the line of scrimmage and trusting their eyes. There were a couple of holes that we missed on Saturday night, but they’re doing a really good job of being able to press the line of scrimmage and attacking the defense, being decisive. There’s no hesitation right now with those guys. They’re doing a really good job. From week one, I challenged those guys about being decisive because it was a little hesitant on some of those runs. Last week, I thought we did a better job as a group.”
On if he had favorite run from DeSean Bishop’s performance at Georgia Tech…
“No. I had a bunch of critiques on them, because we left a ton of yards on the field. The first run of the game, we overshot the hole a little bit. Like, he finds it back late. But overall, the touchdown runs are my favorite because you’re putting points on the board. But I had a ton of critiques for him.”
On finding flaws in a game that was an overall dominant performance…
“Well, it’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad as you think it is when you go back and watch the tape. It’s all about the details in terms of how we’re executing. Because at times, it looks like it’s really, really good, but then when you get to the sidelines and you’re watching the iPad or when you come back on Sunday and you’re watching the game, you see the things that could have made the play even better. It’s always going to be something. It’s never going to be perfect on every single play. There’s always going to be things that we have to improve and correct.”
On when he first noticed a change in Daune Morris’ mental game…
“Daune did a good job from the spring all the way through the summer in terms of taking ownership of his responsibilities. Being in the building, doing extra work. He kind of has that (Dylan Sampson) approach to where he comes back when everybody else is gone, or he gets back over here early when people are in class. He does a really good job of getting that extra film time in. He understands what he wants. He understands the work that he has to put into it. It was all the maturity process of coming in last year as a freshman. Now you’re going into your sophomore year and you have a true understanding of what the game is like and what the expectations are like in the building. Me being on his tail every single day, I think he got tired of that a little bit, but he understands that it’s coming from a good place. I always tell the guys, I’m never going to allow you to be average. I’m going to push you to be elite every single day. He took pride in that, so he has done a good job maturing in that aspect.”
On if there were more positives than negatives in Daune Morris’ game at Georgia Tech…
“There were positives in terms of the run game. Protection wise, we had some negatives in there. We just have to do a better job slowing our eyes down from that standpoint in the protection game. Run game wise, you saw him get comfortable. You saw him do a really good job (playing) fast; like, there was a change of pace when he got in the game. You kind of get the understanding, like, those other guys get in there, they kind of pounded him up a little bit, and now all of a sudden you’ve got a change-of-pace back that’s coming at you that’s a little bit different. It does present problems to the defense. So, I thought he did a good job from that. He’s just got to continue to keep growing in the protection game, and he’ll be just fine.”
On the running backs’ performance in pass protection…
“I think they’re doing a good job overall. We have our moments at times where our eyes get too fast, and then we lose a defender, that type of deal. Or just a technique issue. But overall, like, the want-to factor from those guys has been good. So, you saw that in (Javin Gordon) as he stepped up in there and picked up the linebacker as he blitzed. So, I thought overall as a group we did a good job. We just have to slow our eyes down at times.”
On the importance of the running backs in complementing with the passing game…
“The biggest deal is we always talk about making sure we’re going pad plus two, putting us in second down and manageable, third down and manageable situations. Like, if somebody gets cut free or that type deal, making sure we’re getting back to the line of scrimmage, making it zero instead of a loss of one, loss of two. So, that’s the biggest deal. Let’s stay ahead of the chains and not get behind the chains. And then the biggest deal is not being impatient, not feeling like every single run has to be a home run. There’s nothing wrong with a four- or five-yard gain. And then you see as the game goes along, they get tired of tackling us. So now, here’s the big plays that are getting ready to happen. I think they’ve done a good job understanding that.”
On what he wants to see Javin Gordon improve on…
“I’m going to be honest, with him right now, you go back, his improvement from game one to game two was good. He did a really good job of being physical in the run game, of being in there. There were some muddy pictures in there that he did a really good job of banging in there and driving for extra yardage. There were a couple of runs in there that could have been better. The only thing that happened is he stepped on somebody’s foot, tripped up inside the hole, that type deal. So, he’s doing a good job. Eyes in the right spot, landmarks, pad level is good. It’s going to happen. It’s just early in the game. You knew that you were going to play against a really good, improved defensive line last week, so it showed. So, we were just patient and in the end, it’ll work out. He’ll have explosive runs as the season goes along. Ain’t no doubt about that.”
On how his running backs receive criticism…
“Oh, they’re used to it now. They understand with me it’s always — I tell them to listen to the message, not the tone in which I deliver it. Because the biggest deal is there’s always going to be room to improve. And they see it. The best thing about this room is that they do a really good job of coaching each other. On the sideline during games, on the sideline during practice, in the meeting room, they do a really good job being able to coach each other up. They respond really well. First week of the season, I wasn’t pleased. This past week coming off that game, still not pleased. There’s still a ton that we’ve got to clean up. We’re making strides in the right direction to where when we get on into the later part of the season, you’re starting to hit it in the right way. So we’ve just got to continue taking each game one game at a time and improving as the week goes along.”
On DeSean Bishop’s ability to gain yards after contact…
“It’s been good. That’s the biggest deal I challenged him on. The one run that he had in the hole, that’s a 50-50 opportunity. When it’s one-on-one with a defender in the hole, man, run through his face and let’s go accelerate through that and go have big plays. He’s done a good job of yards after contact so far this season. Continue to drive his feet, accelerate through contact, continuing to play low. We still have to play a little bit lower as a whole entire group, but he’s done a good job in terms of yards after contact.”
On Justin Baker’s contribution to the win on Saturday and his impact on special teams…
“It does, because we always embrace our role. So no matter what your role is, it may be a guy that’s getting 20, 30 carries a game. It may be a guy that is dominating on special teams. But go change the game in a positive way. And he went out there and did that. That was a huge, huge play in the game for us, too. He stepped up in there and he partially blocked the kick. Shoot, if he wouldn’t have false stepped, he would have ran into the kicker. But he did a good job of going in and changing the game in a positive way.”
On how DeSean Bishop is able to coach up the running back room compared to last season…
“I think he’s more confident this year. I think last year he was still finding his voice in terms of the role that he was in. He’s a guy that wants to be a leader and wants to lead in a positive direction. You can tell that by the way he talks about his faith. I think that has helped him grow as well. So I just think he’s more confident in himself right now in terms of the leader that he’s become. And the guys, when he talks, they listen. Everybody snaps their eyes around, snaps their head around to hear what he’s got to say. And I think that’s helped a lot as a whole entire unit.”
