On TE Austin Pope’s health status and if he plans to return next season
“My conversations with Austin, it’s been very unfortunate for him. He had a great offseason, came back and looked really, really good. He’s played some good football for us and unfortunately for him with the injury, it sidelined him this year. I’ve not had a conversation particularly with him about that for probably a couple of weeks now, but we’d love to have him back.”
On how he see’s the program and himself after his first three years as head coach at Tennessee
“Well, every day I look in the mirror (and) I don’t think I’m getting any younger, so that’s one thing for sure. It’s obviously been a whole lot of fun. Myself, my family, the men who came here, we knew exactly what we were getting into. We love the kids that we’re around, we love the administration, representing the University of Tennessee and we’re excited about an opportunity on Saturday.”