Play with intentness, speed, and personality, and just go out there and be like Peyton Manning, okay? This and more in today’s Vols link roundup.
What a coach wants
Offensive coordinator Larry Scott seems to me to be quiet strength kind of guy. When he speaks about what he expects from his players, his speech is best characterized as low-volume, high-intensity, like your mother speaking through clenched teeth:
“Everything is done with intentness and purpose,” Scott said. “Everything you do – whether it’s your step, whether it’s your hand placement, whether it’s being 15 minutes early for a meeting, whether it’s your preparation, whether it’s hydrating when you need to hydrate, being places when we need you to be there – all of those things speak to being able to have a hard edge, having some toughness, and having the ability to focus in times when I need you to focus. All of those things go into play from on the field to off it.”
I’m pretty sure that “intentness” is not a word, but there is no way in Hades I’m telling Larry Scott that. The text alone in that quote probably doesn’t get the point across, but if you heard him say it, you’d actually hear the seething seeping through. I think he’s going to have his guys ready. I know that my intentness is currently dialed to 11 just from listening to him.
What is quarterbacks coach Mike Canales looking for out of his quarterbacks? Oh, he just wants them to be like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady is all:
“It’s getting guys to feel your energy, to feel you,” Canales said. “There’s a great example with Tom Brady on leadership, with Peyton Manning on leadership. You watch how they play and you watch clips of their highlights. Watching Peyton Manning, his offense felt him, his players trusted him and they felt his presence. That’s what I’m trying to generate in the meeting room, what I’m trying to generate on the field. Your players have got to be able to feel you, your energy, your enthusiasm and your passion. When they get that and they trust you, they’ll play their butts off for you, and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“A lot of the intangibles are going to be different things – their work ethic, how they come out. Are they on the field when they step across the white line? Are they ready to go every single day? That’s what we’re looking for. We want those guys to set themselves apart, be an example and never a distraction, understand it’s all about us because it’s going to take all of us to get this thing done.”
So, you know, just be Peyton is all.
And what does defensive backs coach Charlton Warren want out of his guys? Speed, even if they have no idea where they’re going:
“I’m looking for ballhawks,” Warren said. “And if you make a mistake, I guess I want you to make it going 100 miles an hour. I don’t want the guys to hesitate. I don’t want the guys to throw their hands in the air and say, ‘Coach, I don’t get it.’ I want you to figure it out on the run. When in doubt, run fast and we’ll figure it out from there.”
Play, with personality
Senior cornerback Justin Martin has ditched the purple hair but not the attitude that caused him to dye his hair purple in the first place. He is learning when to play and when to mean business, but it is good to hear that the team has vocal leaders at most positions. With John Kelly at running back, Jajuan Jennings at wide receiver, and Martin at cornerback all jawing at each other, it’s making one wonder whether there’s a bunch of Al Wilsons running around out there. Jennings, by the way, is apparently every bit the beast he was last year, but has learned to channel his natural rage into productive things like blocking receivers.
Speaking of rage, Tennessee offensive lineman commit Cade Mays has goals, yo, namely to make his opponents hate football so much they want to quit.
Quarterbacks
So, I wonder how many different ways we can report between now and the first game that the coaches are willing to play both quarterbacks. The latest iteration is, “If it takes two, it takes two,” which is what Canales recently said when asked the question for the billionth time.
John Adams, though, is on to something else, pointing to the passing game as the potential surprise of the season. I like that idea. Let’s do it.
Um, linebackers?
Is anyone else worried to learn that Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Daniel Bituli are “very, very limited?” Especially when the coaches seem to be going out of their way to remind us that they consider Colton Jumper a starter and that Cortez McDowell is looking good. I believe that Jumper and McDowell are both good, but we really need Kirkland, and Bituli is important as well.
Mmmm. These hooks are tasty.
Yeah, so everybody’s up in arms about CBS’s Dennis Dodd saying that Butch Jones is a “realistic candidate” to replace Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss. Pffffffft. Resist the clickbait, as the whole thing rests on the assumption that Jones tanks and is on the market, not whether he’ll leave Tennessee voluntarily to go to Ole Miss. Deep breath.
Oh, kickers
Also from John Adams comes this important public service announcement:
“In three seasons at Tennessee, [kicker Aaron] Medley never has made a field-goal attempt longer than 47 yards. While he has made 43 of 48 attempts from 20 to 39 yards, he’s 9-for-25 on kicks longer than 39 yards.”
That’s not necessarily a terrible knock on Medley, but it is important to know what to expect of your weapons.
Life in the Shadows
One thing that Tennessee’s best teams have always had in common? Great offensive lines. Call it necessary but not necessarily sufficient, and wonder whether Team 121’s OL will be “great,” but it could be, and if it is, check that box.