May 30

By Jimmy Hyams

Greg McEroy said it was borderline disgusting at times watching Tennessee’s team flounder last season.

“There was nothing more infuriating than putting on the tape and watching Tennessee at the end of the season and just seeing how dejected they would get when something when South,’’ said the SEC Network analyst. “Then seeing how quickly they would go in the tank when they didn’t get off to a decent start.’’

UT went in the tank so often, it lost eight games for the first time in school history (4-8) and went winless in SEC play for the first time in school history (0-8).

Jeremy Pruitt, a highly successful defensive coordinator at Florida State, Georgia and Alabama, has been charged with reviving a once storied program.

It won’t be an easy — or a quick — fix.

“I just want to see this team, more than anything else, be competitive,’’ McElroy said. “Even if they aren’t winning games against the upper tire SEC East, at least be competitive. Keep it within 10 points. Keep it within a touchdown so you have a chance to steal it at the end of the game.

“That’s what I want to see. Not the 50-17 blowouts (against Missouri) that we saw time to time in the second half of last season.’’

That’s why McElroy says UT’s record might not be the ultimate measuring stick for progress under Pruitt.

“I don’t know, necessarily, if progress is going to be measured by wins and losses,’’ McElroy said. “I don’t think it can be. When you’re completely changing how the program is being operated … I want to see them more competitive if things go South early. Will they show up and play in the second half as hard as humanly possible. We didn’t see that all the time last year.’’

Pruitt didn’t even see it in the spring game. He called out some players for “flat out quitting.’’

McElroy, who covered the game for the SEC Network, said he didn’t notice players quitting. But he did see other signs of concern.

“I think the defensive performance was disappointing,’’ McElroy said. “The lack of tackling, the lack of pursuit, the lack of fundamentals and gap soundness when it comes to the run game,’’ he said. “All those things are areas that need to be addressed.

“I didn’t notice on the field a lack of effort. But I did notice a significant lack of execution.’’

Lack of execution played a role in UT’s miserable season. The Vols blew several games it could have won – at Florida and Kentucky, are examples.

“I think Jeremy wants to stress to his kids that it’s never going to be easy,’’ McElroy said. “It’s going to be adverse. Its’ going to be difficult.

“There’s going to be times when things aren’t going your way and you have to stick with it and not get dejected and come out on the other side feeling good.’’

McElroy expects Pruitt to make practice tougher than games, just like Nick Saban did when McElroy played for the Crimson Tide and led the team to the 2009 national championship.

“Pruitt wants practices to be exponentially more difficult than what any of the Volunteer players will face Saturdays in the SEC,’’ McElroy said. “That’s the whole mantra of what Jeremy Pruitt is trying to create. He wants Saturdays to be a cake walk compared to the work they put in during the week and in the offseason.’’

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