It’s not like any of this is anything new to Butch Jones.
The coach has opened six fall practices at Central Michigan and Cincinnati. Five out of the six times it was an opening that would lead to a winning record and a bowl bid. This is, however, the first time he has opened a camp in the Southeastern Conference and Tennessee fans are hoping he works his magic at his new job as head coach of the Vols.
Jones has hit the ground running in Knoxville.
“I challenged our leadership,” said Jones Sunday night after the Vols’ third practice. “I put them in stressful situations. For the most part I thought they responded. Every day is one day closer.
“Day three, I think we continued to progress, just really looking for a high level of consistency in our mental approach, our mental preparation, and then our intensity on the practice field. Being able to be able to go right from pre-practice, the stretch, and maintain that level of intensity all the way through whatever period we end. I think that has kind of been a work in progress. I thought today we took a step in the right direction.”
Jones has his work cut out for him. The Vols are coming off a stumbling three-year stretch under Derek Dooley in which the Big Orange only posted 15 victories with only four of those in SEC play. Tennessee returns only five starters on offense and the biggest loss is quarterback Tyler Bray and his two top playmakers at receivers. The Vols do have eight returning starters on defense but it was a defense that gave up 35.7 points and 471.3 yards per game last season.
So Jones has to work on changing the attitude as well as performance on the practice field.
“Sometimes I watch our demeanor, the way we approach the practice field, the look in our eyes, if we need something to start off, something competitive,” he said, “we do it or I will find an individual who really isn’t dialed in and to shock them right there I put them into a competitive situation. The great thing is now they are all coming up to me and asking to be in those competitive situations, I like to see that.”
Those situations are paying off in competition among the players vying to impress the new coaching staff.
“We are going to fight for that starting spot,” said redshirt senior defensive end Marlon Walls. “The depth chart is nothing right now we just have to compete and do what you can to stay here. I have to watch the film because I know I have a great guy behind me in Corey Miller, he is pretty good guy and he is fighting.”
The competitiveness is not only on the defensive side of the football.
“There is no depth chart right now,” said offensive guard Marcus Jackson. “One thing about this sport you play, it is going to be somewhat businesslike when it comes to who is starting and who’s coming off the bench and we just make sure that we help each other and still stay teammates throughout the whole process.
“It’s always been competitive. I feel like with Coach Jones, you always have a competitive environment with the young guys, just wanting to see for the first time what they can do in pads. Everybody was impressed with what everybody was doing today.”
But the competitiveness in the early camp has not driven a wedge between the players. In fact it has had the opposite effect.
“Coach Jones has definitely emphasized being a family as one unit, especially on the o-line, we have OLP and everybody’s family,” said Jackson. “We treat them like they are our brothers.”
Sophomore tight end Alex Ellis says the competition is making everyone better.
“I mean that’s all it is, competition. We’re just trying to get better. Without competition you’re never going to get better,” Ellis said. “I’m trying to be number one, B-Downs [Brendan Downs] is trying to be number one you know and Joe [Ayers] and Woody [Quinn] and [A.J.] Branisel — we’re all trying to be number one. We’ve got a good group too so we all bond together pretty good. We’re all really good friends. It’s kind of a little different in there.
“It’s competition but we’re all friends at the same time.”
The Vols are trying to avoid a third straight year without a postseason bowl appearance, something that hasn’t happened in Knoxville since 1975-78. If Butch Jones has his way, that streak ends this year.