Butch Jones spoke to the media during the SEC’s first weekly media teleconference of the 2017 season Wednesday. During his segment of the call, Jones discussed the huge opening season game in Atlanta, the status of senior receiver Josh Smith., as well as the season opening matchup against the Yellow Jackets. 

The Tennessee-Georgia Tech game kicks off Monday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. 

Here are the highlights from Jones’ call:

  • Very excited to finally be in game week, still much preparation for us to get done. It’s a tremendous opportunity in a great stadium against a great opponent. We need a great week of preparation.
  • On preparing for the Georgia Tech offense and the cut blocks: We have to practice it, it’s a mentality. They are good at it, we try to simulate that with scout teams and individual drills. The biggest thing is simulating the game speed of their offense. They also play very well on defense, too. This is a complete football team we will face Monday night.
  • Will those blocks ever be outlawed? It’s a topic of conversation, we’ve done a good job of limiting them for player safety to a degree.
  • Any suspensions? We will update that in my press conference
  • on WR Josh Smith: Hopeful he can play, we anticipate him being available in practice today.
  • Did the Battle at Bristol help prepare your team for this game in Atlanta? anytime we have that experience, it helps. But, we do have a number of younger players that did not play in that game or did not have a significant role at that time.