KNOXVILLE - From impromptu games on the miniature basketball hoop in the team meeting room to comparing catches on the football launching machine during down periods at practice, John Kelly and Jauan Jennings have found ways to compete with each other over the last several months.
"Everything," Kelly said. "Literally everything."
Today, Tennessee gets the chance to compete against an actual opponent.
"I can definitely assure you we are ready," said Kelly, a junior running back. "We are more than ready. We've been competing a lot this camp, in practices and in the weight room. I can definitely say that our guys are ready to go out there and go against someone other than ourselves."
The Vols take one of college football's grand stages at 8 tonight in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game showdown with Georgia Tech at the new 71,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Jauan Jennings (15) shows the ball after catching a touchdown pass. The annual Spring Orange and White Football game was held at Neyland Stadium on April 22, 2017.ESPN's A-team of Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit will broadcast the action as the college football world caps its first full weekend of the new season by seeing if the No. 25-ranked Volunteers can handle Georgia Tech, which went 3-0 against the Southeastern Conference last season.
"It's a great opportunity for our football program on a national stage in a great environment, a great venue Monday night," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "As a kid growing up, these are the types of experiences, these are they type of environments that you dream about playing on."
Tennessee's 9-4 season last year was first defined byJennings' catch on a last-second Hail Mary pass that lifted the Vols to a victory at Georgia and a 5-0 start. Then the attention shifted to an injury-plagued defense that struggled down the stretch as the Vols squandered a chance to win the SEC East by losing to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Still, Jones enters his fifth season as Tennessee's coach with the Vols standing as one of only three programs in the conference to have won nine or more games in consecutive seasons.
A fresh storyline will have its first chapter written tonight as Tennessee debuts either Quinten Dormady or Jarrett Guarantano as its new starting quarterback in first-year offensive coordinator Larry Scott's system.
Kelly is now the team's featured running back, and Jennings is back for his junior season as an unquestioned veteran leader for the offense. Defensively, Tennessee will be tested by Georgia Tech's flexbone attack and its cut blocks, especially after the news that starting middle linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. will miss this season after undergoing knee surgery last week.
Overall, second-year coordinator Bob Shoop said his defense has been consistent in the preseason
The biggest unknown, he said, is just how the Vols will play tonight. Six new or promoted assistant coaches also provide an element of intrigue for the Vols' opener. Secondary coach Charlton Warren and defensive line coach Brady Hoke were each offseason additions to the defensive staff.
"I'm anxious and curious to see what will happen at the first sign of adversity," Shoop said. "The staff, too, to tell you the truth. How does Charlton respond if one of his guys gets beat? How does Brady respond if one of his guys gets cut? I don't know those guys in that situation so well."
Those questions - and many others - will get answered tonight.
"It's definitely here," junior defensive end Jonathan Kongbo said. "Being in camp for so long, you kind of forget the days and what not. It's a big stage and big game, but it's kind of why you play football."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.