Postgame Quotes: UF 10, UT 9

Oct. 4, 2014

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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
"Defensively, I thought we played well enough to win the football game. I thought our players flew around. At the end of the day, you've got to score touchdowns in the red zone and you can't turn the football over. That's pretty much the storyline. Again, learning how to win, close games out. Defense does a great job of giving us field position. I thought the first half they kept us in the game. Particularly we're way behind in the field position game, so I thought they did a great job that way. It was great to see Aaron Medley step up and make three field goals. At the end of the day, I've said it, we have to control the controllables and the things we can control and we didn't do that. We turned the football over. We had to kick field goals in the red zone. You can't do that. I'll answer any questions you may have."

(On sacks allowed and the disparity in the run game)
"You know, we've just got to keep getting better. We are who we are. We have who we have and I love them. They're very prideful. I'm not going to make any excuses, we didn't get it done. Case closed. We've got to get in the weight room. We've got to become stronger. They're fighting, they're scratching, and they're clawing. We knew this whole year, up front. I mean, the kids, when you really think about it and I don't like to talk about it because I'll never make excuses. I think you've guys know me, but these are seventeen year old kids, who were playing high school football last year, on the right side of the offensive line and they're doing a good job. I mean, name me another school who is starting two true freshmen at right guard and right tackle and playing against the best competition in the country. It is what it is and they're going to be fine. They're great learning experiences. This football team is learning every day. I stand behind them. I believe in them. They give us everything they have each and every day in the classroom, in the community, on the field, and we're going to keep grinding. It's a long football season and we're just going to keep getting better. That's all I can say. That's the only thing you can do."

(On the momentum swing of the sack and fumble in the third quarter)
"Obviously any time you have a turnover, but we have to answer the call. You can't turn the football over. Football is a game of momentum swings, but you have to answer the call and that's the way we train. You can't turn the football over. Those big time turnovers, we ran a double move and our wide out was wide open. If we're able to throw it, it's probably a touchdown or a big gain. Those are things as a coach; it's a game of inches. It's seconds, it's 2.7 seconds basically on an average per play to make a decision to go win your one-on-one matchups. Anytime you turn the football over, but then we had to answer the call as well."

(On not capitalizing on great field position)
"Again, red zone field position, we take great pride in scoring touchdowns and we weren't able to do that. I think that's pretty much the storyline."

(On how he keeps everybody invested moving forward)
"Well, you rely on their competitive character, and we have great character in this football program. It's a long, long season and we have to keep grinding. We can't listen to the clutter and distractions. We know who we are. We have to be a blue collar football team. We have to scratch and claw for everything we get. We have to earn everything we get. That's just where we're at in the program right now. The only way I know is you have that blue collar mentality and you keep working and you stay together. We're being tested right now. We have to go back to focusing on the process. If you guys remember, my number one goal, you said, `What's your number one goal for this football team?' I said to be the best football team we could possibly be. They'll come to work, they're resilient. They have great character. It hurts now, you have more guys in there that are distraught, disappointed, but that's life. You've got to get up and you've got to go. That's the only way I know, that's the only way these kids are going. They'll follow us."

(On not being productive on first down)
"It's critical, especially when we're in third-and-long. You're just playing the law of percentages game and so much for us is winning first and second downs. We weren't able to do that."

(On Jalen Hurd)
"He got nicked up in his shoulder a little bit, so that kind of hurt us in the second half as well."

(On the playcalling in the red zone)
"You're always trying to play to the strengths of your players and we had some really good calls. They were playing a lot of man coverage. We had our man-beaters. We knew what they were going to be in and we just didn't execute. No matter what you do schematically, football is about matchups. That's football. Again, we didn't execute."

(On what happened defensively down the stretch)
"I think it was a combination of a lot of things. It wasn't fatigue, just wrapping your arms around the ball carrier. Defensively, we played well enough to win."

(On shutting down a running quarterback)
"We've seen it all year, we've practiced it. With a running quarterback, though, when you do have someone back there, you're a gap short or you have to be gap sound in terms of discipline and holding your point. There were a couple of times where they out-leveraged us and that hurt us. Overall, you hold a football team in this conference to 232 yards of total offense and 76 yards passing, you should get a victory and we didn't do that."

