Tennessee offensive coordinator confident in team entering Florida matchup
By Jason Hall
Published:
Tennessee hasn’t beaten Florida in its annual SEC East matchup since 2004. But that hasn’t stopped second-year offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian from feeling confident in his skill players entering Saturday’s game. Bajakian talked about his optimism heading into Saturday’s game after Wednesday’s practice and how his players are making play calling easy.
“I feel good about our receivers in general, Bajakian said.” “Whether it is Josh (Malone), Jason (Croom), Marquez (North) andAlton (Pig Howard) just the whole group. As they make plays they will get the ball more.”
Bajakian credited the confidence of Josh Malone, who made his first start this past Saturday at No. 13 Georgia, and believes the freshman wide receiver is making progress each passing week.
“It was good to see Josh step up in certain situations,” Bajakian said. “He continues to get better and will get the ball more and more.”
Bajakian has an increased level of talent at the skill positions from his first season in Knoxville. With several five-star freshmen and more experienced sophomores, Bajakian has the advantage of being able to run creative plays in different formations.
“It’s a luxury,” he said. “The more weapons you have the more possibly ways you have to get people the ball. As guys continue to develop like Josh Malone, Jalen Hurd and Marquez North etc. there will be more and more ways to feed them the ball.”
Tennessee will host Florida at noon ET on SEC Network.
A former freelance journalist from Nashville, Jason covers Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky
