DeBord Given Game Ball by Players

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First-year Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike DeBord has more than a quarter-century of college coaching experience under his belt, but he hasn’t received many game balls during his career.

And he never had gotten one quite like the one he was presented Monday.

DeBord said Tuesday that he was “moved” when he was given a game ball from Tennessee’s season-opening 59-30 win over Bowling Green by some of the Vols’ offensive players, led by senior offensive tackle Kyler Kerbyson, junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs and sophomore running back Jalen Hurd.

The 59-year-old DeBord, who was hired in February to replace Mike Bajakian, said he had received game balls in the past “only when everybody got a game ball,” so the ball he received Monday naturally meant something to him.

“Never gotten one personally, and it hit me,” DeBord said after Tennessee’s practice Tuesday afternoon. “I mean, emotionally it hit me. I think the players saw that, how much it meant to me.”

DeBord pointed to the Vols’ players and the rest of head coach Butch Jones’ staff in deflecting the credit for Tennessee’s offensive performance Saturday against Bowling Green. The Vols rushed for 399 yards and racked up 604 yards of total offense in their debut under DeBord.

“As I said to the players, there was nothing I did in that game, really,” DeBord said. “Our coaches did as great of a job of adjusting as any staff I’ve ever been on. We adjusted more throughout the game, again, than any game I think I’ve ever coached in, and that’s a credit to them. And then the players, they had to handle adjustments, and they did that.

“Again, I was moved by it. But that’s not my game ball. That’s all those coaches’ and players’ and everybody, so I’ll take it on behalf of them.”

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