On how Tennessee’s freshmen who received significant playing time last year — like Levi Clark and Manny Marin — are different heading into this season:
“Well, that’s what you hope as a coaching staff, is those guys make a jump. Usually it’s between freshman and sophomore year. Manny, the one thing I talk with him about is like, if you’re going to play in the middle of the field, you need to run the show. You need to over communicate it. Also, we need to tell him, like, ‘Hey, be quiet. You’re talking too much.’ So really, that’s never going to happen, but he’s done a great job just kind of commanding the field.
“And then Levi has been awesome, balancing catching and playing first. I think guys respect those guys because they’ve played in the league. They know what it’s like, but they also were very lucky where some of our better players are some of our best people, too. It’s easy for our young guys to have the example to look up to. And in our program, we always talk about competition is king. Internal should be every single day. There’s somebody right next to you, behind you, in front of you, that’s capable of doing it at the same level, but at the same time, those guys have been great teammates and making sure this freshman class that is really talented, bringing those guys along too, and making sure they’re getting better along the way.”