(On the inability to beat one-on-one man coverage)
"There were times when we didn't beat man-to-man coverage and everybody wants to point to the offensive line, but it's a team game. It's never one single person's mistake. You win football games by playing complementary football: offense, defense and special teams working together as one. We turned Cam's interception into points, but at the end of the day, you score touchdowns in the red zone and the flavor of the game completely changes. They're throwing the ball more than they're running the ball."

(On minimizing the negative offensive plays and penalties)
"Anytime you have mental penalties or negative-yard plays, that adversity affects you. We're not good enough right now to overcome 1st-and-15 or 2nd and 15 and those are errors we can't have and that comes from the communicative standpoint."

(Closing Statement)
"I know everyone hurts. I know Vol Nation hurts, but I do want to thank the fans and the fan initiative. The Checkerboard Neyland was outstanding. I think it was a great illustration. Around the country, just keep your patience. We're going to be alright. I've told you before, it's like raising your children. We're raising a football program and I'm just as patient as anyone. I'm angered and I'm upset, but I'm not discouraged because I see the progress everyday. You guys need to hang in there. We're in it together. We;re going to get it together. We're going to have great days, but we just got to keep grinding. I want to say thank you for coming out. We're going to need you next week. I promise you we're going yo get it right. We had a tremendous amount of recruits out here today---why wouldn't you want to come to the University of Tennessee after that? We'll be back. I promise you we're going to be a good football team. We're going to be a good football program. Just keep staying the course."

QUARTERBACK Justin Worley

(On Tennessee's loss)
"It hurts a lot considering we had control of this game most of the time. Not being able to finish it out really hurts."

(On pressure from the defense)
"I am going to get hit, and I am going to bounce back from it. It doesn't matter whether it's a sack or a pass. The only difference is a loss compared to whatever happens on the throw. I am still going to get hit. We have to do a better job up front at times, but those guys fought hard and did a great job at other times. We have to develop some consistency."

(On false start penalties)
"We were hurting ourselves. We had two back-to-back times where we had a third and one situation and got backed up. Some of the guys heard the cadence and some didn't. Really, the only guy who needs to hear the call is the one snapping the ball, and today, he was one of the ones who were not hearing it. We have to learn from mistakes and work on things this week."

LINEBACKER Jalen Reeves-Maybin

(On Tennessee's late turnover in Florida territory)
"Defensively, we're prepared for sudden change. We're prepared for things like that all the time. It wasn't a big deal to us, but we just have to stop them."

(On his interception)
">"I just made the play. I didn't have a man. I was just reading the quarterback. I saw his eyes move down the field and I did what I was supposed to do: make the play."

(On moving forward as a team)
"We're not going to dwell on it. We'll get in tomorrow as linebackers and watch film together. Everybody is going to watch it. We'll come in Monday, and it's all eyes forward. This game is past. We can't dwell on it."

(On atmosphere)
"Neyland was definitely rocking. The checkerboard looked great. It was a great environment. We just didn't get the job done."

(On putting the loss in the past)

"All the guys in the locker room are tough guys. I count on every one of them. I depend on them. We've all got each other's backs. We're not going to give up on each other. We're family."

KICKER Aaron Medley

(On the state of the team after the loss)
"This is a tough loss, but we have to look at it and move forward. I think our team is galvanized as a family even more. We just have to roll up our sleeves next week and get to work."

(On his growing confidence)
"Confidence is tremendous now. I have trust in my field goal line and there was great snapping and great holding today. I just remain confident in them."

(On what has changed about him)
"First game, I was so pumped and didn't know what to think. The game was moving so fast, but now the game is slowing down and I'm noticing the details in the game. My confidence is getting boosted more and more each game. If you make a kick in a tough spot, you have to look at it as having made that kick and the confidence is going to carry you through."

DEFENSIVE BACK Cameron Sutton

(On believing the Vols had the game)
"Throughout the course of the game I believe that we did. It was our job to continue to get off the field and get the ball to our offense. I feel like we did our thing for the most part we just got to learn how to finish our games."

(On reading the picks from the quarterback's eyes)
"He (Jeff Driskel) kind of had the tendency to stare down his receivers. We just had to be in those windows to make plays on the ball."

