University of Tennessee Volunteers first year head coach Butch Jones watches his team during football practice at Haslam Field on Friday.AT A GLANCEWhat: Vols’ season openerWho: Austin Peay at TennesseeWhen: 6 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 31),TV: Pay-per-viewRadio: 106.5 FM
KNOXVILLE – Bricks and construction projects have become synonymous with the Tennessee football program in the nearly nine months since Butch Jones took over as coach.
While his recruiting efforts have laid a solid foundation for rebuilding the Volunteers, Tennessee’s new coach now may face his biggest challenge.
With his first game with the Vols less than a week away, and a brutal schedule ahead in September and October, Jones soon will learn how much progress he’s made in changing the mentality of a struggling program. Before the Vols truly can began building, they need to make sure they’ve cleared all the debris.
“We’re kind of trying to build something new, and to build something new you’ve got to tear down the old building,” senior tailback Rajion Neal said last week. “Anything we once knew, once thought or believed in, we tore that down and we’re trying to buy into his new blueprint, his new platform for building Tennessee back up. That’s really all you can do.