KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For the first time since preparations for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, Tennessee football donned shoulder pads in a practice as the Volunteers spent two hours working out in shells on Friday afternoon at Haslam Field.
“We didn’t get a chance to do that in the spring, so I know our players were excited to have a chance to strike people up front and finish with thuds and (being) a little bit closer to football,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “I really think over the last three days our offense continues to improve as far as how fast we’re getting lined up, getting the calls in, communicating, taking care of the football.”
Pruitt discussed the health improvement of senior tight end Austin Pope, who underwent surgery earlier this summer.
“He’s been out there every day. He continues to improve and if he continues to improve like he has the last five weeks, he should be ready to play for the opener.”
Among the many young skill position players seeing several reps include freshman wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.
“Jalin is a guy that is very polished,” Pruitt said. “He’s had three really good practices, and he’s got to continue to do that. He’s got to work on ball security. It’s a little different in this league because everybody plays in your face. In high school, very few teams probably played him that way, so he’s got to continue to work really hard at the line of scrimmage, at the top of routes, and he’s a guy that can play really all three spots at wide receiver.”
Tennessee will quickly turnaround and practice Saturday evening to conclude the first week of preseason camp.
Below are quotes from Pruitt’s post practice media availability.
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Press Conference
Practice #3 | Friday, Aug. 21
Opening Statement
“Today was our third practice, first day in shells. We didn’t get a chance to do that in the spring, so I know our players were excited to have a chance to strike people up front and finish with thuds and (being) a little bit closer to football. I really think over the last three days our offense continues to improve as far as how fast we’re getting lined up, getting the calls in, communicating, taking care of the football. I was really pleased with our offensive line today. They continued to improve and develop some chemistry up there. We’re playing a lot of guys. (We have) a lot of guys getting a lot of different opportunities there. (We’re) moving some guys around, but you can tell from a conceptual standpoint we’re a lot further ahead than we were probably when we practiced in spring thanks to the OTAs we had this summer.
“Defensively, we’ve got to continue to work on trying to create turnovers at practice. First day we had a chance to thud somebody up and there’s guys out there that flashed and looked like we’d been doing it for a while, and we’ve got other guys that have to continue to improve.
“One thing that I want to update everybody on is Tamarion McDonald. He had shoulder surgery this summer, and we elected to do that so that he would be ready when we started in the winter time, so we went ahead and got that done for him. With the uncertainty at that point and time during the pandemic we felt like that was the best thing to do so we went ahead and did that. So, he’s a guy that will definitely be redshirting this season.”
On freshman quarterback Harrison Bailey …
“He has not practiced. At the last press conference, I told you all that we had some guys that were in some social quarantine and he’s one of the guys that is.”
On the practice plan for senior offensive lineman Trey Smith …
“Well he definitely will be doing more than he did last year because last year he did zero. With the season being pushed back and with the way that we’ve spread practice out – 25 practices, I think it’s over 36 days or 42 days, whatever it is – there’s breaks in between so it’s going to allow him to get several practices during camp.”
On his thoughts on the reduced crowd capacities and how that will be different from a coaching standpoint …
“Well it’s one of the great things about this league, is every week, every stadium is going to be full so obviously that’ll be something different, but we train year-round – obviously there’s eight weeks that we give them off – but we train when nobody’s looking. That’s the mindset that I believe we have to have as a team. I know things have changed daily over the last six months so who knows what’s liable to happen as the season goes, in a positive way or a negative way, who knows? The way we’re looking at it is, we’re training when nobody’s looking so, we’ve got to be ready whenever the time comes.”
On freshman wide receiver Jalin Hyatt …
“We have a lot of young receivers and one thing about all of them is they can run. They’re really fast. Jalin is a guy that is very polished. He’s had three really good practices, and he’s got to continue to do that. He’s got to work on ball security. It’s a little different in this league because everybody plays in your face. In high school, very few teams probably played him that way, so he’s got to continue to work really hard at the line of scrimmage, at the top of routes, and he’s a guy that can play really all three spots at wide receiver.”
On the new NCAA legislation giving all players another year of eligibility …
“Talking about the new legislation, we just found out about it coming off the field. I think it’s a great idea. The NCAA is in place – and we’re all here, all of us together, everybody that’s in college athletics – we’re here to serve all the student-athletes. I think that it’s a great opportunity for them in a time of uncertainty so they can make decisions about their future and probably alleviate some anxiety for them. So, I think it’s a great idea.”
