KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs added one more assignment to his long list of responsibilities.The face of Tennessees program also has become the voice of its offense. Coaches and teammates say theyve noticed a difference in him this year in that regard. He doesnt hesitate to let the entire offense know when something needs to be corrected or when someones done something well.Hes definitely more vocal, senior guard Dylan Wiesman said. He stands up and hell get on guys and call them out. That has definitely improved. That is whats making him a better leader.Dobbs, whose 22 career starts lead all active Southeastern Conference quarterbacks, downplays the changes in his leadership approach. The senior said he has always tried to lead ever since taking over the starting spot for good late in the 2014 season.But he acknowledges he has made a few tweaks to his leadership style.Im just being myself, pushing my teammates, holding them to a higher standard, Dobbs said. Ive always held them to a high standard and have said things when needed, but this year its just holding them to an even higher standard than I have in the past. Im glad theyre seeing that and theyre responding to it well.No. 9 Tennessee has its highest preseason ranking since 2005 as it heads into Thursdays opener with Appalachian State. Tennessee is seeking its first conference title since its 1998 national championship.Dobbs is making sure the Volunteers understand whats at stake.If were not executing, hell let us know, junior wide receiver Josh Malone said. If in a certain period of practice were not executing, well start that whole entire period over and make sure were executing that period of practice.Dobbs willingness to face challenges on and off the field explains why Tennessee coach Butch Jones says that when you look at the definition of a student-athlete, it starts with Josh Dobbs.Dobbs has rushed for 1,160 yards and 19 touchdowns over the last two seasons. He threw for 2,291 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2015.His classroom performance is also impressive. Dobbs majors in aerospace engineering and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll last each of the last two years.Dobbs wants to design airplanes when hes done playing football and has spent portions of the last two summers performing internships for Pratt & Whitney. His latest internship took place in Montreal, and Dobbs said it gave him an opportunity to test out the French he had learned in high school.I could hear it well, Dobbs said. But speaking it, I was a little rusty.Malone decided to sit in on one of Dobbs engineering classes last summer before they started a workout. Malone said the experience left his mind blown.Im just more fascinated he can handle that challenge and still perform on the field, Malone said.Dobbs latest assignment is to improve his passing accuracy. Dobbs threw just five interceptions last season but he completed only 59.6 percent of his passes, down from 63.3 percent in 2014. He has talked about trying to get his completion percentage up to 65 or even 70 percent.Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord says Dobbs still performed well enough that Tennessee ranked second in the SEC in third-down efficiency last season, but he added that the seniors accuracy has really improved this summer.DeBord also described the change in the way Dobbs is communicating with teammates and really taking control of the offense.He knows all of us, he knows how to work with all of us and knows how to talk to all of us, which is a pretty important part of being a leader, Wiesman said. You have to know how to talk to your guys. He has that connection with all of us.Just him getting closer with everybody has allowed him to be a great leader because he knows how to talk to us, how to motivate us.---AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Cheap MLB Jerseys Free Shipping . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysbywholesale.com/ . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Authentic MLB Jerseys China . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The Rio Games had a less-than-golden start for NBC but were enough of a draw to allow the network to dominate the weekly ratings.The Summer Olympics opening ceremony had 26.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen company figures released Tuesday. Thats a 35 percent drop compared to the 40.7 million U.S. viewers who watched the opening of the London Games four years ago -- although NBC is pointing to more time-shifted viewing and streaming as factors in the decrease.Still, Olympic broadcasts were the three most-watched programs of the week of Aug. 1-7. The opening spectacle and events including gymnastics combined with two episodes of Americas Got Talent to give NBC five of the top 10 shows, Nielsen said.The network led with an average of 15.3 million viewers, followed by ABC with 4.1 million. CBS had 3.9 million and Fox 1.7 million, the latter nudged closely by Univision with 1.6 million and Telemundo with 1.4 million. ION Television drew 1.2 million, followed by CW with 1 million viewers.In the evening-news contest, NBCs Nightly News held the top spot with 8 million viewers, followed by ABCs World News Tonight with 7.dddddddddddd million. The CBS Evening News had 6.3 million.For the week of Aug. 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: Summer Olympic Games (Sunday), NBC, 29.8 million; Summer Olympics opening ceremony (Sunday), NBC, 26.5 million; Summer Olympics (Saturday), NBC. 20.6 million; Americas Got Talent (Tuesday), NBC, 11.6 million; Americas Got Talent (Wednesday), NBC, 9.4 million; The Bachelorette, ABC, 8.6 million; The Bachelorette: After the Rose, ABC, 8.1 million; The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 6.8 million; NCIS, CBS, 6.5 million; Big Brother (Thursday), CBS, 6 million.---ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. CNN is owned by Time Warner.---Online:http://www.nielsen.com ' ' '