JACKSONVILLE — Trey Smith is looking forward to “hitting the beach, getting some seafood and just chilling.”

Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano is excited to spend New Year’s Eve somewhere other than his grandma's house.

Other Vol players are giddy about NBA 2k tournaments in the hotel or swinging a club at Top Golf.

After an 0-2 start to the 2019 season, no one expected Tennessee to be playing in Florida in January, so the Vols are going to have some fun while they're at the Gator Bowl this week.

And yet, to a man, the extracurricular activities and team bonding isn’t what Tennessee is hyped about the most.

“Just the game,” Guarantano said, empathically.

"We have business to take care of. We want to finish the season off with a streak. We have one more to go to do so. (Head coach Jeremy Pruitt) has been harping on that. In the end all, be all, we came here to win a football game.”

Thankfully, no Tennessee player uttered the exasperating phrase “business trip” during availability Sunday, but it’s clear, motivation and focus won’t be an issue for the Vols this week as they prepare for Thursday’s game against Indiana (7 p.m., ESPN).

Sure, they want to enjoy their time in the Sunshine State. They will, too. But when they step between the white lines, both at practice and during the Gator Bowl, their intentions are clear.

“We came out here to win,” senior outside linebacker Darrell Taylor said following a spirited first workout at North Florida University on Sunday afternoon.

"That’s the only thing we came out here to do. We can have fun after we win.”

Just getting to Jacksonville is an accomplishment for Tennessee — both for this season and in the program’s recent history. The Vols snapped a two-year bowl absence and rebounded from a 1-4 start this fall by winning six of its final seven games, including ripping off five straight to end the regular season.

They weren't supposed to be here, so how do they make sure they make it count?

While there’s some bubbling excitement within the program about what a win could mean propelling the team into the 2020 season — a notion win or lose, I personally don’t take much stock in — the Vols truly want to honor a group of seniors by sending them out in style Thursday night.

Taylor, Daniel Bituli, Nigel Warrior, Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway were key fixtures in making sure the ship didn’t sink when the season started off in flames. They not only put out the fire, but they spearheaded the turnaround with midseason wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Now, they’re looking to finish.

"The last five games we have played really well," Pruitt said Sunday.

"Before that, we kind of started moving in the right direction. We want to finish. We are going to remember this game for a long time, and we have some seniors on our team that have really worked hard to turn this program in the positive direction, and we want to send these guys off the right way."