Tennessee Volunteers

Today on Rocky Top: Dobbs Status, Player Health, Splash Plays

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Joshua Dobbs’s status, the health of other players, and more splash plays headline the Tennessee Vols news for Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016.

Well that was a crazy first week of college football. It all started with Tennessee’s crazy struggles against the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

And then it finished with the Ole Miss Rebels leading you to believe they could kill the Florida State Seminoles…only to lose by 11 points.

The SEC sort of embarrassed itself by finishing the weekend 7-7 and 6-6 in out of conference play. Meanwhile, the Vols’ struggles against Appalachian State started it all.

So how is Tennessee and the fan base on Rocky Top after that game? And what are the Battle at Bristol prospects. We’ll take a look here for our first set of news following Week 1.

Tennessee Vols still searching for big plays – Wes Rucker of 247Sports

Tennessee coach Butch Jones was asked why his team had only one play of more than 20 yards in its season-opening win over Appalachian State.

Jones thought there were more than that.

“I believe we had three,” he said.

Butch Jones offers status on Joshua Dobbs’s health – Kenny Hawkins of WJHL

Opening the ‘Battle at Bristol’ week with his standing press conference, Ninth-ranked Tennessee Vols coach Butch Jones laughed off a question about the injury status of quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Speaking to media inside the Ray & Lucy Hand Digital Studio, Jones emphasized that Dobbs would be the Vols’ starting signal-caller Saturday night (8 p.m., ABC) when they play the Virginia Tech Hokies in the ‘Battle at Bristol’ game sponsored by Pilot and hosted on a new turf field inside Bristol Motor Speedway.

“Y’all need to check some of your sources,” Jones chuckled.

Butch Jones says all other Vols available for Battle at Bristol – John Brice of 247Sports

After playing limited newcomers and also holding out several other potentially key contributors, Jones expects nearly a full complement of players for Saturday’s ‘Battle at Bristol’ against Virginia Tech inside Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m., ABC).

Jones says Shy Tuttle, Alexis Johnson, Kyle Phillips and Darrell Taylor all could play, and Jones also says he wants to utilize more of the Vols’ newcomers class.