Everything Tennessee Assistant Mike Ekeler said on Saturday

Mike Ekeler, the outside linebackers coach and special teams coach for the Tennessee football team, met with the media Saturday morning as the Vols move closer to their season opener.

The energetic Ekeler talked about the return match, the competition at Kicker and much more. Here is everything Ekeler said on Saturday morning.

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What he looks for in Tennessee's kick and punt returners

“Well, I'll tell you what. Squirrel Whites punt returner, (Jermod) McCoy, punt returner, Boo (Carter) — we've got a lot of guys — Cam Seldon. And then kickoff returner, there's a lot of the same guys that we have in that group, plus (DeSean) Bishop. We've got some dynamic guys with the ball in their hands. And you know, in the last three years we've given up 23 yards on punt returns and now we're at just under 900. So our guys take a lot of pride in that. And it's not going to be any different this year. That's going to be our best unit, period.”

What stood out in Tennessee's kicker competition

“It's been great. We've got three guys that could play pretty much anywhere in the country. Max (Gilbert) has done a great job. Turbs (Josh Turbyville) just keeps getting better. And JT (Carver), man, since the day we came in here, he's just been working hard and busting his ass. And he can go out there and, like I said, those three guys can play anywhere in the country. So we like the competition that we have.

“And what's really cool about it is I've been in a lot of team rooms over the years and our guys are so close. And obviously, it's like a quarterback. There's one ball, only one guy can get out there and those guys all want that job. But they really have a great camaraderie. They really help each other out and pull for each other in the right way. So the chemistry in that room is as good as it's ever been.”

Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said he knows Tennessee's players are working in zone defense when he sees it on special teams.

“It's a space game. I mean, if you can't make plays in space, there used to be a saying among coaches, 'Ah, he's a Big 10 Mike.' There's no such thing anymore. I mean, a linebacker has to be, you've got two willing linebackers out there. You've got to be able to bend and let the guys make plays in space. And the guys in the nickels, the cornerbacks, the safeties, all those guys are our Leos, our outside backers. It's a space game, and then you translate that to the offensive side. You block the guys in space. That's what it's about. If you can't change direction and if you can't make plays in space and let guys shoot out of bounds or block the guys in space, you can't make plays.”

Why this will be his best special forces unit in Tennessee

“This is year four. Year four. Our guys know what we want from them. Every year we push ourselves to the limit to get better. And we have a saying: ABT is all about technique, ABM is all about money. These guys buy into it, they understand it, they see it every day. Every drill we do makes them better football players and it transfers over and they see it. We show clips of guys, we show Dee (Williams) with the Seahawks out there making plays on kickoff cover. We show Tank (Jaylen McCollough) with the Rams tearing up the place. Theo Jackson. All these guys that were their teammates, and they see it and they want it. Bebecause ultimately, they want to be the best player they can be right now, and they want to play this game as long as they can. And they understand that their skill is all they have. So, their knowledge, their technique, they either have it or they don't. When you get to the NFL, you're up there. If you don't have it, they're going to pat you on the back and tell you to take your playbook and go to the head coach. These guys would love to keep their playbook, and that's the way we talk to them. I challenge them. So guys, first practice game, this is a prep game. You go out there, your playbooks are on the line. We're going to do some Rated-R film, you know, NFL teach tapes, Grade-A shit, and they're proud of it.”

On the next step for Jackson Ross in his development as a punter

“Jackson Ross is one of the most amazing punters I've ever been around. I mean, we've built a system around this guy that goes hand in hand with his skill set. We've put a lot of things in place this offseason that I'm excited to roll out. What's next for him? He's just got experience this year. He had 27 kicks — he had 55 punts last year — 27 of them were inside the 20-yard line. Seventeen of them were inside the 10. That's deadly. Nobody can say that. He led the country in that and he's just going to get better and better and better. We were at Neyland in the scrimmage a couple times and he's got 14 pooches and two of them were on the six and the rest were inside the four. That's a damn weapon. I told you I blew the first game last year, and I told you he was going to be a damn weapon. I didn't lie.”

To simulate game situations for the soccer competition

“Good question, and Heup does that all the time. He gets the guys up, he gets the whole team up, and he literally tunnels around them and puts pressure on them at the end of the day. And so he really puts the guys in those situations a couple of times every week. And Coach Crabtree works with the specialists, too, and Dustin Colquitt and the guys do a phenomenal job with the guys, and I love their approach, I love their mentality. If they miss a kick, *snap*, next kick. I mean, that's their mentality. And it's about consistency. It's like golf. I mean, it's about being a consistent ball-striker, and that's what they work on. And I love this group, man. I mean, we've got NFL specialists. We've got NFL kickers. We've got two snappers in (Matthew) Salansky and Bennett Brady that can play the hell out of NFL. But we're in Tennessee, man. And if we don't have that, Coach Heup should pat me on the shoulder and say, “Hey, get a job. Go down the street. Because that's what we have.”

On the NFL's new kickoff rule as a selling point for players who choose special teams

“Well, that's a pretty unique rule, obviously. A unique thing, and we don't spend a lot of time on it because we don't do it in college. So we show clips like Dee (Williams) making a tackle and setting up an opponent. The same things we do, and we pull a clip of Dee doing that in practice, in a drill, and say, 'Guys, there it is.' That's fine. It's the same thing. The same thing we do on Saturdays when we switch on Sundays.”