When Tennessee's football team bottomed out last Saturday with a 28-24 loss to Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium, defensive coordinator/associate head coach John Chavis was right there with it.

"That's about as low of a feeling as I've ever had," Chavis said Tuesday, "and we have to lean on people from time to time."

Who did Chavis lean on?

His players.

At Monday's practice, Chavis said his players gave him a much-needed boost in morale.

"You know what was amazing, how you feel inside, and to be honest with you, I probably reached one of the lowest points from a personal standpoint that I've been in (after the Vanderbilt loss)," Chavis said. "The thing that got me going, and I'm not there now, because I got out on the practice field, and being with those kids on the practice field changed my entire outlook.

"That's what they've been able to accomplish. They've been positive throughout some very tough situations. We've had some adversity and I see our kids remaining positive and working hard to try to be as good as they can be."

Senior defensive end Jason Hall said his teammates were glad to help Chavis.

"I mean, you want to help him, and he wants to help us," Hall said. "Everybody had to get out there and just get back to work Monday and try to get the bad taste out of our mouths, so to speak, and try to walk away with a win (Saturday at Kentucky)."

Last Saturday's loss ended a 22-game winning streak against Vanderbilt and a 16-year bowl run for the Vols (4-6).

It was also perhaps Chavis' lowest moments in his 17 seasons as a coach at UT.

Chavis said it was unusual for the players to inspire the coach, instead of the coach inspiring the players.

"I think so because that hasn't happened very much in my lifetime, but geez, I'd be less than human if I didn't tell you I had low points in my life and anybody who says they never have (low points), they're not telling the truth," Chavis said. "We all experience those things, and from time to time, there's been different people that I've been able to count on, and this time it just happened to be the players."