Talking Points: Butch Jones' Circle of Life

Tennessee Volunteer head coach Butch Jones continues his PR spin on the responsibility campaign for his players with what he calls the "Circle of Life." After breaking down the video, he informs each player of the mistakes they made, including loafs. The team then forms a circle, and everyone who made a mistake has to go to the middle and admit his number of mistakes, and then the team has to do an up down for each one. My favorite part of this whole thing? A missed tackle constitutes a "loaf." Good.

Only one of the positions along the offensive line is truly up for grabs (between Alex Bullard and Marcus Jackson), but that's not stopping the coaches from "tinkering" with the entire line. As long as "tinkering" doesn't mean anything close to "flipping," we're okay with that, right?

The defensive line, which, by the way, was responsible for the most up downs in the Circle of Life, is trying to develop some depth. The coaches are insisting on the same standards for whatever player ends up in the position at any given time, regardless of whether they're a starter or not. (Jones, who apparently has a brand name for everything, calls this "power of the position." That one's not sticking with me for some reason.)

If you've eaten any of your fingernails over the QB position this spring, consider this: the main receivers appear to be Jacob Carter, Paul Harris, and Vincent Dallas, and all of them have missed practice recently, mostly due to injuries. So now switch hands, and chew a few for the WR corps.

Tennessee has released the details of next week's Orange and White Game. It's free. You don't need a ticket. Kickoff is at 2:05. Parking is free. You can get autographs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30, and you can get in line at 7:00 a.m. No word on what they're going to do if you're there before 7:00. Make you stand in the Circle of Life, maybe? Gate opens at 11:00 for autograph seekers and at 12:30 for game-viewers. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3 (actually, it's probably WatchESPN), but it won't be available on regular TV until it re-airs on ESPNU. They haven't yet decided on the time for that. Also, they'll be selling official "Rise to the Top" tees at the game, which, incidentally, we will also have available online and at the Gameday Depot store in Kingsport. We're expecting to receive them Thursday or Friday, but you can order them online as soon as I get product uploaded.

Etceteras . . . Don't miss Brad's post on the newest 4-star commit, tight end Ethan Wolf . . . Cordarrelle Patterson has been invited to New York City (New York Citay!?) for the NFL Draft.