(On the defense doing well enough to earn the W even according to Coach Jones)
"I think we did overall. We still have little things we need to correct leading into next week. Just come in tomorrow to take care of our bodies, get in the film room and learn from our mistakes so it won't happen the rest of the year and we can progress as a team."

LINEBACKER Curt Maggitt

(On strong defensive effort in loss)
"It's tough, definitely. We've got to keep them out of the end zone. We didn't accomplish that part."

(On QB change)
"Having a mobile quarterback created more gaps with the running back lead blocking. Guys had to get off the blocks, making plays. It was a change of pace for us, definitely."

(On moving forward)
"Coming in tomorrow, starting with treatment and film, I honestly feel like it is a test from God. It's a test of our brotherhood. He just wants us to get closer. We're a tight-knit group, but we need to get even closer. It's still early in the season."

(On defense)
"We need to figure out how to get better from here. Watch film. Be critical of yourself. Some of the statistics look good, but we didn't get the job done."

DEFENSIVE BACK Todd Kelly Jr.

(On how the freshmen pick up the seniors and how they will regroup from this loss)
"We take pride in our leaders. A.J., Curt, and Worley do a great job of taking care of our team and making sure we are doing what we are suppose to do; but us as freshman, we came in top recruiting class. We expect to win, and when we lose you know that is unacceptable. So, we are going to get what we have to get corrected and bounce back and focus on next week."

(On the switch to Treon Harris disrupting the defense)
"No, at the end of the day you're just supposed to do your job and know your assignment and do your assignment. So them switching it up isn't too big of a deal for us, but we just weren't in the right spots at the end of the day."

(On if the defense did enough to win the game)
"We didn't win the game, so obviously not, but our defense went out there and played as hard as we could, and we just fell short. So, we're going to learn and go back and watch the film and see what we did wrong."

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN Derek Barnett

(On if the defense played well enough to win)
"We played good, I wouldn't say well enough to win. We had some mistakes. Like the fourth quarter, we didn't play our best in the fourth quarter, but we played good. I think we should have made some changes."

(On support from the coaches believing that the team can win)
"Yeah we all believe. Every game we play, we feel like we are going to win, and it's not we are going to go in and stay with them for three quarters and lose. That is not the mindset. It's we are going to win. I don't care if we are playing a ranked team. It's we are going to win the game. That is the mindset."

(On the defense giving up bigger plays in the fourth quarter)
"We are just messing up mentally, mental assignments. We just have some busts. Like I said it's not them (Florida), it is us. We are hurting ourselves more than they are hurting us."

FLORIDA HEAD COACH WILL MUSCHAMP

(Opening statement)
"Great emotional win. You know, on the road in this league is always difficult. Really proud of our players, very stagnant on offense. Felt like, we had the first drive, and had some drives that were very sporadic obviously in the throwing game, as well. Jeff's first interception was a back shoulder ball. Demarcus has got to get two hands on the ball. He tips the ball up, they make the play there early in the game. But we felt like we were very stagnant, we needed to make a change at the quarterback position in this game. We went with Treon, he obviously brought some energy to us. He made a nice ball on the throwback down the sideline. Really proud of his composure coming in to a tough place and just doing an outstanding job. Extremely proud of him. Moving forward, just so I'll get ahead of your questions, we won't make any decisions on who's going to start our next ballgame today. It was a very emotional win.

"We're going to go home, we're going to watch the film, we'll see why we're not, obviously offensively, doing some things that we feel like were there. It wasn't all on Jeff. One interception, our running back doesn't pick up the A-gap blitzer, he got splattered and throws the ball a little errant down the middle. He has another situation where it's a tipped ball at the line of scrimmage. But we just weren't getting into any flow of the game, so I'm very proud of Treon and the job he did, but I also feel like, again, we had a couple of drops, we had a couple of missed signals. On a critical third down, we had a screen called, and the receiver doesn't run the screen. So the execution offensively and communication, it needs to improve tremendously. Very proud of what we did defensively against what I think is a good throwing offense. Justin Worley is playing extremely well throwing the ball to some very good skill players, and I thought we defended and rushed four pretty good today. So we'll all be happy about that. Redzone defense was outstanding. You look at, especially the start of the second half, we had that tipped ball interception off the play-action. Vernon comes back with a huge pick in the endzone.

