KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Back on the grass at Haslam Field, the 12th-ranked Vols are focused on being adaptable against an Arkansas team under interim head coach Bobby Petrino and interim defensive coordinator Chris Wilson.
“It kind of has a feel like the first game of the year,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said. “They had the bye, so they can get whatever they want installed and ready to go. Early in the ball game, we just have to call sound football plays and let our guys go play really fast.”
Halzle emphasized adaptability as Tennessee faces a defense with limited tape available.
“You just have to get an idea for what’s coming and let your guys adapt,” Halzle said. “The key is playing fast and competing at a high level.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Vols are keyed on slowing down one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country in Taylen Green.
“Well, it’s big for my group and for the entire, really first and second level. The inside guys, other guys on the outside and the linebackers, everyone has to do a great job of containing the quarterback. We know that the guy’s rushing. He gets his rushing yards based off of zone read, getting out the pocket. Everybody got to do their job or understand where they need to be at, and do their job, and trust their teammate that he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be.”
Videos and the full transcripts from Tuesday’s press conferences can be seen below.
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Joey Halzle
On preparing for Arkansas with defensive staff changes…
“Yeah, it’s been super deep. You can never write anything off. You have a bunch of guys that are doing it for the first time now this season. It kind of has a feel like the first game of the year, where you have what they’ve done, what you think they’ll do, but you also have to be prepared for really anything, because they’ve had two weeks as well. They had the bye, so they can get whatever they want installed and ready to go. Early in the ball game, we just have to call sound football plays that you’re not getting too super specific with, and just let your guys go play really fast.”
On his prior experience working with Arkansas interim defensive coordinator Chris Wilson…
“Really good coach. Was the defensive line coach when I was there (at Oklahoma). High energy guy, a guy that’ll definitely get his guys ready to play. Understands the fits, understands how the whole thing hangs together. He’s a high level coach. He’s done it at the highest level in the NFL, so nothing but respect for Coach Wilson.”
On watching film across different football leagues to scout Arkansas’ defensive staff…
“You’re just trying to find out, like alright, ‘What does he tick with? How does he play it? How does he like to call these situations?’ It’s less about the exact plays that he’s calling, and more about ‘Why is he doing this?’ You’re just trying to figure out the guy, because you don’t have five, six weeks of tape like you do on most guys by this point of the year. You have to watch everything. You have to make yourself try and understand why he’s doing what he’s doing, because you know here, UFL is different from college. How does he see his personnel? All that stuff is just kind of up in the air, so you can’t get an exact picture of, this is exactly what I think is coming, but you just have to get an idea for what you think is coming and then let your guys adapt. Like I said on the front end, let them play fast. You can’t hamstring your guys trying to prepare them for nine different defenses, and now we’re playing slow. That’s the trap that you can’t fall in, so that’s been the message to our guys. Whatever it comes out and looks like, play really fast and compete at a high level.”
On areas the offense can improve on coming off the open week…
“We’ve done a good job, but we also have a lot to improve on. There’s just a lot on the field that we’re leaving in every ball game. We come off, and we have our unit meeting on Mondays, and the feeling is the same for our offensive unit. It’s man, we left a lot out there. There’s a lot more that we can do. You know the last ball game, we left a lot in the tight zone. We had a chance to score some points early in that ball game and maybe change the way it played out on the back end. We didn’t. It was good to see the guys fight through that, but finishing drives and taking advantages of the plays that are there, not minimizing opportunities. You’re playing good football teams every week in this conference. If you’re taking points off the board yourself, you’re helping the defense out. These guys are too good; you don’t need to help them.”
On the importance of executing an up-tempo offense when playing a new defensive scheme…
“The tempo for us has always been a weapon, but exactly right. If they’re doing something completely new, let’s push the gas a little bit here and see if we can’t create some eye violations. And on the same breath, you’re walking the line with your guys of, if it’s something they have not seen before, we need to make sure that we’re ID’d correctly, we need to make sure that our eyes are in the right spot too. So, it’s kind of like walking that line early of not letting off the gas, not playing slow, but also not making sure that we’re targeted the right way and we’re not talking ourselves into negatives.”
On Braylon Staley’s development and contribution thus far at slot receiver…
“Braylon’s been huge for us. He was a guy that we felt, all offseason when the question was, ‘How are you going to replace the production that left the building?’ He was a guy that we felt was a big part of that. We really liked him through last season. We really liked him through all of camp, all of spring ball, so we thought that was a guy that was going to step up. Again, just like a lot of our team this year, they just hadn’t done it yet with live fire. But to see the way that he’s responded right from the jump, he’s been a huge part of what we’ve been able to do. You know, a big body in the slot that can run. He’s got the long wingspan, the great ball skill, so he’s a guy that allows us to be really free in the slot position.”
