This summer, Tennessee's quarterbacks have been busy with formal 7-on-7 workouts three days a week.
Both are trying to get comfortable in yet another new offensive scheme, and every minute is precious.
"You can't throw enough balls with receivers," Stephens says. "It comes down to reps. The more you throw, the better you're going to get."
For Stephens, those throws were severely limited this spring because of a broken wrist on his throwing hand. A month after UT's spring game marked the end of spring practice, Stephens said his wrist finally felt healthy.
Not only healthy, Stephens says he's found a comfort zone within Kiffin's pro-style offense.
"Something clicked with me this summer," Stephens said. "One of the things with this offense is timing. It's a huge thing to take a five-step drop and know where they're going to be. The more you do it, the better it comes to you. I think it's coming to me right now, and I'm ready to go into August."
Last season wasn't kind to either player.
"I can see in Jonathan what has happened before and around here - and I don't know if this is a good comparison - it's like a bad relationship. He's hurt," Kiffin said. "You can tell when things go bad a little bit with him that he kind of freezes up a little bit because he's been beat up for so long. That's very obvious for me to see.
Kiffin, who is very active with UT's quarterbacks along with offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and quarterbacks coach David Reaves, wants his players to forget last year's struggles and focus on what's ahead.
"I don't talk about last year to them at all," he said. "I talk about what we're doing and our future here. They understand I'm going to protect them. Quarterback's different than everybody else. I'm going to protect them in the way that I call games. I'm going to protect them in the way that I talk to the media about them as well. I got their back, and they need to understand that."