"Good pressure and a good cover down. I thought for the most part, we had one issue on the first third down of the game where we had a miscommunication. I think we would have been fine, we just didn't feel comfortable, that's why we called timeout. We had the wheel route on their sideline, where in a situation when a player is hurt, we tell them to stay on the ground. And we had a late substitution and we didn't cover down. But our adjustments to tempo were much better by our players. Extremely proud of the tempo they played with, and how they handled that part of the game. But, really proud of our football team. It wasn't always pretty. We did the things we had to do, especially when you're down nine in the fourth quarter on the road. We made the quarter back change, and our guys didn't blink. They responded to it, we were much better on third down defensively. Much better on third down offensively against a very good third down defense. So again, really proud of our football team and how we were able to come out and play and do the things we had to do to win the game. So I'll open it up to any of your questions."

(On gamewinning kick)
"Great kick by Austin Hardin. I thought we were going to get a delay of game, but we didn't. We got it off in time, and boy he hit it. A lot of confidence in him."

(On spark from QB change)
"Well, again, it's not all on Jeff Driskel, and I know that we'll all write that it is. It's not. We had a couple of protection issues. We checked to a screen on third down, we don't execute the screen. Jeff gets splattered. I mean, that's not Jeff Driskel's fault. And I'm not defending him, I'm a football coach and there are things that happen that are very, in my opinion, tough on him to be able to happen. And unfortunately, being the quarterback, you're going to take the brunt. And that's part of it, he understands that, he's mentally as tough as I've been around and he's going to be fine, and if we have to play two quarterbacks going forward, we'll do that. We're going to do what it takes to win games. And, you know, there's no question that Treon brought some energy to us. He's got a calmness about him, very confident. I'm very proud of how he responded to the situation."

(On the interception-Treon Harris entry sequence)
"You know, we felt like early in the game what they had shown us in that personnel group, we could pick up pressure off the backside. It was a nice call by D.J. We get the strip, and we had already made the decision before that time that we wanted to go to Treon."

(On defense rebounding from poor performance at Alabama)
"I think, as much as anything, in the Kentucky game, we lost some confidence coverage-wise. And the secondary, and I've been coaching a long time, is a very fragile position. And, to go back to old terms, it's the last line of defense. And when you suddenly give up a play, they always talk in terms of having a short memory, and for a young player, that's difficult to be able, from a maturity standpoint, to overcome giving up a play. Then it creates a little consternation, we're not real sure, we're a little uncertain of what we're doing, and the confidence issues go out. So it's a lot of things that happened. I believe that number one, Blake Simms played an outstanding game against us. I thought he was really accurate in his throws, and based on talking to their staff, as accurate as he's ever been. We certainly helped him. When you cut a guy loose down the middle, it's pretty good, that isn't very good. We just, I think, simplified some things, and it wasn't oversimplification, but we got some terms and reps. And we had two weeks to prepare, so we're not the '85 Bears. So let's don't jump to any conclusions here. We have a long way to go, but again like I said before the season, athletically, I think we're going to be fine. We can't make mistakes like busting a coverage and rolling to the middle of the field like we did against Alabama, and some of the knucklehead things we've certainly done in four ballgames."

(On getting the defense's confidence back up)
"Well, we did a lot of good-on-good work. And a lot of...we do that anyways. And I think as much as anything, we're trying to take as much off of them, from a - you know, we're a formation-check defense, we've always been that way. My point is, why get in a bad look if you don't have to? But we try to take as much off them as we could. And if we have to live a down in a bad look, then we're going to live a down with a bad look. But, I told D.J., let's just don' t put as much on them at the line of scrimmage. We don't have those guys right now that can handle that. We came up here two years ago against a good offensive football team, with Hunter and Patterson outside. Luchez and Marcus were first year starters, well, Marcus had started the year before, but Luchez hadn't started much, but we had Josh Evans and Matt Elam. Guys that were able to make all the calls for them and be a calming factor. Keanu is improving in that regard. Duke Dawson got his first start today. Jabari Gorman has improved in that factor. So, again, the ability of things is there, it's just we've got to continue to rep it."

