Jones faces pivotal season in Knoxville
HOOVER, Ala. — Tabbed to win the SEC East Division last season, the 2016 Tennessee Volunteers were champions of life but nothing else.
A promising 5-0 start included the program’s first win against Florida in 12 tries but ended with a 4-4 slide and coach Butch Jones’ team sitting two games behind the division champion Gators.
Irked by the inevitable criticism, Jones uttered his cringeworthy support of his senior class, calling them “champions of life” and turning himself into a punchline.
During Day One of SEC Media Days, the ever-optimistic Jones said he has no regrets about a promising season that fell flat.
“I don’t view it as a disappointment,” he said. “The way I view it is we didn’t accomplish everything we set ourselves out to do. We have to learn from the things that went wrong that we could have done better.
“But I think all you have to do is look at it’s difficult to win and it’s difficult to win championships. And I think this league really exemplifies that.”
Tennessee now enters Jones’ fifth season back in a familiar spot: underdogs in the SEC East. While the Vols’ players will not face the suffocating pressure of a season ago, Jones and his revamped staff are under the microscope amid a major facelift.
Gone are play-making quarterback Joshua Dobbs, all-time Vols’ sack leader Derrick Barnett and nine other starters. But top players come and go. A program on the rise rarely suffers the staff turnover Tennessee did. Jones replaced four assistants and his strength and conditioning coach. UT’s head coach also promoted two assistants, including tight ends coach Larry Scott to offensive coordinator even though he has never called a play during a game.
Vols’ players see the changes as positive.
“You get new faces, a new amount of enthusiasm, kind of a fresh atmosphere,” senior offensive lineman Jashon Robertson said. “Change can be healthy.”
Healthy change will be necessary for Jones’ longterm job security on Rocky Top, where new athletics director John Currie will be watching closely.
The Vols have won three straight bowl games for the first time in more than 20 years. Yet UT continues to suffer perplexing and embarrassing losses under Jones, who is 30-21 at the school.
Ranked No. 9 and unbeaten last season, the Vols then lost three straight games. This included a 49-10 beat-down by Alabama and a 24-21 stunner to South Carolina.
The regular season ended with a 45-34 loss to a Vanderbilt team that otherwise averaged 17 points a game during SEC play.
SEC Network analyst Booger McFarland questions the direction of the Vols under Jones.
“Even in a year where they beat Georgia and Florida, they lose to Vanderbilt,” McFarland told ESPN Nashville’s 102.5 The Game Monday. “I think the people at Tennessee are going to have to make a decision at end of year.”
For now, the biggest decision is who will replace Dobbs, who accounted for 87 touchdowns at UT, including 39 last season. Jones did not rule out using both redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano and junior Quinten Dormady under center.
“You’re replacing an individual who really leaves a legacy,” Jones said. “But I’m really, really excited about the quarterbacks that we have in our program, and I think the competition at that position has really elevated the level of play of everyone else around them.”
With 13 sacks last season and a record 33 overall at UT, Barnett left a legacy himself. But senior defensive tackle Kendal Vickers said it is time to turn the page. If the Vols do not, Jones’ final chapter in Knoxville soon could be written.
“Those guys are great, but they’re not on the team anymore,” Vickers said. “So we got to deal with it.”