Tennessee Player and Coach Quotes from Dec. 28

QUARTERBACK ERIK AINGE

On the Outback Bowl being his last collegiate game “I thought about it a lot when we were practicing back home and at the break. Now, once we’re here, I’m getting into the bowl routine and getting ready to go play the game. I’m not really worrying about or thinking about the fact that it’s my last game as much as I’m thinking it’s another game where we need to go out there and try to win.”

On his career accomplishments at Tennessee “Obviously I wanted to win a championship. You don’t go to a school like Tennessee or a lot of schools in the SEC if you don’t want to win a championship. In that respect it’s disappointing, but the relationships that I’ve built, I’ve graduated with my bachelor’s degree, and I’ve had a lot of success on the football field, I couldn’t be happier.”

On getting a victory in the Outback Bowl “I think winning this football game, obviously for recruiting with our coaches leaving, it would do a lot for the program as well as for the seniors, sending them out right. For a lot of us this is our last game and obviously you want to win.”

On the Wisconsin defense “I think they are a good defensive football team. It all starts with number two; I think he is a very talented football player. They have a good scheme. You have to watch the film over and over and over again to get a bead on anything. They’re very complicated in what they do and they’re physical; they’re strong.”

On the perceived lack of speed of the Big Ten “That’s a stereotype because they have players on their team that are every bit as fast as players on our team. I don’t really buy into all that. I think that their 11 on defense versus our 11 on offense compares just like anybody else.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN CHAVIS

On the possibility of linebacker Jerod Mayo opting for the NFL “I think he knows what he would like to do. I think he’s going to look at the evaluation when it comes back. But right now he doesn’t want to get caught up in that. Our season is not over; he is focused on finishing this season and that’s the most important thing. Obviously he’ll sit down and look at it and go from there.”

On the Wisconsin offense “Their coaching staff has done a tremendous job and a great job recruiting; they’ve got talent. They utilize their tight ends a tremendous amount. The things that jump out at you are obviously (tight end Travis) Beckum; the plays that he’s making, the plays the quarterback is making, but also how they utilize their tight ends, formations and shifts; all of those things that can create problems for a defense. Fortunately we’ve seen some of that, some of the things they do. But they do as good a job of that as anybody.”

On the performance of the Tennessee defense “I think it’s a lot of things. Look at the Championship game when we played LSU. The last three quarters we had three true freshmen in the secondary. Show me somebody else that’s doing that right now. We’re not in the excuse making business. What it is is what it is. We haven’t done a very good job; we’re not up to the standards we’re accustomed to at Tennessee. Where we are in comparing with people across the country, we’re somewhere up in the middle, and that’s not good enough. We’re used to being up top and that’s the standard we set from a defensive standpoint. We haven’t reached those standards this year.”

DEFENSIVE END XAVIER MITCHELL

On playing in Tampa “The dramatic climate change is a big key and getting used to everything. By the time we get to the game it won’t be a problem.”

On the changes within the coaching staff “There’s a lot going on within the coaching staff, but we really don’t worry about that. We’re concentrating on this game; keeping our minds focused on that in order to get away from this other stuff.”

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DAVID CUTLIFFE

On balancing Outback Bowl preparation with his new duties as Duke coach “It’s really not as distracting as I thought it was. I was concerned about it when I came down here. It wasn’t hard at all at home. I just wanted to make sure down here that I was able to balance it. I felt a little awkward coming down initially, but once we went back to work these kids know how to practice, they know how to work, and they’ve responded really, really well.”

On quarterback Erik Ainge “He’s a really smart football player so he’s able to formulate a decision-making progress often times before the ball is even snapped.”

On playing in the Outback Bowl without key players “I think that’s a challenge, I think that’s a real challenge. These are guys that aren’t here that they care about, they’re teammates, and it hurts. We’ve got coaches that have deep-seeded relationships with the players. I don’t feel distracted, I feel emotional because I care so much about these young men. We’ve just gone on and coached just as we’ve always coached and prepared just as we’ve always prepared and I don’t think they’ve felt a difference and coach Fulmer has done a great job pulling this team together.”

TAILBACK ARIAN FOSTER

On the Wisconsin defense “They’ve got a lot of experience and they know what they’re doing. It’s tough to go against a defense that knows what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.”

On the banged up Badger secondary “You just try to exploit what their weaknesses are and play to our strengths. It is something you look at. They probably see that we have a couple guys out on defense and they’ll try to exploit that also.”

On Tennessee returning to the Outback Bowl for the second straight year “This is a totally different team with a totally different identity. We’ve got some of the same guys on the field. Everybody that was in the game last year has grown and matured as a football player and as a person.”

On the time between the SEC Championship and the Outback Bowl “You have a long layoff, so naturally you’re going to be a little rusty when you come back. As a football player that’s semi-professional you have to learn how to deal with it.”

On the strength of the Volunteer offense “I feel that our strength is us and working on us, and execution. I think that’s our strength. We’ve got a great receiver in Lucas Taylor that’s not going to be here. He’s a 1,000-yard receiver. Other guys have to step up.”

LINEBACKER JEROD MAYO

On Tennessee and SEC pride “Who doesn’t want to play SEC football? This is supposed to be the top conference year-in and year-out. Other conferences are just as good. Wisconsin has a great team, Ohio State, all those guys have great teams, but we definitely wear our pride.”

On deciding whether or not to return to the Vols next season or going to the NFL “It’s a great position to be in right now. It’s like I feel like I can’t make a wrong decision.”

On the money that could come with the NFL “It’s definitely nice to think about, but at the same time I feel those things will come with football or without football. I’m a hard working in anything I do and I feel God will bless me somehow or some way.”

On quarterback Erik Ainge’s toughness “Breaking his finger in the middle of the season and coming out playing that Saturday was phenomenal. That really showed us that this guy really cares about this team and not about himself. He’s not worried about the NFL, he’s worried about winning games for Tennessee, and that’s what he’s done.”