Tennessee head coach Butch Jones on the sidelines during the Vols’ season-opener football game against the Aggies on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Tennessee left tackle Jacob Gilliam (65)KNOXVILLE – Butch Jones roamed around Haslam Field on Tuesday afternoon spewing the same statistic to anyone, regardless of who was willing to hear it.
Never mind that it was incorrect and embellished for effect.
Tennessee’s second-year coach reminded his tailbacks and offensive linemen that the Volunteers’ longest run in Sunday night’s season opener against Utah State was 5 yards.
It actually was a 9-yard gain by Marlin Lane, but Jones’s point remained: Tennessee needs to run the ball better after managing just 110 yards on 39 carries against a Mountain West Conference defense.
“We obviously have room for improvement,” center Mack Crowder acknowledged after practice. “It’s not where we want to be, but that’s almost expected for the first game [and] all of us playing together for the first time. We went back to the film and saw a bunch of things that we’re going to correct.