#VolReport: Jones Pushes Dobbs Daily

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — While sophomore quarterback Joshua Dobbs has inflicted plenty of damage to the two opposing defenses he has faced this season, Butch Jones still would like to see more consistency from Dobbs in practice.

“I never said he didn’t practice well, I said consistency in performance which he hears every day,” Jones said.

“So that is just consistent messaging. Josh is fine. It is our job as coaches to elevate them. The definition of coaching is creating change, creating positive change. So again, it is just that improvement each and every day. So he continues to get better. But it is not like he had a poor performance, if you want to be great, you expect greatness every day.”

Dobbs agreed that while he has played well in his two appearances, he definitely still has room to grow, and that starts by performing well in practice every day.

“Number one, consistency,” he said when asked what where he can improve. “I need to do that every time I step on the field. I need to improve my timing and rhythm with the receivers after not being able to throw with them for most of the season, so we’ve definitely improved with that after practice and during practice, and we’re growing. And just getting on the same page as the O-line, with the O-linemen and the running backs, so just coming together as an offense.”

It is the continuous pushing from his head coach, Dobbs says, that fuels him to become a better quarterback.

“That pushes me to continue to work hard,” he said. “It’s definitely a tough game and it changes every week, so you can’t get complacent. So with him pushing me, it keeps me from getting complacent, it keeps me on my toes, which I have to be to play quarterback in the SEC.”

EYES ON #5

With the final three games of the season quickly approaching, Team 118 is ready for what head coach Butch Jones is calling a three-game playoff series. Win #5 is on the line for the Vols and they know what’s at stake as they prepare for Kentucky.

“They need one more game to get to a bowl game. We need two,” sophomore defensive back Cameron Sutton said. “It’s their last couple of games coming down to it. Same for us. We’re just approaching it as a three-game series for ourselves. One step at a time. One week at a time. One game at a time. Our focus this week is Kentucky, which is obviously a big game in our backyard. We pride ourselves on winning at home.”

Starting quarterback Joshua Dobbs is ready for the opportunity to do what hasn’t been done since the 2010 season.

“We’re both teams that haven’t been to bowl games in a while and we’re definitely fighting for the same goal,” Dobbs said. “Our goal is to go out and get to five wins. They stand in our path so our goal is to do whatever it takes to move them out of the way and get win #5 and move on from there.”

With two wins needed for bowl game eligibility, the team is making sure to focus on one game at a time. With that said, win #5 is top of mind.

“It’s very important,” sophomore defensive lineman Corey Vereen said. “This win is the only thing that we’re thinking about. It’s our one win we’re focused on. It’s everything to us. We just have to make plays when it counts. We have to win games. We have to hunker down and do our job.”

On a team with 16 seniors, the Vols have a lot to play for. After not becoming bowl eligibility last season, Team 118 remembers the feeling and are refusing to let it happen again.

“We have a lot to play for,” defensive back Brian Randolph said. “We have a lot more pride. We just want to go out there and give Tennessee fans a bowl game.”

“We have the best of three right now,” senior Jordan Williams adds. “We just have to win out right now and get to a bowl game. That’s our biggest concern right now.”

O-LINE: NEW CONFIDENCE AND PHYSICALITY

Tennessee’s last two games against Alabama and South Carolina marked major turning points for the offensive line in terms of production and building confidence. While the Alabama game was admittedly not their desired outcome, the O-Line finally felt something click and used their newfound confidence to help put up record offensive numbers the next week against the Gamecocks.

“I really think that taking what we learned from Alabama into South Carolina, you saw the fruits of that labor,” said right tackle Jacob Gilliam. “We learned a lot of great things about our offense [in the Alabama game] and what we could do. You saw that kind of explode during South Carolina.”

For left tackle Kyler Kerbyson, watching film of the Alabama and South Carolina games has brought one noticeable difference to light. While striving to wear down their opponents and create offensive opportunities, Kerbyson saw a direct correlation between the increased level of confidence and his O-line’s recent physicality.

“Our physicality is definitely better,” Kerbyson said. “We took that to heart to say, `We have to out-physical these guys.’ The confidence helps a lot too because if you think you’re not going to lose and you’re going to win this, then nine times out of ten you are. You think what happens, so that confidence really helped us.”

For Kerbyson, the unit’s performance and production during the South Carolina game could not have come at a better time, as the team now looks to carry their momentum into the final games of the regular season, beginning with Kentucky.

