Opening Statement
I am not going to transcribe and rebroadcast everything Butch Jones said in his Tuesday press conference so lets hit some bullet points shall we.
- Jones is really sick and tired about hearing about how terrible last year was.
- The players are tried of hitting each other. (file this under duh)
- Compete is an early favorite to be the buzzword of the season. Jones used it no fewer than 5 times in the first two minutes
- Lots of talk about building an identity. No word on what it is but, you know, they are thinking about it
Jones at this point is a master of coach speak. He isn't a grand master on the level of say Nick Saban or Urban Meyer who have both perfected the art of saying nothing very much at all very smugly. He's young, but Butch clearly has potential to excel.
Q&A Session
One point that I liked that Jones stressed early is that the upperclassmen are starting to understand the expectations of the coaches. Brian Kelly's teams were led by Brian Kelly above all else. A player either did what was asked or they didn't play. There was leadership, but it was imposed from the top down. Jones is trying to create a kind of bottom up leadership. Neither way is wrong per sae, just opposite ends of a spectrum. I know for a fact that the change in style a demeanor had a profound effect on last years team. This group by all accounts gets it.
The buzzword with the receivers is consistency. Purely on talent there have not been many, if any groups at UC that are this deep and this talented. But many of the guys that have been relied on within that group are going to be getting their first snaps come Saturday. Basically he is pretty sure that he knows what he has in the receivers, but he won't know for sure until Saturday night.
Jones expects both Munchie Leagux and Jordan Luallen to take snaps this fall. Luallen has been tabbed as the "wildcat QB" which I don't quite know what to make of.
Travis Kelce is out Saturday with an Ankle injury. Expected back for the Tennessee game.
If I never hear the word volume again in a Football context it will be too soon.
"Austin Peay is a physical Football team" Word
"We have to take care of the Football" Word X2
Ralph David Abernathy IV will be the lead man on kickoff returns. I have no problem what so ever with that. UC needs more from the return units period. I don't particularly care if its a Freshman has to do it.
Jahmile Addae has taken a leave of absence from the program due to some issues with his health. Dave Johnson has been added to the staff in his absence. Mark Elder is taking over as the RB coach.