For the second straight day of fall football practice, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones was not pleased with the focus of his football team.

While everything appeared to be under control during the first eight periods that were open to practice, things took a turn downhill soon after.

“I just didn’t like our overall approach and consistency,” Jones said after practice Monday evening. “We had way too many balls on the ground. We had trouble today even snapping the football and making a field goal at times.”

A handful of players were originally scheduled to speak with the media after practice, but Jones said players must “earn the right” to do so.

Jones cited inconsistency and not focusing on details as the downfall of the team during practice, especially with the younger players.

“We can’t allow (inconsistency) to be an excuse,” Jones said. “We have to stop using youth as a crutch. Nobody cares, especially our opponents.”

With such a young team, inconsistency is to be expected.

Butch Jones reiterated that he and his assistants expected difficulties this early on with the influx of such a large number of freshmen, saying multiple times “Our patience is going to be tried.”

Jones wants his older, more experienced players to take a more vocal leadership role and show the newcomers the way.

Out of a roster size of 106 players, the team only has 15 seniors on the team.

“Leadership is at a premium right now,” the UT head coach said. “You have to work on leadership every day. It’s easy to lead when things are easy. The great leaders have to lead in difficult times.”

Jones wants his team to understand time is running out, and he wants the team to have a better sense of urgency moving forward.

“Today just exemplifies the sense of urgency this team has to have because our margin of error is very small,” he said. “We have to be patient and be good teachers. But our older players need to step up.

“We’ll get it fixed. (The players) are starting to understand the sense of urgency, and they better because we don’t have much time till (the first game against) Utah State.”

Although Jones and his staff want to quickly fix the miscues of the team, they understand teaching thirty freshmen the nuances of collegiate football takes time.

“Even though it’s practice four, we can’t allow (these mistakes) to happen,” he said. “The great thing is we don’t have to be game ready yet. But we can’t waste one single opportunity to improve this football team.”

The 46-year head coach has outlined the standards for playing football at the University of Tennessee.

“We have to be mentally tough, we have to be physically tough, withstand adversity, and win the small details.”

Focusing on the small details is a must for Jones, and he sees progress despite the inconsistency.

“They’re learning the standards and expectations, and they’re getting it. But it’ll take time.”