Tennessee football podcast: Vols’ captain says ‘We don’t have quitters on this team’

Tennessee senior cornerback Emmanuel Moseley came up with his first interception since the Outback Bowl win over Northwestern following his sophomore season.

Michael Reaves / Getty Images

Posted 6 months ago

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — “Win out!” Tennessee junior Kahlil McKenzie shouted as he headed to the locker room following a 24-10 win over Southern Miss Saturday night.

Won // Not Done. pic.twitter.com/IF1h8r10T6

— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) November 5, 2017

Tennessee football’s Team 121 insists it won’t cash it in this season, regardless of the adversity surrounding the program.

Social media platforms have proved the players a window to look out and see:

Self-professed Vols “fans” trying to organize attendance boycotts
Select former UT players decrying anything less than a division title failure
Media, fans and former players alike announcing their coaches’ fate sealed

The Vols (4-5, 0-4 SEC) have the profile of a team that could topple at any second, especially with a road trip to SEC offense leader Missouri (4-5, 1-4 SEC) on deck.

“I said it a couple of weeks ago, we don’t have quitters on this team,” Tennessee defensive tackle and team captain Kendal Vickers said following the win over Southern Miss. “We come in every Monday ready to work and ready to go. We expect to win, we want to win.

“That’s the driving force of this team, just us wanting to win and wanting to do better.”

The Vols need to get better in the training room quickly if they want to make a fourth-straight bowl appearance.

Tennessee played the Golden Eagles with only six scholarship offensive linemen, and the Vols look to be down their top three receivers this week after Marquez Callaway (ankle) joined Jauan Jennings (wrist) and Josh Smith (ankle) on the injury report.

Tight end Ethan Wolf, who played through a severe ankle injury this season, said the seniors will continue to push the team toward a positive legacy.

“We’ve had bumps along the way, so we have to take it one game and one day at a time, and we can’t have anyone slacking off,” Wolf said. “That’s the biggest message to the young guys, and we are going to portray that to the young guys to get it done.”

SEC Country’s Mike Griffith and WNML’s Josh Ward discuss where the Vols are at heading to Missouri as a 10-point underdog in Saturday night’s 7:30 p.m. ET clash (TV: SEC Network).

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