Butch Jones and Rick Barnes: notes and videos from Big Orange Caravan in Memphis

BUTCH JONES

• Memphis is a big recruiting ground for us.
• We are excited to have Drew Richmond join us in a couple of weeks.
• We have the best fan base in America. Look at the spring game turnout: 63,000 with the threat of severe weather.
• We were set back in spring a little because of the inordinate amount of injuries and so we had to really focus on the development individually. It’s hard to tell where we are as a football team because at the end of spring we had 16 individuals out.
• Josh Dobbs gained some valuable confidence last year and our players believe in him and view him as their leader. Dobbs has also benefited from the addition of Coach DeBord.
• We will be, arguably, the youngest team in college football again this year.
• The stepping stone for us to propel last year was the Florida game. We could have packed it in and listened to the noise and distractions out there. But the way our team rallied and stayed together…
• We produce NFL players at Tennessee. Players come here to have a great opportunity to play in the NFL, get a tremendous education and be a part of something special that’s bigger than them, and that’s Tennessee football.
• Recruiting is about relationships. We have tremendous relationships with all the high school coaches in Memphis. Now we have an individual like Drew Richmond coming in who can speak about how special Tennessee is and help get other prospects and coaches on campus.

RICK BARNES