KNOXVILLE – Perhaps the Tennessee football team should think outside the box to reverse the slow starts to the season’s first two games.
The Volunteers ought to let Sheriron Jones give the team’s pep talk before today’s game against Ohio.
The redshirt freshman may be the fourth-string quarterback, but he became a key figure in Tennessee’s win against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway with his sideline energy.
“It’s not odd at all,” starting quarterback Josh Dobbs said with a smile after the 45-24 win. “Sheriron is an energetic dude. I tell him before each game to be my energy on the sideline, keep me going and keep the whole offense going.
“That’s how he is. He’s always talking nonstop, but not just noise, but being motivating and pushing guys and getting on guys and pushing guys to be the best and go out and compete every snap. That’s just the type of person he is.
“Even though he might not play, he just wants to make an impact any way that he can. It just shows his unselfishness to just be open to pushing guys and getting on guys constantly throughout the game. He’s definitely a source of energy for us on the sideline.”
With Dobbs, Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano ahead of him in the pecking order, Jones likely won’t get on the field this season, but he still found a way to impact the game against the Hokies.
According to ABC sideline reporter Sam Ponder, Jones got in the faces of the offensive linemen on the sideline toward the end of a rough first quarter during which the offense managed just 28 yards and one first down.
“Y’all promised us you wouldn’t do this. You promised us. I believe in you,” Jones told them, according to Ponder, who also said during the telecast the quarterback was so “fired up” he had to be held back by teammates.
On its surface it’s odd and perhaps disconcerting that Tennessee needed a reserve quarterback to light up its sideline during a pivotal point of a big game, but Jones always has been an active member of the sideline, often jumping up and down or waving a towel or celebrating demonstratively with his teammates.
“When I was younger, I was always that kid that wanted to do something,” Jones said on coach Butch Jones’ radio show this week. “Whether it’s football, skateboarding, surfing – all those type of things – I couldn’t sit still. That’s just how I’ve been my whole life.
“Football helped me with that energy. It helped me turn it from a negative to a positive. It just came from when I was younger, not being able to sit still and everyone telling me to sit down somewhere or go watch TV in your room because you can’t sit still and are always making noise. It’s just in me. It’s in my DNA, and that’s all I go by.”
Later in the game Jones drew an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Virginia Tech safety Mook Reynolds, who gave Jones an open-handed shove to the face as he headed back toward his sideline after his interception return spilled out of bounds on the Tennessee sideline.
“During the game I try to make sure my team knows that I don’t want them to lose their energy and everything,” Jones said, “and I guess the (Virginia Tech) players seen I was a little bit too hyped and got upset and wanted me to be quiet.
“Yeah,” he added, “I kind of sold it.”
The former four-star recruit missed the chance to showcase his skills during the spring game after suffering a leg injury, which limited him some even into preseason training camp last month.
Of course, he nearly wasn’t even around for spring practice.
The California native actually transferred to Colorado from Tennessee in January – Jones told his head coach the evening of Tennessee’s Outback Bowl against Northwestern of his decision – before changing his mind and returning to the Vols.
“I think it speaks volumes,” Coach Jones said, “of what we have here and the family and the chemistry we have on this football team.”
Sheriron Jones appears to be a key part of the chemistry.
“He’s one of our leaders on our football team,” Coach Jones said. “We always talk about having energy and juice about yourself, and he’s really taken that to heart. That’s something that we pride ourselves (on), is the intensity just isn’t with the 11 individuals that are on the field. It’s also the individuals on the sideline and the backups watching the play and being ready to go.
“We challenged our sideline, and obviously he led that charge. We’re going to need that as we continue to go. Sheriron’s an individual that’s a good football player continuing to get better. I really appreciate his efforts and his mental efforts and his mental intensity every day.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com