KNOXVILLE — It’s time for a change. It’s time to move on.

It’s painful to say that a change needs to be made regarding Butch Jones, because he makes it a point to be a good guy and he did a lot of heavy lifting to clean up Derek Dooley and Lane Kiffin’s mess.

But the bottom line is that SEC football is a big-time business. After a 17-13 victory over UMass in Week 4 of Jones’ fifth season — following a last-play loss at Florida in a game the Vols should have won — there is no evidence of pride in preparation translating to game day success, something Jones has preached repeatedly since he arrived and something he discussed postgame versus UMass.

“Everything is about your preparation,” Jones said. “In today’s world, it’s a challenge every day with outside clutter and distractions. The mature football teams can block all of that out. We have a lot of individuals who this means a lot to.

“I thought we had a very good day of preparation on Monday. I thought Tuesday was below average. I thought Wednesday was average, and I thought Thursday was better. That’s what we just spoke about as a football team, is that everything is about your preparation. What happened today was a byproduct of some point in practice.”

It does not mean Jones is a bad coach or a bad person, but once again, the SEC is a big business and when a historic program like Tennessee struggles in connecting with players five years into a coaching regime, then something has to change.

There are no days off in the SEC, and former Tennessee players such as Jayson Swain — who spoke out on the Paul Finebaum Show last week — are no longer biting their tongues.

For whatever reason, Jones’ Vols could not reach the pinnacle of the division through four seasons and appear to be out of reach four games into this season.

Following the narrow win against UMass, Tennessee players’ post-game comments showed a penchant for Jones-speak but a disconnect from reality.

Wide receiver Brandon Johnson was talking — seemingly positively — about the program’s culture while dropping cliches about “execution.”

“Once you’re in it, it’s just the culture that we have as far as an offense goes,” Johnson said. “Our confidence never waivers, no matter what. A win or loss, it doesn’t matter.

“I think it was just execution,” Johnson said. “The formula is there. The game plan is there. I just say it comes down to execution.”

John Kelly, the leader of the offense, brought more of the same.

“We were frustrated,” Kelly said. “I feel like we just have to execute. That is one thing we could definitely work on more, is just the execution of the plays that are being called and the passion behind it, but those are things we are going to be able to get corrected.”

You cannot teach passion, and that is not something that should have to be addressed in year five of building a program. Passion should not have to be coaxed out of players, as it seemingly does for Jones right now.

The stock, programmed post-game comments suggest the players and staff really don’t have a clear idea of what is wrong or how to fix it.

“A win is a win, so we were happy about that,” junior defensive lineman Jonathan Kongbo said. “But there’s definitely improvement we need to make all across the board. We need to play with some more passion, really let that kind of translate.”

The disconnect and the lack of translation are concerns that should be addressed immediately if Tennessee wants to salvage the 2017 season and the future.

The salvation of the season needs to begin with Jones walking his talk when it comes to the Vols’ quarterback situation. The coach said he was open to playing two quarterbacks throughout fall camp.

Saturday, redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano got into the game long enough to go 2-for-5 for minus-3 yards. He has played far too briefly behind junior Quinten Dormady for someone who was promised a fair shot.

Jones’ answer following the UMass game was to continue to work with both of his “very capable quarterbacks,” but he risks alienating both of them if he continues to haphazardly manage the rotation.

With a quarterback situation handled poorly and a lack of passion from his players, there are too many question marks surrounding the program five years in. Even at 3-1, time is running out for Jones to salvage the season.