Jabari Small explains how Tennessee handles the noise, expectations as a Top 10 team

During his time at Tennessee, Jabari Small and the Volunteers have never had overly high expectations. That is, until the 2022 season. Now, Tennessee is a top 10 team, with a good chance to make a run at the SEC East crown. However, now the Volunteers need to take on a new challenge, fighting outside noise.

While speaking to the media, Jabari Small was asked if it was easy to tune out the noise, given where the program came from.

“I think it should be easy,” Jabari Small said. “Just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

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Jabari Small then pointed out that it’s not like Tennessee hasn’t had to block out noise before. They’ve just had to do it for reasons other than their on-field success.

“We’ve been on the other side of it, where we had to block noise out, all of these negative comments. So, all I know is our identity is just work and play like there’s no tomorrow. So, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Jabari Small was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2020.

Jabari Small on the SEC schedule

Tennessee plays one of the hardest schedules in the country, with teams like Georgia and Alabama on the schedule every season. This year, that schedule includes LSU and a highly ranked Kentucky among others.

Still, Jabari Small is excited about this schedule.

“I like to embrace it, yeah. I think last year we had a pretty tough schedule, but that’s just how, you know, Tennessee is,” Jabari Small said. “We play the best teams every year. Nothing is easy about our schedule. Nothing is easy about how we win. We have to earn everything. So, I’m very excited about it. It’s a challenge.”