Tennessee is up

TENNESSEE COACH LANE KIFFIN

• "I can't imagine (the first seven months on the job) going better than it has."
  
  
• Kiffin is proud to have signed Bryce Brown.
  
  
• "It is so hard to recruit in this conference. Kids do not want to leave their state. You have to do something really unique and special to get them to leave their state. We had to create national attention immediately. Nobody gives you four- and five-year plans anymore. Winning games is the easy way (to recruit), but we didn't have time to do that. Tennessee is the most talked-about football program. We're creating interest."
  
  
• On toning down: "It's part of the plan. It's part of the timing of things. In the summer, there wasn't anything to focus on. Now there's something to focus on -- real ball."
  
  
• Kiffin doesn't want to moonlight S Eric Berry, a high-school quarterback, at quarterback this season because UT is running a new defense. He thinks that would negatively affect his development.
  
  
• Kiffin accepted help when filling out his preseason All-SEC ballot because "I didn't know as much about the players in the league."
  
  
• On secondary violations: "We definitely have (gotten Mike Slive's message). Not one of the violations that occurred to us is something we planned. We did not set out to do something ... to gain an advantage. Of our 10 coaches, five of them were in the NFL last season. We probably weren't as educated on the rules and how they're interpreted."
  
  
• On signing Daniel Hood, who was convicted in 2006 of kidnapping and aggravated rape: "You have to look at the incident. It happened five years ago. If you research it enough ... and really knew the exact story of what happened ... it was different than how it was portrayed in the media. It took months to figure it out."
  
  
• "I wish the coach could go out in the spring. I don't get to go out and see the guys."
  
  
• "I can't imagine there's a better recruiter out there than Ed (Orgeron)."
  
  
• On if he has won or lost recruits in Memphis: "Wait until signing day happens and evaluate if we got the players we really went after."
  
  
• On Eddie Gran and his work in south Florida: "Eddie Gran has absolutely blown me away as a coach and a recruiter. Eddie was not on the top of my list. Will Muschamp called me. (Muschamp recommended Gran) He is unbelievable. He's going to do a great job for us down there."
  
  
• Kiffin said his staff has been allowed back into Pahokee High. "The one camera I didn't know was there made it seem like it was a national story. We have moved forward from that."
  
  
• On Orgeron's value as a recruiter: "He's relentless the way he goes about it. Anywhere he's been, the recruitment and development of the players has been phenomenal."
  
  
• He's now discussing individual signees.
  
  
• On getting Johnny Majors back in the fray: "He hadn't been to a (UT) practice in 14 years. He's a huge part of our tradition. It was so neat to see him at practice."