(On Driskel's confidence)
"Well again, you know, I think that he's a tough guy. He's also a big picture guy and understands the game of football. He understands it's not all on his shoulders, as far as the mistakes that have been made. We've just got to tie some things together moving forward that we feel comfortable with, that our players feel comfortable with, kinda like we did defensively. And that's our job as coaches."

(On the game plan today)
"Well, we felt like we needed to run the ball. We felt like we would be able to run the ball on play actions. Matt ran for over 100 yards, and we got the run going. We hit some runs late, we wore them down a little bit. We felt good about the run game, more than anything, because of them, not necessarily because of us."

(Did Treon get more reps after Alabama?)
"Jeff and Treon take the majority, if not all the reps at practice, anyways. So I don't know if his reps had been any different than they were before, no."

(On staying with Driskel as long as he could)
"I think Jeff is further along where we are offensively, and that's not a knock on Treon, that's just from an experience standpoint. He has more wealth of experience playing. So, given the situation and the reps at practice, he gave us more options of things to do offensively. Treon had never repped the throwback at practice. That was something that we discussed on the sideline, going off, going off the turnover. So, I felt like he came in and did an outstanding job. Kurt put him in some good situations. But, he had certainly a confidence about him that was nice."

(On impact of young players on defense)
"You know, Bryan Cox, he went through a tough time, he lost a very close family member. The last couple of days, it's been a very hard time for him. Matter of fact, he didn't get back to the hotel `til late, late last night from the wake situation. But, you know Jalen Tabor's gonna be a good player. Duke Dawson continues to be a good player. You know, Duke understands more about the importance of practice. And where young players build confidence, for me, is in practice. To be able to understand that they can execute in practice and communicate, then they'll be able to take it to the game, and it's not something that's always been as paramount. So I feel comfortable that he's certainly improved that part of it and he's going to be a good player. Bryan Cox played well, Gerald Willis got in there, is going to be a good player for us."

(On Treon's lack of reps in the system)
"He's repped it before. We've got the throwback, but this past week in practice, it was brought up to me that he had hadn't repped. We were in a deadball situation and I communicated to him, 'Do you feel good about this?' and he said 'Yeah, let's go.'"

(On Jeff Driskel jumping back into the game for the final few plays)
"Treon had not done much under center and what always concerns me, being a shotgun team, is under center. We've had many a debate about why we're going to get under center in this situation. We start every practice with under center snaps and work on under center. Treon had done as many reps with Max. Jeff had, but they were lined up offsides, it was nearly illegal what they were doing."

(On Treon not being ready to run the offense)
"I think from the standpoint of every play we do, not so much. There's not one coach or player that doesn't think he can't run the offense, it just depends on how much you call and what he's going to be comfortable with."

(On how much confidence the players have in him)
"They've got a lot of confidence in him. He's one of those guys who has the 'it' factor. He's a winner; he's won a bunch of games at Booker T. Washington HS and it's no different than other quarterbacks I've been around that have that certain aura about themselves. We've got a long way to go with everything we're doing and we need to make some major improvements on offense."

(On this game being more of a must-win than others)
"I think that winning on the road and winning in the SEC East and making it 10 in a row against Tennessee at the University of Florida is pretty special. I think that says a lot about our guys coming on in on the road, the perseverance, fighting through the adversity. They had a great crowd out there and they were into the game and it was good to send them home disappointed."

(On the injury status of Matt Jones and others)
"From an injury standpoint, I don't see anything, so I think we're good. He's a huge weapon for us. We've got good coverage units. Valdez (Showers) sprained his ankle, so he was unavailable to us and he's one of our best gunners. We got to do a better job of our return units."

(On the defense giving up just six points on three interceptions)
"I tell our guys, 'you're the firemen, you've got to put the fire out.' I don't want to hear any excuses, I don't want to see any pointed fingers. It's an opportunity for greatness, that's the way I look at it. I hope we fumble every opening kickoff, so it's an opportunity to go out for greatness....I'm just kidding."

