Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It isn’t often that a Mountain West team traveling to Southeastern Conference territory is treated as the more experienced team.
But that is probably the case for Utah State’s opening weekend matchup at Tennessee, according to Vols coach Butch Jones.
The Vols return only 10 starters from last year’s team that finished 5-7, and none of their returners come along the offensive or defensive lines.
“I have said this before, and I will continue to say it: the first games are the games of the unknowns,” Jones said at his weekly news conference Tuesday. “We probably have more unknowns than anyone else in the country. How will your players respond? We have to be disciplined, assignment sound and handle turnovers. The winner of the first game usually manages the turnovers. They don’t beat themselves. They play well on special teams, and they tackle.”
Jones said the lack of experience from his team will help it not look past Utah State, a team the Vols have never played. The Aggies are 1-16 all-time against the SEC, with the lone win coming at Kentucky in 1970.
“Our players understand. They know good football players,” Jones said. “I think the other thing is that they (Utah State) have a bunch of veteran players. Even though they had to replace a lot of players in the offensive line and other key positions, they are replacing them with veteran players. We have not had that luxury. We are replacing players with freshmen. That is the mark when you have a program is when you graduate, the next person steps up and he has gained valuable experience, maybe on special teams or playing in a part-time role. Now they have worked their way into a full-time role. That is what they have been able to do. So even though they have lost some great players, they have had players in the program pay their dues. They have learned from great players before them. They understand, and that is what great programs do. They learn from each other. When you have that culture in place and that mindset, you just keep building it everyday. That is what we will get to around here.”
The Vols named senior Justin Worley as the starting quarterback at media day on Aug. 14. That hasn’t given the team as much time as it would like to jell under the new signal caller, though he started seven games and completed 55.6 percent of his passes for 1,239 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions last year before breaking his thumb Oct. 26 at then-No. 1 Alabama.
On the other side, Jones has been impressed with what he’s seen out of Utah State’s defense.
“There are great football players,” he said. “All you have to do is look at the body of work over a long period of time from what is going on at Utah State. They have done a tremendous job. You just have to put the film on. You see a very well coached football team. You see a confident football team and you see a capable football team. They have some great players.”
One of those ‘great players’ is Aggie quarterback Chuckie Keeton, Jones said on a conference call with other SEC coaches on Wednesday.
“He adds a whole other element to the game,” Jones said of Keeton, calling him a Heisman Trophy candidate. “He’s not a running quarterback; he’s a quarterback.”
Worley, the senior quarterback on a team full of youths, thinks Tennessee can be a dark horse in the SEC, even with the turnover.
“I think we can surprise some people this year,” he said. "I think we are really talented, even though we are young. There is an insane number of young guys on this team, and being a senior, I mean, you’d hope there would be more seniors that we could lean on here and there. But I’m excited. I think the sky's the limit for this football team.”