“It’s huge,” Kerbyson said. “We haven’t had a game yet where we had those kinds of numbers as an offensive line. It gives us a lot of confidence in our whole offense and in the fact that we have some real playmakers behind us and we can score a lot of points when we need to.”

Among the list of positives stemming from the unit’s confidence is also a better sense of tempo. For Gilliam, the offensive linemen are starting to become the quick-paced, solid group they need to be to help Team 118 to a bowl game in 2014.

“Tempo is how our offense lives,” Gilliam added. “It’s how we breathe and everything we do should be based off of the tempo and wearing guys down. I think as an O-line, we really just hit our stride. We’ve been working for so long to try and get to a point where you know you’re working hard and really getting it. Then, you hit that point and you finally see everything that you’ve been working for.”

HURD DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES

Freshman running back Jalen Hurd has fully embraced his evolving role for the Volunteers. While accumulating 598 net rushing yards through his first nine games of the season, he also has 26 catches for 166 yards receiving, adding a new element to his game.

“I’ll take whatever they give me,” Hurd said. “It really doesn’t matter to me. I’ll take whatever helps the team get a `W’.”

While adjusting to life as an SEC running back with proven receiving abilities, Hurd has also taken his fair share of hits on the field. Despite the wear and tear of colliding with SEC-caliber defenders each week, Hurd feels great in preparing for Kentucky.

“Playing in the SEC, this is the most difficult conference in my mind,” Hurd said. “You’re going to have different things like that but you just have to push through it. I feel great. I really expected myself to feel like this, to be honest.”

With all eyes on Team 118’s bowl game aspirations, Hurd’s individual offense numbers hint at a 1,000-yard season as a true freshman for the Vols. And while the stat is attractive to the Tennessee native, he maintains his team mentality and focus.

“If it happens, it happens,” Hurd said. “I’m definitely going to try to do it, but my most-important priority right now is getting to a bowl game.”

HIGH WORKLOAD DOESN’T PHASE WILLIAMS

With the wear and tear of the season beginning to slow down Tennessee’s thin defensive line, senior Jordan Williams says last week’s bye week came at the perfect time as the Vols gear up for a strong finish to the season.

“I mean, I don’t know how long that stretch of games was before the bye week,” he said, “but it was definitely wearing on us a little bit, and the bye week came just in time. Right now, like Coach Jones says, we’ve got a three game playoff, and that bye week came just in time.”

Forced to play nearly 90 snaps against South Carolina, Williams says he and the D-Line are now rested and ready to take on Kentucky.

“It’s tough. Playing defensive tackle, [that many snaps] is tough,” he said. “But that bye week, like I said, came just in time. We had plenty of time to get our bodies back in shape and get some rest and I’m feeling great right now.”

In addition to the bye week, the emergence of freshman defensive tackle Kendal Vickers in practice has also allowed some of the starters on the defensive line to rest and take less practice reps the last few weeks.

“Kendal Vickers, he’s been doing great things in practice, man,” said Williams. “He keeps his head up, keeps working. He’s a little bit undersized as a defensive tackle, but he’s adding weight on. He came in a defensive end, I think he came in [weighing] 215, 230, and I think he’s … I mean, he’s probably 260, 270 now. So he’s definitely put on some weight man, and he’s stepping up in practice.”

SOUND BITES

Here are sound bites from #Team118:

FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK JALEN HURD

»(On the improvements in the Vols offense)

“We’re communicating great and I’m just going out there, trying to get my right reads. The offensive line is doing a great job of helping me out and [Joshua] Dobbs adds another element to that. The wide receivers are also doing a great job of blocking down field. As the season has evolved, I’m learning each game and we’re getting better and better.”

»On running back Derrell Scott)

“He’s learning every day and I think he’s doing a great job. He really puts forth a lot of effort in the weight room and extra at practice, working on his punching, working on his footwork. He’s doing a great job just with the mentality of it and he’s still got a little more to go, but I think he’s improving every day. We’re all trying to help him out and he’s doing a good job.”

SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK JOSHUA DOBBS

»(On Pig Howard)

“He’s done an excellent job of getting open and making great catches, as we saw at the end of the South Carolina game, and throughout the game. He’s definitely made a lot of plays. Me and Pig’s timing has gotten better over the course of the past couple of weeks. Our goal is to continue to progress with me and him, and the entire receiver group.”

