Nobody is going to confuse the current state of Tennessee football for the Volunteers of a quarter century ago, when a dizzying 45-5 run yielded two consecutive Southeastern Conference championships and the 1998 national title.
A 3-7 record last autumn and a ravaged roster due to the NCAA transfer portal has left Tennessee looking up at much of the league in the debut year of the Josh Heupel era, but loyalty to the program certainly won't be an issue for the players who have remained. They have watched the entire staff of former coach Jeremy Pruitt leave, as well as some of the leading rushers and tacklers from last season's roster, and they had their own decisions to make before staying the course.
"I did talk to my parents about what they thought was best for me from the outside looking in," senior cornerback Alontae Taylor said Friday afternoon. "It really just came down to this being my home state and that the 'Power T' means a lot to me, so whoever that new coaching staff was going to be, I was going to make sure I stayed here as a leader. I just wanted to keep the guys who stayed here positive.
"We have good things coming for us, and we shouldn't just run from it."
Two days after Pruitt's termination and several ensuing departures through the portal, receiver Velus Jones Jr. posted, "No, I'm not leaving. Tennessee is my home," on Twitter. The graduate transfer from Southern California, who elected to use the extra year allotted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic, admitted that wasn't an easy time to experience.
"There was a lot going on, and I just prayed on it," Jones said. "I know God wants me here for a reason, and I'm going to stick it out. I just kept praying and praying, but I wasn't going to leave Tennessee. Like I said, it was like my home, and it was a top choice for me coming out of high school, and now that I'm here, it's like a dream come true.
"When the UCF coaches came and had those top-five offenses in the country for the past couple of years — I just think everything happens for a reason, and I just know great things are going to come."
Jones, Taylor, tight end Jacob Warren and defensive tackle Matthew Butler participated in a Zoom call Friday, which marked the first time Vols players were made available to the media since the 34-13 loss to Texas A&M last December. Tennessee was invited to the Liberty Bowl after that loss to the Aggies but quickly withdrew due to an outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests among coaches and players, including Pruitt and Jones.
The NCAA's added year of eligibility is enabling Butler, a 2017 Vols signee, to play a fifth college season and Jones, a 2016 USC signee, to play a sixth, and those who stayed in Knoxville understand those who didn't.
"Let's just be real here," Butler said. "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that everybody in my 2017 class — the last class under Butch (Jones) — has considered leaving, obviously. We don't have the situation that we want, but for the guys who have left, they had to do what's best for them. The guys who are here? We're doing what's best for us.
"We're trying to build the brand of this university and make this football team elite and do the best thing for ourselves in our personal lives. I don't mind what the other guys did, and I'm still very close with a lot of them. I'll text and see how they're doing, because it goes deeper than football."
The Vols went through their first spring practice Thursday afternoon and have scheduled their second for Saturday morning. Although there is nothing easy about the workouts, they do seem to be producing a welcome respite from the past several months.
"We had so much fun," Taylor said of Thursday's practice. "It was a little different here and there, but there was so much energy on offense, defense and special teams. There was just a vibe for us. We hadn't played football since Texas A&M, so it was a lot of fun out there. A lot of guys were smiling, and a lot of guys were getting coached up."
Said Warren: "After practice, we were all in the locker room talking about just how much fun we had. Don't get me wrong, it was a hard practice and a long practice, and we're all really sore today, but we had fun."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.
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