Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello let his inner Vol fan show on Wednesday morning as he cracked a joke at Tom Brady’s expense to prop up former Vol great Peyton Manning.
Vitello’s joke came in the middle of his fall ball press conference on Wednesday as he answered a question about the leadership of the team.
“I think for this fall, we want some leaders to emerge and that doesn’t mean like the captain like a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady. I guess I should just say Peyton – to hell with Tom Brady,” Vitello said with a big laugh.
Tony Vitello shows off his inner Tennessee fan by cracking a joke on Tom Brady during his press conference Wednesday 😂 pic.twitter.com/VQEwoRR1Mh
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) October 24, 2024
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Here’s what Vitello said in his full answer:
On how fall ball helps map out the season ahead
“I think for this fall, we want some leaders to emerge and that doesn’t mean like the captain like a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady. I guess I should just say Peyton – the hell with Tom Brady [laughs]. But you know, we’ve lost so many faces last year off the team. But we also lost a lot of personalities and a lot of leadership and who those guys are going to be for this group is a big question mark. I think there’s talent there and I think there’s that natural camaraderie in chemistry that we had last year too.
It’s just on a different level and a lot of that is because we don’t have guys who aren’t necessarily the ring leaders yet. There’s some guys who have started to show signs of that. They realize it’s either them or nobody as they look around, but like a lot of relationships, which that’s what being a teammate is in a locker room. Chemistry is all about relationships. It takes time and events like this weekend, not just the games on Friday and Sunday but the community service activities on Saturday, that’s when those guys have an opportunity to show their character and show that they’re a guy to follow or a guy to help you along the way to speed up the process for a freshman or a newcomer to do well in our league.”
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Check out everything Tony Vitello said on Wednesday by clicking here.
Vitello and Manning have worked together on several occasions before, highlighted by their comedy sketch video before the Vols’ trip to the College World Series in 2021.