(On why they took the delay of game penalty at the end of the game)
"In that situation when the ball was down in-bounds, they had an injured guy on the field. From the point of an injured player, if it had gone back to the 40-second clock, then it would have been an administrative timeout and it would have gone back to the 25-second clock. If it had gone to a 40, I would have milked the clock and take a shot at the end zone, but when it went to the 25-second clock, it would have gone down to 10 seconds. We had a little miscommunication in the box and they thought it was going to be set back to 40, so I just took the delay of game, knowing that we would have the run-off. I didn't know if he would take the run-off or not and make us punt, so they could come after it, but we were going to take the shot at the end zone if it was going to reset to 40, but because of the injury and the penalty, it went to 25 and that's based on where they set the clock after a deadball situation. It goes back to the previous play, so I would've rather taken the delay of game and take the risk of not running the clock out and taking the shot down the field, not making it, and then have them try a hail mary."

(On the made field goal)
"What concerned me there was low kick. From a football perspective, that was the right decision. You're on the road, going into halftime (at Alabama) down seven. You create a turnover and tie the game at 21, so it was a pretty good decision, don't you think?"

(On Treon being able to talk to the media)
"We have a policy that our freshmen don't talk to the media. We may change the policy Monday, but this was an emotional game and we're all happy. We're all excited, excited for Treon. Vernon Hargreaves played a bunch of good games for us last year and we're not changing the policy for anybody."

(On Jeff's interaction to Treon coming in)
"Jeff's fine. He's a great teammate and he wants the University of Florida to be successful. He's for anything that needs to be done to make that happen. He's supportive of Treon as well as Treon is to him. I'm sure he said something, but I don't know if there was a conversation."

(On what gave the team momentum not to move to Treon)
"The quarterback position is so easy to point the finger and say it's all him. It's not all him. We had some protection issues. I know we had two busted routes. We had some drops again. We had a back shoulder throw that was very catchable. There were some things in the game where it was not all on Jeff Driskell. I know we're all going to load up and point the finger at him. That's not right, it's not accurate. He reads defenses very well, he puts the ball in the right spot. He had an errant throw on the curl on their sideline and he had the double-move to Demarcus (Robinson) (and) we wished he had gotten down the field. I just felt we needed a change of momentum in the game and it turned out it worked for us. I'm proud of Treon and the way he responded, but we got to look back at the tape and ask 'Why?' Sometimes it's hard when you have an A-gap linebacker running through and your running back's supposed to block him and doesn't. Those are situations that are easy for you or me to be critical of, but sometimes it's hard in that situation."

(On the zone read option in the second half)
"We hit it in the second half. Coming out in the second series, Jeff hit one in the midfield. We felt like the way they were playing the edges a little bit, we had to counter. On the quarterback counter, Treon had a couple really nice runs. Jeff had one nice run and then we had the zone read called, but they handled the quarterback better than they did as the game went on there. A lot of that situation is how they play you."

FLORIDA RUNNING BACK MATT JONES

(On if Treon Harris seems like a freshman)
"He doesn't seem like a freshman. I mean, he's calm and relaxed. He plays like he's a senior. Well not a senior, I wouldn't say, but he played like he had a couple years of experience. He's great with the ball in his hands."

(On if Jeff Driskel was down)
"Yeah, Jeff was a little down when he threw his second pick I think. We had to rally around him and keep him going. He didn't show very much emotion and he kind of left it in Treon's hands. He was coaching Treon, being a real good coach to him, and we won a game."

FLORIDA OFFENSIVE LINEMAN D.J. HUMPHRIES

(On the emotions of the change of quarterback)
"At a time like this, it's a little hard. It's not like we're at home. We're on the road. We're getting booed either way. Until he (Treon Harris) was in there, I didn't know he was back there. We're going on silent, so I don't hear a voice or anything like that. It was definitely fun though."

(On scoring the first touchdown) "I definitely knew then. I was excited for him too. I had to make sure I went over there and give him a pat on the back to let him know that's how you step up."

(On if there is a different vibe with Harris behind center)
"Yeah, it's a big difference from having a guy that's been there and a guy that hasn't. You know what I mean? It's a little bit of anxiousness. We've got to protect him more, so he can actually see stuff. You know what I mean? Jeff is older, so he sees it quicker than Treon would. So, with Treon, you've got to make sure that he gets optimum time to see everything he needs to see."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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