TENNESSEE FOOTBALL HYPE VIDEO 2016-2017 PLAYOFFS IN SIGHT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Whats the saying? Its (almost) football time in Tennessee.
The Volunteers kickoff their 2016 season on Thursday evening against Appalachian State, so Tennessee beat writer Jesse Simonton held another Facebook Live chat, answering a number of recruiting and team-related questions.
On the docket? 5-star cornerback Lamont Wade, who will unofficially visit UT for the App State game, 3-star wide receiver commit Princeton Fant and his recent injury, coach Larry Scotts impact recruiting South Florida and more. Jesse also discussed a litany of team inquiries, including Tennessees passing game, score predictions for Thursday and UTs schedule strength.
Check it out.
Live chat: Tennessee beat writer @JesseReSimonton discusses all things Vols. recruiting. Oh, Im sure Thursdays game will get brought up, too. Tune in now.
Posted by Tennessee Volunteers Insiders on Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Jesse Simonton covers Tennessee football and recruiting for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and SECCountry.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. This is the season Tennessee has been pointing to for years.
Tennessee"s revival started with the arrival of consecutive top-five recruiting classes in 2014 and 2015 that restocked the Volunteers" talent base. Tennessee ended a string of four straight losing seasons in 2014 and finished last season with a six-game winning streak and a Top 25 ranking.
The next step is to compete for a Southeastern Conference title and playoff berth. SEC media have picked Tennessee to win its first Eastern Division title since 2007.
"We want expectations high," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "That"s why you come to the University of Tennessee. That"s why you coach here. To me, it"s a compliment of your program, no more, no less. Now it"s what you do with it."
The Vols believe they can meet those expectations if they do a better job of protecting leads. Tennessee led in each of its four losses last season and was ahead by at least 13 points in three of them.
Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports Images
Tennessee returns all but five starters from last years squad, which bodes well for Butch Jones squad.
Only five starters from last season"s 45-6 Outback Bowl blowout of Northwestern aren"t back this year. Depth and experience could help Tennessee produce better in close games this season.
"You"ve just got to go into those situations with confidence, knowing that you"re going to make a play, knowing your teammates got your back," linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said. "That"s what we started getting toward the end of last year. We played with a lot more confidence at the end of those games."
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Perhaps the biggest challenge is to avoid getting consumed by the preseason hype.
"Honestly, all of that"s just outside noise," defensive end Corey Vereen said. "All we"re focused on is bringing it to work every single day."
Here are some things to watch this year:
RUNNING WILD: Jalen Hurd, Alvin Kamara and quarterback Joshua Dobbs return after combining to rush for 2,657 yards and 30 touchdowns last season. Hurd enters his junior season with 2,187 career yards rushing. He"s well within reach of the school record held by Travis Henry, who rushed for 3,078 yards from 1997-2000.
SPECIAL-TEAMS SKILLS: Tennessee had the nation"s leading kickoff returner (Evan Berry) and punt returner (Cam Sutton) last season. Both are back this year. Tennessee scored a combined six touchdowns on kickoff and punt returns last season. Tennessee also returns its kicker (Aaron Medley) and punter (Trevor Daniel) from a year ago.
NEW COORDINATOR: Bob Shoop takes over as defensive coordinator after previously filling the same role at Vanderbilt and Penn State. Shoop, a Yale alum and former Columbia head coach, said he wants to establish an "in-your-face defense that"s built on relentless pursuit and never-ending pressure." Vereen noted that Shoop is "not real high on the swag-meter" but added that the new coordinator has made a major impact with his philosophy that "how we"re going to be as a defense is going to look better than whatever you have drawn up on paper."
PASSING CONCERNS:Tennessee must upgrade a passing game that struggled with consistency. Dobbs completed 59.6 percent of his passes last season, down from 63.3 in 2014. Tennessee doesn"t return anyone who had more than 405 yards receiving last season.
FRONTLOADED SCHEDULE: Tennessee hosts Florida, visits Georgia and Texas A&M and hosts defending national champion Alabama on four consecutive weekends between Sept. 24 and Oct. 15. But the schedule gets much easier from there. Tennessee"s final five opponents (South Carolina, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt) had losing records last season.
This article was written bySteve Megargee from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs added one more assignment to his long list of responsibilities.
The face of Tennessee"s program also has become the voice of its offense. Coaches and teammates say they"ve noticed a difference in him this year in that regard. He doesn"t hesitate to let the entire offense know when something needs to be corrected or when someone"s done something well.
"He"s definitely more vocal," senior guard Dylan Wiesman said. "He stands up and he"ll get on guys and call them out. That has definitely improved. That is what"s making him a better leader."
Dobbs, whose 22 career starts lead all active Southeastern Conference quarterbacks, downplays the changes in his leadership approach. The senior said he has always tried to lead ever since taking over the starting spot for good late in the 2014 season.
But he acknowledges he has made a few tweaks to his leadership style.
"I"m just being myself, pushing my teammates, holding them to a higher standard," Dobbs said. "I"ve always held them to a high standard and have said things when needed, but this year it"s just holding them to an even higher standard than I have in the past. I"m glad they"re seeing that and they"re responding to it well."
No. 9 Tennessee has its highest preseason ranking since 2005 as it heads into Thursday"s opener with Appalachian State. Tennessee is seeking its first conference title since its 1998 national championship.
Dobbs is making sure the Volunteers understand what"s at stake.
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"If we"re not executing, he"ll let us know," junior wide receiver Josh Malone said. "If in a certain period of practice we"re not executing, we"ll start that whole entire period over and make sure we"re executing that period of practice."
Dobbs" willingness to face challenges on and off the field explains why Tennessee coach Butch Jones says that "when you look at the definition of a student-athlete, it starts with Josh Dobbs."
Dobbs has rushed for 1,160 yards and 19 touchdowns over the last two seasons. He threw for 2,291 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2015.
His classroom performance is also impressive. Dobbs majors in aerospace engineering and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll last each of the last two years.
Dobbs wants to design airplanes when he"s done playing football and has spent portions of the last two summers performing internships for Pratt & Whitney. His latest internship took place in Montreal, and Dobbs said it gave him an opportunity to test out the French he had learned in high school.
"I could hear it well," Dobbs said. "But speaking it, I was a little rusty."
Malone decided to sit in on one of Dobbs" engineering classes last summer before they started a workout. Malone said the experience left his "mind blown."
"I"m just more fascinated he can handle that challenge and still perform on the field," Malone said.
Dobbs" latest assignment is to improve his passing accuracy. Dobbs threw just five interceptions last season but he completed only 59.6 percent of his passes, down from 63.3 percent in 2014. He has talked about trying to get his completion percentage up to 65 or even 70 percent.
RELATED:Volunteers ready to take a major step forward in 2016
Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord says Dobbs still performed well enough that Tennessee ranked second in the SEC in third-down efficiency last season, but he added that the senior"s accuracy has "really improved" this summer.
DeBord also described the change in the way Dobbs is communicating with teammates and "really taking control" of the offense.
"He knows all of us, he knows how to work with all of us and knows how to talk to all of us, which is a pretty important part of being a leader," Wiesman said. "You have to know how to talk to your guys. He has that connection with all of us.
"Just him getting closer with everybody has allowed him to be a great leader because he knows how to talk to us, how to motivate us."
This article was written by Steve Megargee from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
