University of Tennessee Athletics
Vol Report: Missouri Week Begins
November 06, 2017 | Football
Vols resume SEC play this week on the road against Missouri with 7:30 p.m. ET SEC Network contest
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones, offensive coordinator Larry Scott, defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and UT student-athletes spoke to reporters on Monday in the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio. UT held practice inside the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center.
The Vols (4-5, 0-5 SEC) are coming off a 24-10 win over Southern Miss in this past Saturday's Homecoming game. Jones said that Tennessee's execution and focus on small details contributed to the victory.
"The small details add up to the big things and what it takes to play winning football and we were able to do that," Jones said. "When you look at the details, we only had three penalties in the entire game. We did not turn the ball over. We generated two takeaways which led to 14 points. Red zone efficiency, we were four out of four with three touchdowns, which is big. I thought Aaron Medley's field goal at that stage of the game was also big for us. We controlled field position for pretty much most of the game until really about the middle of the fourth quarter, and that is when we needed special teams to step up.
Jones praised redshirt senior punter Trevor Daniel for his important role in flipping field position. The Ray Guy Award candidate enjoyed one of his best games of the season, averaging 49.2 yards on eight punts with three landing inside the USM 20 and six punts of 50 or more yards. He leads the country with 27 punts of 50 or more yards. Daniel said that he is focused on improving his hang time on punts and that he and his teammates hope the Vols can build some momentum off Saturday's victory.
"It felt good," Daniel said. "Anytime you can get the win, it's always a good feeling. We are looking forward to getting a few more wins this season."
Young Offensive Linemen Stepping Up
Saturday's game featured redshirt freshman offensive linemen Ryan Johnson and Devante Brooks making their first career starts.
UT offensive coordinator Larry Scott, who was an offensive lineman at USF from 1996 through 1999, was pleased to see the young o-linemen work hard and make the most of their playing time.
"I thought they went in and battled," Scott said. "They went in and they strained and they played hard. You could tell they were excited about the opportunity, a little nervous and all those things at the same time, but in those situations all you can ask these young kids to do is go in there and put your best foot forward and try hard, and they did that. They battled for four quarters for us."
True freshman Riley Locklear made his first career appearance and true freshman Trey Smith, who had started the previous eight games at right guard, made his first start at left tackle. He is the first UT true freshman to start at left tackle in at least the last 30 years. Scott added that Smith did well adjusting to a new position on the line.
"Moving out there and sometimes being put on islands in pass protection and different things like that, he showed what we hoped for," Scott said.
Defense Forces Turnovers in Key Moments
On Saturday, Tennessee's defense forced two third-quarter turnovers that set up a pair of touchdowns and sealed the win for the Vols. With 5:22 left in the third, Emmanuel Moseley intercepted a pass from Keon Howard and returned it 19 yards, setting up a 20-yard touchdown run by John Kelly. UT halted the Golden Eagles' next drive when redshirt sophomore Darrell Taylor strip sacked Howard and redshirt junior Rashaan Gaulden recovered the ball at the USM 19. Four plays later, Kelly punched in a three-yard touchdown and an Aaron Medley extra point pushed the Vols' lead to 24-3.
Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said that the resulting scores off the turnovers were the result of complimentary football. Special teams pinned Southern Miss deep in its own territory, the defense forced the turnovers and the offense finished the job with touchdowns.
"It's been positive," Shoop said of his unit's forced turnovers. "We always emphasize it, but we've really taken it to the next step with regards to emphasizing it. I think we had eight in the last three games including a touchdown. This week I think the key was the offense capitalizing on both of them and scoring touchdowns instead of field goals and I think Larry would say the same thing."
