Only one member of Alabama’s formidable football program has experienced an Alabama-Tennessee game and not enjoyed the traditional spoils of victory.
That member is first-year offensive analyst Butch Jones.
“We kind of joke with him about the whole situation,” Crimson Tide junior running back Josh Jacobs said this week in a news conference. “He’s never smoked a cigar before, so we’re trying to make that a goal of his.”
Jones will experience his sixth consecutive Alabama-Tennessee game Saturday when the No. 1 Crimson Tide (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) and Volunteers (3-3, 1-2) play at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, but it will be his first when he isn’t dressed in orange. As Tennessee’s coach from 2013 to last season, Jones went 0-5 against Alabama, losing his last two meetings by a combined score of 94-17, which marks the most lopsided two-year stretch in the rivalry’s history.
Alabama coach Nick Saban hired Jones as an analyst in March and detailed some of his responsibilities under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Locksley during his appearance on Wednesday’s SEC teleconference.