On senior tight end Austin Pope …
“He’s been out there every day. He continues to improve and if he continues to improve like he has the last five weeks, he should be ready to play for the opener.”
On sophomore linebacker Henry To’o To’o and his next step as a player …
“Last year, Daniel Bituli was the signal caller on defense. Henry is plenty capable of doing that this year, he was last year. But that’s one of the things that will be added to him this year – being the signal caller on defense, making sure everybody is lined up. Communication, he is the quarterback of the defense. One thing that he’s really worked on is his coverage, whether it is zone drops or playing man-to-man. He’s really changed his body this offseason, probably a little lighter but probably stronger now and he’s really trimmed up.”
On sophomore running back Eric Gray …
“Eric has really good leadership ability. He’s a great student, works extremely hard all the time. He’s a really good practice player. He’s worked really hard in the weight room; he’s probably put on 10 pounds since last year. Him working hard at practice and in the classroom, that’s who he is and that’s who he was in high school and that’s just the way he’s wired. He’s a great guy to just follow his lead on and off the field.”
On roster management in light of the new NCAA rule regarding eligibility…
“Well I have not studied the legislation, but it’s probably pretty simple. Where the numbers come into effect, these seniors, a team that has 30 seniors on scholarship is obviously different from a team that has five. Just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean you’re going to come back and play. I’m sure they’re going to do the right thing, that’s what the NCAA is there for. Whenever that happens, we’ll adjust.”
On if he is okay with the scholarship limit staying at 85 …
“No, there’s no way we can operate that way. On every team, there will be some young men that decide to come back. We can’t predict what’s going to happen over the next three months. I’m sure those circumstances will affect people’s decisions.”
On areas of practice that improved this week …
“We’ve got to improve in every phase. Offense, defense, even special teams. There’s certain groups that are a little older and have more experience and it has shown in the first three practices. We’ve got to continue to improve at everything. We’ve got to find good leaders in each group and got to have guys that affect other guys in a positive way.”
On Trevon Flowers, Theo Jackson and new guys who will replace Nigel Warrior …
“Well we’ve practiced three times. All those guys have had some good plays, and they’ve probably all had some bad plays. We’re working on consistency. We have talent back there in the backfield, and we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football games. It’s time for them to elevate their game. This starts with practice and we’ve got to do it with consistency.”
On freshman defensive back Keyshawn Lawrence and junior defensive back Bryce Thompson …
“Keyshawn (Lawrence) is learning the system. For any young player, I guess you can say it takes a little bit of time. We’ve played lots of true freshmen over the years. He’s a guy that has plenty of ability along with Doneiko Slaughter. Those guys are competing. We’ve got lots of opportunities out there. In the end, we’ll play the best players that we feel like will give us a chance to win. Those guys certainly have an opportunity to be one of the five or six guys, or eight or 10 guys that play. We play a lot of guys and we try to play the guys who deserve to play. Over the last couple of years, we’ve done that and we’ve had some success back there. We’ll continue to do that.
“When it comes to Bryce (Thompson), everybody’s got to work on consistency – Bryce, the entire secondary, the entire team. This is a new year, and we have to take it one day at a time and continue to work hard and be able to master our position so we’ll be ready to play our best.”
On Cade Mays at practice …
“We two spot so everybody gets the same amount of reps so Cade (Mays) is in there working just like everybody else. Last week the question to me was about his waiver. It’s interesting to me, for him, that the NCAA and everybody associated with college athletics, we always try to serve the kids, right? And Cade’s a guy that based off of none of his doing, he has nothing to do with it. There’s a circumstance there obviously with a lawsuit between his parents and the University of Georgia, and it was something that started while he was there. I’m sure he worked hard to be the best player he could be. I’m sure there was probably pressure on both sides from their coaching staff and him as player. It’s just something that doesn’t happen a whole lot. So it is an unusual circumstance. Him electing to transfer and us applying for a waiver, to me, it’s just common sense. If there’s a lawsuit going on with your employer, it’s probably not the healthiest situation in the world and that’s not bashing anybody at Georgia, that’s just common sense to me. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to play this year. He’s working hard every day, just like he’s going to. It would be very disappointing on many levels if any kid, in this pandemic, is denied the opportunity to play.”
On the NCAA’s academic-based incentive for student-athletes …
“Obviously, we learned about it last Thursday, so it’s something from an administrative standpoint we’ve got to decide what we want to do. We have certainly put it in motion, and we’re coming up with a plan.”
-UT Athletics