On Joey Aguilar’s comfortability with in-game adjustments…
“Yeah, he’s really comfortable with it. It’s like most people play us not what they’ve shown anyway, so we get new looks every single week. He’s been great about adjusting on the sideline, whether that’s protection changes, scheme changes, whatever we’re doing. His blood pressure doesn’t rise, so he’s a guy that’s not going to panic about it. He’s not going to stress about it. He’s going to work all week, he worked all last week, to make sure he gets himself as prepared as possible. But when the inevitable happens and he has to make that change, it’s not going to spike his blood pressure, so I don’t see it being a huge issue for him.”
On the production of the run game through two SEC matchups…
“I think it’s a lot of what I was saying earlier, with the scoring and stuff. It’s been good, and we’re still leaving a lot out there on the field. We do feel like we have areas to not minimize runs. Whether that’s at the back position, the quarterback position, the O-line, the tight ends, wideouts blocking it, however it may play itself out. It’s also an offshoot of like you said, we ran it so efficiently last year, you could see a lot of people’s main thoughts coming into this year were, ‘Don’t let them run the football.’ That’s why I think the passing game’s also playing off. That’s why you have to have everything working. However it presents itself, we’re ready to go try to win a ball game and that way, whether it’s running the football, throwing the football, whatever it takes to go get the job done.”
On how much Joey Aguilar worked on his footwork during the bye week…
“It’s been a big thing. It’s not like you’re going back to spring ball on a bye week, but you can take a little bit off the scheme and focus on, ‘Let’s get our mechanics in.’ Whereas when you’re going through a game week, you have to get all the reps, just worried about the scheme, where we are going with the football, where our eye discipline is. So for him, it was like, let’s make sure that we’re getting our body in the right position. He’s exactly right, getting his throws out to his right. That’s what we’ve talked about since the beginning, since he first got here. He’s really refocused on that. He’s had a great couple weeks of practice, so I’m excited to watch him take the field on Saturday.”
On if he has daily conversations with his quarterbacks on risk and reward…
“Yeah, so situationally, there’s always as you’re working through that specific situation, whether you’re talking two-minute, end-of-half, end-of-game, what do you need? Do you need a field goal, like what are you working with? In general for us, our motto in the quarterback room is that we’re going to play extremely aggressive, but we’re not going to be reckless. That’s been since day one, since I walked into this building from the first quarterbacks that were here. We have to be aggressive. You can’t worry about making mistakes. You have to go cut it loose, but that doesn’t mean we just throw the ball up. So, it’s walking the line of extremely aggressive, but not aggressive with the football. You’re reckless, you’re putting the team in a disadvantage. You’re aggressive, you’re putting us at a big advantage. So, we have to play that way. It’s like I was saying earlier. The defenses are too good that if you’re slowing yourself down, if you’re afraid to pull the trigger because you just don’t want to make a mistake, you’re going to be a step behind. So, we have to be willing to cut it loose. We just can’t put it up for grabs, put it in negative situations where now we’re having to be the defensive player on the offensive side of the ball.”
Outside Linebackers Coach Levorn Harbin
On the halftime motivation for Joshua Josephs during Mississippi State game…
“Well, what I said I just try to keep that between us, but I think sometimes guys need a little motivation. If I see it on my part as a coach (and) if I don’t see them playing at the level that they should, that’s my job so that’s what I’m going to do. If I don’t see you doing your job, I’m going to call you out, it’s just part of it. He understands that, he knows I love him, so he responded well and we’re happy.”
On Joshua Josephs’ receptiveness to correction…
“Yes, all those guys that are in the room, they understand that I want the best for them. They want the best for each other so whenever you call them out, they know it’s legit, it’s not me trying to pick on them or whatnot. I just want the best for them and that room to do well.”
On opposing SEC teams having some success in the run game…
“As a group, we just have to get together and just sure up our fits a little bit better. The guys have to get off blocks, that’s on all levels. Get off blocks, do a better job at tackling, bodying the guy up and getting them on the ground. We just have to do a better job from the front to the back in the run. That’s where it starts, up front, and ends in the back where we all have to come together and do a better job overall and coaches have to do a better job at coaching those guys up.”
On how Joshua Josephs can continue to progress…
“The goal is to get better from week to week, he’s gotten better each week. At the pace I would like? No. At the pace we need as a program? No, but he’s getting better every week and that’s the goal. Now we want to see how we’ll get better from game five to game six, so that’s the goal. I want to see him progress every week. You have to progress every week to get better to be able to reach your goal at the end of the year and he has done that.”
