Vols Open Fall Camp With Plenty of High Hopes

The Vols have heard all the talk about their potential this season.
Now it’s time to work.
Tennessee opened fall practice Monday evening with plenty of high hopes, since they return 17 starters from last year’s talented team.
Disappointment has filled Rocky Top the last few years.
But this season, Vols fans are giddy about Tennessee’s potential.
The Vols are being picked to win the SEC East.
Said head coach Butch Jones-“We want expectations high. That’s why you come to the University of Tennessee. That’s why you coach here. To me that’s a compliment of our program. No more. No less. Now it’s what you do with it.”
Tennessee may have been the best 9-4 team in America last year.
Said Jones-“We only turned the football over 12 times. We were fourth in the country. We were top five in just about every special teams category. We were number one overall in special teams when you put all the units together. Our defense only started 12 times on their side of the fifty all year.”
With practice underway, the goal is to improve the most important stat, the number of wins.
Said Jones-“We’ve really challenged our football team first and foremost in the strength and conditioning area. We need to be a much more explosive football team. You try to put your players in those type of situations going into training camp trying to create some stressful situations. We have what we call ‘gotta have it’ periods. There’s different things like a two-point play.”
Staying healthy will also be important, especially at receiver.
Said Jones-“We have to stay healthy out on the perimeter of our offense. I want to say towards the tail end of the season, and in the Outback Bowl, we only had three healthy receivers. Never been apart of anything like that.”