Vols Looking For Fast Start After Visit to Fast Track at Bristol

Butch Jones can’t stop gushing about the spectacle of the Battle at Bristol.
Said Jones-“To have our student-athletes be able to play in that type of environment. That will be something that they’ll remember for a lifetime. That’s a lifetime of memories. To have the national stage like we had was truly, truly incredible.”
Maybe Tennessee was swept up in the atmosphere because they got off to another slow start for the second straight week falling behind 14-0 to Virginia Tech.
Said Jones-“We did some things starting the game off again that were uncharacteristic. We missed way too many tackles. We did not do a particularly good job for the first time on both sides of the ball on third down situations. We do have some start fast periods in practice. We’ll probably do more of those. Even in stretch we’ll start faster. Even in specialists period we’ll start fast.”
The Vols Micah Abernathy was named the SEC defensive player of the week after getting three turnovers against the Hokies.
Said Jones-“Obviously three fumble recoveries. That was a school record. I don’t know if that’s ever happened in college football.”
Said Abernathy-“No, I’ve never had three takeaways in a game before even in little league or something like that. We work on turnovers in practice. Picking up fumbles. Recovering fumbles. Blocking and interceptions. Things like those.”
UT’s offensive line struggled again, which is an obvious concern for Coach Jones.
Jones-“Teams aren’t sitting still against us. They’re moving the front on every single snap. They’re mixing up different fronts. So there’s a lot that goes into it.”