On Caleb Herring’s progression…
“It started back in the offseason. You saw a little bit more attention to detail and he wants it, I mean he wants to play well. In that room, they are all rooting for each other so that makes it easy in the room. Caleb gets a sack, it’s just like (Jordan Ross) and (Joshua Josephs) get a sack. They’re all excited for each other and push each other on techniques where sometimes I don’t have to intervene when they screw up, they’ll intervene before me and they all take coaching from each other and from me of course, but it’s a great room. He’s gotten better every week and he’s working on the little things: footwork, get off, playing with his hands and finishing. That’s the key, finishing, he’s been doing a great job with finishing on the first of the pass pro.”
On the key to improving as a pass rushing team…
“First of all, coach (Tim Banks) has a great scheme that’s very friendly to our outside linebackers, gives you a chance to make plays. Two, the guys have bought in to being one and cheering for the other and coaching the other guy on, and we have changed up the technique a little bit, doing everything more conducive to their skillset versus just doing drills and whatnot. We try to do things that are conducive to their skillset and they bought in. Right now, they’re doing, as I say as a coach, they’re doing okay, we’ve got a lot more in the tank. We left a lot of plays on the field, so we just have to try to make those corrections and do better moving forward.”
On what it’s like to have a guy like Joshua Josephs, who’s never satisfied playing under him…
“Oh, that’s refreshing, because I’m never satisfied. They’ll tell you, I’m never satisfied. Certainly, it makes it easy. I mean, he wants to be better. I told you guys in the spring, he wants to be a first rounder. In order to be a first rounder, you’ve got to get production. Only way you’re going to get production, you got to do it the right way. There’s no shortcuts to get production. Some people think there is. There’s not. We’ve had guys before that try to do their own deal and not play within the defense. That’s not how it works. You have to play within the defense, and you have to play for one another, and (Joshua Josephs) and (Caleb Herring) and (Jordan Ross) and those guys play for one another, and they play for those guys across the front. They’re excited when everybody gets a sack and somebody makes a play. That’s the most enjoyable thing, seeing those guys excited about each other, and not be selfish players, and Josh, he’s not selfish. Yeah, does he want to be the first one to the quarterback? Yeah, but if he’s not, he’s happy. He’s just happy that we’re doing well.”
On how rewarding it is to see Josephs go out there and see results…
“It’s very rewarding, number one, because I always see him as one of my own kids. You want them to do well. When you know what their goals are, and then when they’re working towards it, it is really refreshing, to be honest with you. He’s doing everything we’ve asked for him to do, trying to maintain his way, working on the techniques that we asked him to do to get better, and it’s going to be really big for this weekend, for the entire front, across the front, for everybody doing their job, and only their job. We don’t need Superman out there. We need for everybody to do their job versus a very athletic quarterback. Reminds you of a lot of, you guys remember Vince Young, Michael Vick, that’s what he reminds you of, just a taller, longer version. So, everybody has to do their job this week and we really need for Josh to come through and be a team player, not to be selfish this weekend and he will.”
On Christian Gass’s skillset…
“He’s very smart, number one. He has really good football IQ, you know a lot of people don’t realize that this is only his fourth week ever practicing in college. I mean, he got hurt back in, I think, late February. So, it’s really shocking how well his football IQ is on the field when he hasn’t performed. I think he’s got a really good skill set of being a great pass rush in the future. He is going to be able to play on the second level, a little bit, some SAM linebacker for us. He’s going to be able to rush off the edge, and he’s a strong kid too. So, he understands levels of the quarterback, those things, which are very important, and also how to play on the edge. So, I think he’s got a bright future for Tennessee.”
On what he’s seeing from Jordan Ross…
“Jordan has really gotten a lot better. You don’t see it on the stat sheets, but he causes a lot of havoc, causes a lot of plays for people, for other guys on the team. I’m hoping that it finally comes to fruition that he does get on the stat board like he should because he brings a lot to the table, very physical, wants to be great. Unbelievable, man, he played hard. Man, unbelievable. And I’m very pleased with his progression. He’s still got a ways to go, but I’m very pleased, and he just has to keep it coming, and he will get on the stat board like he should.”
On the challenges of facing a running quarterback in Arkansas QB Taylen Green…
“Well, it’s big for my group and for the entire, really first and second level. The inside guys, other guys on the outside and the linebackers, everyone has to do a great job of containing the quarterback. We know that the guy’s rushing. He gets his rushing yards based off of zone read, getting out the pocket. Everybody got to do their job or understand where they need to be at, and do their job, and trust their teammate that he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be, and I think we’ll be fine, but it goes back to them doing that job. I think with the speed that we have on defense, I think we have a chance to do our job this weekend.”
