Butch Jones upbeat but realistic about young crew on eve of ‘Team 118’s’ first spring (with video)

A word cloud of Butch Jones' comments on March 6, 2014.

A word cloud of Butch Jones’ comments on March 6, 2014.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The second year of the Butch Jones era — and the public debut for the group dubbed “Team 118” — comes on Friday afternoon at Haslam Field.

Jones met with the media on Thursday to preview the spring season. There was no earth-shattering news, and Jones was upbeat about the new faces who will provide some of the main storylines this spring.

“They’re eager. They’re willing. They have no bad habits right now. They hang on everything you say,” Jones said.

The faces of Butch Jones on March 6, 2014. (photos by Evan Woodbery)

We have plenty of content on GoVolsXtra (warning: some of it is subscriber-only), but the word cloud above should give you the gist of what Jones said today.

While Jones was upbeat, he also warned that many of the players in camp would be going through their first spring practices. And while the overall depth of the team is stronger than it was a year ago, there are positions — on offensive line, for example — where that’s not the case.

Here’s a gallery of photos from today’s press conference.

Also, our spring rosters have been updated to reflect injuries to Brendan Downs and Drae Bowles. Now they’re ready to print out and use as a reference.