HOOVER, Ala. — The mantra of the Tennessee football program under Butch Jones has been “brick by brick,” and this offseason Jones signed enough new ones to build the Great Wall of China if he wanted to.
With a freshman class of 32 — 14 of which enrolled in January, the foundation is being laid down for Jones to make his personal stamp on the Volunteers football program heading into the second season as its coach.
Year 1 didn’t go so well, with a team that wasn’t anywhere near ready for primetime including embarrassing losses to Oregon, Alabama and Auburn en route to a 5-7 record — Tennessee remains one of two Division 1 schools that has never lost eight games in a season.
2014 doesn’t set up to be a walk in the park schedule-wise either with a season-opener against dangerous quarterback Chuckie Keeton and Utah State. It doesn’t get any easier from there with a road date two weeks later with Oklahoma and a trip to Georgia after their bye week.
Week 6 pits Tennessee against Florida, and although the Gators have gone through subpar seasons over the decade, they’ve still managed to beat Tennessee nine times in a row, and 10 out of the last 12 meetings. The last time Florida journeyed to Knoxville, Tenn., optimism reigned supreme before the Gators defeated the Volunteers for what, at that time, was the eighth victory in a row.
“I don’t like that team in Gainesville Florida,” linebacker Curt Maggitt said.
When asked about his emotions when seeing fans do the Gator chomp, he diplomatically elected not to answer.
Maggitt — who received a medical redshirt in the 2013 season after recovering from surgeries for a torn ACL suffered against Missouri on Nov. 10, 2012 — returns to a Tennessee defense that brings back five other starters and was ranked 84th in yards allowed per game, and 100th in yards per play allowed. It is a sobering reality of where Tennessee stands — a fixer-upper that if done right can return to being one college football’s preeminent powers. But there is work yet to be done, and Jones knows it.
“We are still going through the realities of building a college football program,” Jones said. “We're the only school in the country that has to replace both starting interior lines, both offensively and defensively. We have to replace our entire kicking game. So for us the challenge is going to be to maintain our focus, having consistency in performance, and really understanding what it takes to play winning football week in and week out.”
Jones is pleased with how his team has transitioned into year two of his regime. The standard of what he expects is known and actively being sought.
The challenges haven’t all been on the field though. When Jones took over, his staff was staring down the barrel of a stiff NCAA APR penalty if he didn’t get the team’s direction in the classroom turned around. They rebounded with a perfect APR score and a team GPA of 2.82.
“We have to focus on the process, we can’t worry about the end result,” Jones said. “We just have to become a better football team day in and day out. If every individual is accountable for their actions on and off the field, and they work to be the best that they can be it’ll come.”
Butch Jones has the bricks, now it’s time to combine them with the mortar and continue to build Tennessee back to what it should be.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference media days on Tuesday in Hoover, Ala.
