JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Tennessee football team hit the field for the first of four practices in Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
“We had nine really good days before we came down, really before the Christmas break,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “We got a lot of work in, a lot of physical work in, so it was good for our guys.
“We kind of kept the practices short and had a lot of competition with the ones, twos and threes. The guys responded the right way. We really spent the last two days working on Indiana. We’ve had good work there too.”
The Vols arrived in Jacksonville on Saturday night and are scheduled to practice the next three days to conclude their prep for the 75th Gator Bowl against Indiana, which will be played at TIAA Bank Field on Thursday, Jan. 2. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Vols Looking to Build Off Strong Finish to Regular Season
The Big Orange finished the regular season as one of the hottest teams in college football after winning their final five games and six of their last seven. They will look to carry that momentum into Thursday’s tilt with the Hoosiers.
“The last five games we have played really well,” Pruitt said. “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.”
O-Line Update
Pruitt said before practice that starting center Brandon Kennedy will be a game-time decision for Thursday’s contest against Indiana.
The Alabama native had a minor procedure on his knee following UT’s regular-season finale against Vanderbilt. Kennedy is the only player on Tennessee’s offensive line to start every game this season.
Pruitt also mentioned that redshirt freshman Kingston Harris has moved from the defensive line to the offensive line to help with depth after the departures of Ryan Johnson and Marcus Tatum.
“It was good for us to give him an opportunity and look there,” Pruitt said. “We did it a fall ago. He’s actually looked really good there. It’s something we might continue to look at. It’s something we’ve talked about, when this game is over with, we’ll go back and reassess with him and see what he thinks.”
Vols Looking for Gator Bowl Win No. 5
Thursday will mark Tennessee’s seventh time playing in the Gator Bowl. The Vols are 4-2 in their previous six appearances with wins over Texas A&M (1957), Syracuse (1966), Virginia Tech (1994) and Iowa (2015).
In UT’s most recent Gator Bowl appearance against Iowa, the Vols raced out to a 28-0 lead before going on to win 45-28 over the Hawkeyes. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs was named MVP after passing for 129 yards, rushing for 76 yards and accounting for three touchdowns.
A win on Thursday would be Tennessee’s fourth consecutive bowl victory, tying the longest streak in program history.
Jeremy Pruitt Transcript (Dec. 29)
On the bowl practices:
“We had nine really good days before we came down, really before the Christmas break. We got a lot of work in, a lot of physical work in, so it was good for our guys. We kind of kept the practices short and had a lot of competition with the ones, twos, and threes. The guys responded the right way. We really spent the last two days working on Indiana. We’ve had good work there too.”
On the outcome of the game skewing his assessment of the season:
“Well, the last five games we have played really well. 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.
On Brandon Kennedy:
“He’s practiced a little bit the last couple of days. We’ll see, it’ll really be a game-time decision.”
On Indiana’s offense:
“They’re very well coached. They give you a lot of different looks. I think they’re physical up front; they’re big. Their quarterback makes good decisions. They’ve got three good runners. Their tight ends are physical in the C-area, one of them is their second leading receiver. They have some play-makers on the outside. They’re a really nice job.”
On how the team has responded after the Christmas break:
“Good, our guys have been really excited about the opportunity. Like I said, we have had really good practices every day.”
On if anyone did not make the trip:
“No, everybody is here.”
On young guys using these practices to improve:
“I think it has been good for everybody, we have so many young guys in our program. A lot of guys have played a lot of snaps this fall, this is just a chance to go back to the ABC’s of installs and start over and it has been good for all of them.”
On giving younger players an opportunity to play in the bowl game:
“We’ve moved everybody up two spots. So, a guy like Chris Akporoghene is a guy that can play in his fourth game. He’s a guy that can possibly play.”
On Kingston Harris’ move to the offensive line:
“It was good for us to give him an opportunity and look there. We did it a fall ago. He’s actually looked really good there. It’s something we might continue to look at. It’s something we’ve talked about, when this game is over with, we’ll go back and reassess with him and see what he thinks.”
On Marcus Tatum and Ryan Johnson transferring:
“Those guys have done a good job for us – graduated and really good for our program. It was an opportunity for them. They didn’t get to play as much as they wanted to play. They want to play. We had guys that had performed better this year, that gave us a better opportunity to have success and they understood that it’s part of football.”
On receivers who could step up to replace Jauan Jennings in the first half:
“Ramel Keyton, Tyler Byrd, Cedric Tillman – those three guys.”
On Eric Gray:
“Eric’s worked hard all year. Obviously, the last game he played really well and kind of got the hot hand. So between Eric, Ty (Chandler) and Tim (Jordan), those guys have competed well during bowl practice.”
On staying focus during bowl prep:
“I don’t think it’s any different than when school is going on. When you come to practice, you get ready to practice. What are you doing the other 12 hours of the day? I think guys that have maturity and want to take advantage of the opportunity, they do that.”
On Trey Smith’s future:
“We have (talked about it). It’s something that we’ll sit down, when this game is over with and talk about again.”
On what it means for Tennessee to be back in a bowl game:
“The guys are excited about an opportunity to play. It’s a big deal for them. These guys like football, so it’s a chance to improve and get better every single day, so they’ve taken advantage of it.”
-UT Athletics
