Matt Jones remembers his first trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the Volunteers in 2012. It was his first career start and his second trip on the road with the Gators.
He probably wants to forget his first play, though.
"It was great, but for the first play I pitched the ball to (Andre) Debose — we had ran a reverse and he fumbled the ball," Jones said. "And then it was like crazy, and then it got louder as it went."
Despite Jones getting the start, Florida chose to ride Mike Gillislee and Trey Burton in the run game. The duo combined for 206 yards on the ground, 80 of which came from Burton’s third-quarter touchdown run that tied the game at 20-20 with a little more than 18 minutes to play.
Jones finished with five rush attempts against Tennessee, gaining just 9 yards on five rushing attempts.
But heading into Saturday’s contest between Florida (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) and Tennessee (2-2, 0-1 SEC), Jones looks to be a bigger factor for the Gators.
"I’ve definitely matured a lot from that moment," said Jones, now a junior. "When I was a freshman I didn’t read the holes right. I’ve definitely matured running the ball, pass protections and catching the ball. So I kind of grew up now."
What was once a great rivalry has been extremely one-sided as of late. Florida is on a nine-game win streak against Tennessee, winning by an average margin of 15.3 points.
And while Florida is coming off a 21-point loss to Alabama, coach Will Muschamp said UF is ready for its second road game of the season.
"I think we’re confident," Muschamp said. "I think that we’ve had good prep in the open week and I think we’ve had good preparation through this week and your preparation builds confidence in what you do. … It’s obvious a lot of negativity surrounds us here. I think our guys have seen that and understand the type of football team we can have when we put it together and that’s what we’re looking forward to.’’
Muschamp said on Monday that he wants to incorporate more of the run game into the offense, and that will start with Jones. The junior is pacing Florida’s running backs with 258 yards.
"He’s just the best leader in the running back position," center Max Garcia said. "You know, just with how hard he works now and him making good decisions when he decides to hit the hole and things like that... I feel like he’s been doing a really good job. He’s been a leader out there."
With Jones beginning to separate himself in the backfield as Florida’s go-to back, sophomore Kelvin Taylor has been used sparingly since SEC play began.
After rushing for 68 yards and two touchdowns in Florida’s season opener against Eastern Michigan, Taylor has been limited to 19 rush attempts in UF’s past two games — less than half of the workload Jones has.
"Kelvin is still coming along. He’s a great back," Jones said. "I mean, we’re just working together. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do with your opportunities when you get the ball."
Florida is ready to right the ship this week.
And having an extra week to prepare helped, Jones said.
"Everybody’s minds kind of got scattered all over the place," Jones said. "We had to pull back together mentally and on and off the field, we’ve gotten better as a team. I mean, it’s going to be tough because people throw stuff at us that we don’t want to hear, but we’re going to pull together and get these Ws."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Redshirt junior quarterback Jeff Driskel hands the ball to junior running back Matt Jones during Florida's 36-30 overtime victory against Kentucky on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
