Tennessee cornerback Justin Martin already can see a noticeable difference in Vols coach Butch Jones this year.

Past the halfway point of Tennessee’s five weeks of spring practice, Martin said Thursday that Jones is “starting to relax a lot” and “starting to get looser” — both on and off the field — going into his fifth season with the Vols.

“Coach Jones, he’s starting to relax a lot,” Martin said Thursday in his first meeting with local media during his Tennessee career. “The team takes the vibe of their head coach because that’s just how it is, so Coach Jones is starting to get looser, starting to relax a little bit more, and I feel like that’s just opening everybody up.”

Jones decided to shake up his coaching staff this year coming off a 9-4 season that began with Tennessee being widely viewed as the favorites to win the SEC East.

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The Vols have five new position coaches on their staff — offensive line coach Walt Wells, wide receivers coach Kevin Beard, quarterbacks coach Mike Canales, defensive line coach Brady Hoke and defensive backs coach Charlton Warren — and tight ends coach Larry Scott was promoted to offensive coordinator in January after former offensive coordinator Mike DeBord’s departure.

Jones also has been noticeably quieter on the practice field this spring, less frequently using the microphone he carries to communicate with players.

Martin, a former junior-college transfer who’s now a rising senior, said he has seen a difference in Jones’ demeanor “everywhere — on the practice field, inside the meetings” — and that has helped Tennessee become a “real close” team.

“I just feel like we’re a real close group together,” Martin said. “It’s not really anybody on the team that’s just far and separated. We all hang out with each other outside of football. We make sure people stay out of trouble as much as we can. I just feel like we’re close.”

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