»(On Marquez North)

“Obviously I don’t want to get too focused on one receiver – my goal is to just go through my progressions and protect the football – but, having Marquez out there…we’ve all seen the plays that he’s been able to make in the pass game, and he also does a great job blocking on the edge with his big body, so having him out there would be awesome.”

SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN JACOB GILLIAM

»(On the status of his knee and his increase in playing time)

“My knee is feeling really good. Having that time off to do some rehab and get a little rest after South Carolina, it’s getting a little more back to normal. I think I’ve exceeding even what I thought I could do, which is big. I feel like I’m back to 100 percent and I’m back to what I was beforehand. Every day I think about how I don’t have much of this left and at one point, I had none of it left. It changes my approach every day.”

»(On the offense gaining 344 rushing yards vs. South Carolina)

“I think 344 is a lot of rushing yards for anybody. We were happy about it and the first thing we said was, `Hey, let’s get that the next week and the next week and the next week.”

JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN MARCUS JACKSON

»(On the success of the offensive line)

“I think we just continue to keep on working and it really helped out. We kept working and working. We knew one day we were going to strike gold and we did. Josh Dobbs has been doing good along with Jalen Hurd and all of our backs making us right.”

»(On what has changed with the offensive line)

“I see guys playing with a lot more confidence, knowing the calls, knowing where they’re going. Everyone has been improving week-to-week, so it’s not really a big difference what we see on film. It has been steady improvement and now it’s starting to show.”

JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN KYLER KERBYSON

»(On the offensive line’s mentality in the South Carolina game)

“After that first half, when we scored with barely any time left going into the half, our confidence went through the roof. When it came down to it at the end of the game, we knew, `Hey, we’ve done this before. We’re alright, so let’s just go out there and do what we’re supposed to do. Block the guy you’re supposed to block and we’ll be fine.'”

SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE BACK CAMERON SUTTON

»(On how communication helps the defense)

“Communication is a big part of what we do. When everybody is on the same page throughout the course of the game, it’s to get anything on us. It’s our job to stay on the same page. When we are together on one heartbeat, like I said, it’s hard to get anything on us.”

»(On what he has seen from Kentucky on film)

“A lot of tempo. Great quarterback. They make a lot of explosive plays. Great running back. Very balanced team. They like to air it out. They play on the perimeter and have the guys to do that. They play for each other. You can tell they’re a hungry team and they’ll definitely be hungry coming in this weekend.”

JUNIOR DEFENSIVE BACK BRIAN RANDOLPH

»(On how much more explosive this year’s Kentucky team is)

“They definitely have some playmakers. All of their receivers can make the big plays if you want them to. They have a couple great running backs. They have an NFL quarterback. They have a lot of playmakers. Their scheme. They have a lot of motions and shifts going on so we have to get ready for that.”

»(On the advantage of the bye week)

“We definitely needed it. We had a couple of guys banged up and mentally tired. Coach did a good job with the bye week getting us time to recover. When A.J. [Johnson] is slowing down you know everyone has to be feeling it. I guess Coach saw that and gave us the rest we needed.”

SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE LINEMAN COREY VEREEN

»(On what he learned from last season’s failed attempt to make a bowl game)

“We’ve just got to make plays when it counts. We’ve got to win games. We’ve just got to hunker down and do our job.”

»(On how much the South Carolina win boosted the team’s confidence)

“Immensely, immensely. Just going there, getting the win away from home – everything like that – it was cold, everyone was against us, nobody expected us win…it was a good win for us.”c

SENIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN JORDAN WILLIAMS

»(On what motivates the defensive line to play through fatigue/injuries)

“We love the D-Line, we love the trenches, and we love Tennessee. So we’re going to do anything we can to stay on the field and keep being productive.”

»(On if he expected to play this many snaps)

“No, no man. Never that. I mean, shoot…DB’s play that. D-Linemen don’t play that [many snaps].”

SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE LINEMAN DANNY O’BRIEN

»(On if there is more pressure being picked to win over Kentucky)

“We don’t really listen to media and who’s picking who to win. We’re just in there watching film, going out and working hard on the practice field, so we’re really not too worried about what everybody in America thinks.”

»(On keeping the group level-headed after the SC win)

“I think that comes with maturity. I think our seniors have done a great job with that. We’ve gotten a lot of big wins. We had a big win last year over South Carolina. I think we learned our lesson being able to come back from that. It’s just something we have to preach something to the younger guys. I think with the bye week some of that has toned down. I think we’re on the right page.”