Tennessee Tech quarterback Michael Birdsong (3) is pulled down by Tennessee’s Jonathan Kongbo (1). The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles visited the Tennessee Volunteers in NCAA football action at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on November 5, 2016.KNOXVILLE – The sales pitches apparently continue with Jonathan Kongbo.
The prized late addition to Tennessee football’s 2016 signing class, Kongbo was the focus of some interesting comments by Volunteers coach Butch Jones on Wednesday.
Largely anonymous through nine games for the program, Kongbo hasn’t made the kind of immediate impact many hoped the junior-college transfer and former five-star recruit would at defensive end, and it seems he’s been apprehensive to playing defensive tackle, where Tennessee has been decimated by multiple injuries.
“I think it’s just consistency,” Jones said. “I think it’s also buying into the team concept – and it’s important to him – understanding the standards and expectations that we have in our football program (and) what’s required on a daily basis.
“A lot of times with individuals, they go through a growth and maturity (process), just like your own kids, of every day (understanding) the expectations. When you’re able to have game-speed repetitions and you’re able to really coach and critique yourself and see what you did in your technique and what you need to do to get better and all that, I think (it helps) constant growth and maturation.”