Tennessee’s Butch Jones responds to Mills dismissal

Perhaps predictably, Tennessee coach Butch Jones said that Georgia Tech’s loss of B-back Dedrick Mills will not impact the Yellow Jackets in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game Sept. 4 in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mills was dismissed from the team Friday for a violation of athletic department policy.

“It doesn’t affect them one bit,” Jones told reporters after Tennessee’s Friday’s practice in Knoxville, Tenn. “I believe they were 3-0 without him last year.”

Jones actually sold Tech short. The Jackets were 4-0 without Mills, beating Mercer, Duke, Virginia Tech and Virginia. Jones additionally praised Tech’s spread-option offense and its team overall.

“They have a system that’s challenging, and they have good players and a very solid defense and good special teams,” Jones said. “This is a complete football team that we’re playing, we prepare the same way, so it doesn’t affect our mindset our how we look at things.”