Tennessee’s fizzling finish last season corresponded with 22 injuries over the last half of the season.

Butch Jones addressed the issue quickly, making a change 10 days after a Music City Bowl win over Nebraska.

Jones brought in a man he knows well to oversee the strength and conditioning program.

He brought in Rock Gullickson, whom he has known since they were at Rutgers together in the early 1990s. From 1990-1992, Jones was a graduate assistant while Gullickson was the strength and conditioning coach.

Jones went on to Wilkes College as offensive coordinator to jump start his coaching career in 1993. That same year, Gullickson moved to Texas to guide the Longhorns’ strength and conditioning program.

While Jones continued to climb the coaching tree with head coaching stops at Central Michigan and Cincinnati, Gullickson did the same in his own capacity.

Gullickson reached the NFL at the turn of the century, breaking in with the New Orleans Saints, serving as a strength and conditioning coach through the 2005 season. From there he went to Green Bay (2006-2008).

Like Jones, Gullickson continued to climb up the ranks of his profession. In 2009 he became head of strength and conditioning for the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams.

Then Jones came calling this off-season, asking his long-time friend to leave the Rams to fix the strength and conditioning program on Rocky Top.

The fifth-year Tennessee head coach talked proudly of where his program stands six months into Gullickson’s tenure.

“I’ve been very fortunate to know Rock for a number of years; he was in my wedding,” Jones said at SEC Media Days. “The expertise of 17 years in the NFL, you can’t put a price tag on it.

“I was just sitting with our three players (Emmanuel Moseley, Jashon Robertson, Kendal Vickers), and I asked what is the big difference in the weight room, tell me what you see. They said respect and an individual that has been in the NFL and we have dreams and aspirations of going to the next level and we do not want to let him down.”

The lessons learned since January can be handed down to newcomers who will report for fall camp. Advice on strength and conditioning and keeping the body maintained for a grueling season is what senior offensive lineman Robertson can teach to those entering the program.

“It’s very hard to anticipate what a season is going to feel like on your body,” Robertson said. “You have to learn how to take care of your body and legs, whether it’s in the cold tub and things of that nature.

“Coach Rock, he’s great. We have a ton of respect for him and what he brings to the table. He has a ton of experience at the next level, and that is where we all want to be. So just bringing that kind of work to the weight room every day is special.”

“We all love Rock,” Vickers, a senior defensive lineman, said. “If we let him down, we feel like we can’t do that. We go out and work as hard as we can for him because we know he is putting so much into it. He puts so much effort into it and he cares about us. We just want to show him with our numbers in the weight room and out on the field.”

Jones likes how Gullickson’s work is going hand-in-hand with his players’ aspiration to turn things around.

“The way he (Gullickson) commands the room and the way he also receives respect and gives respect back has been extremely healthy for our program,” Jones said. “It also has been healthy for our other strength coaches, and I know our players look forward in going in there every day. They can see the rewards of all their hard work with all of their progress they have made.”

Jones has also started allowing 7-on-7 work this summer. In the past, Jones has been leery about it because of the chance for injuries.

But Jones is pleased and views it as “very, very productive any time you can simulate” players going through drills that can springboard into success on game days. The players’ conditioning is one aspect allowing for a successful summer.

“The great thing is that the quarterbacks are leading it along with the older players,” Jones said of the 7-on-7 drills. “That’s been the thing with our football team. There have been times I have been told with Coach Gullickson saying, ‘you guys go home because we have another day to work tomorrow’. I think just the overall work ethic, we are doing more group things in those sessions that are player-led then we ever had.”