KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt held his weekly press conference Monday to preview the Vols’ matchup with No. 2 Alabama at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Neyland Stadium. Below are quotes from the press conference:
Opening Statement
“Going back and reviewing the Kentucky game, a lot of things that I said after the game really held true. Start with defensively, I don’t know exactly what the yardage was the first half, but it was very small. I know there were four first downs that Kentucky made. When you look at the second half, they hit us a couple of times – I think three or four times on some slants – but if you go back and look, there was a lot more yards after contact. We didn’t hit the runs near as well and (it) was very disappointing. I was really excited the way we played the first half. The second half we didn’t play as well as we would like to.
“Offensively, we had more guys make our ‘War Daddy’ board this week, which we feel like is guys that play the right way. (We) probably had more efficient plays than we’ve had in any week during the season, but it all goes back to turnovers. In the last six quarters, we’ve turned the ball over seven times. There’s no way you can beat anybody doing that, especially when you’re turning it over and they’re scoring touchdowns with it. They’re in field position. I think the last six quarters we’ve given up really 30 points while the defense has allowed two first downs. Obviously, the No. 1 priority is taking care of the football and we’re not doing that, so we’ve got to fix it. We’ll continue to work hard to do that.
“Look at special teams. I thought we had a chance to block a punt Saturday (and) we just missed it. We did field all the punts, which was critical in that game (because) if you look at Kentucky’s punter, I think he was averaging 48 yards a punt. We fielded the punts, but we didn’t take advantage of a chance to block a punt, and we didn’t punt the ball very good there, so we lost some vertical field position.
“(We) went back and, to me, had a good practice last night. Probably one of the better practices we’ve had in quite some time, which was good to see. We’ve got to get ready for a really good Alabama team this week. If you look at them offensively, one of the most explosive teams in college football. Probably the most explosive team in college football. Really, really good up front. One of the better offensive lines I’ve seen in college football probably in my career. They obviously have dynamic playmakers on the outside, two really good runners, play multiple tight ends – four or five different tight ends – and Mac Jones is being as efficient as any quarterback that I’ve seen in this conference. Defensively, they have lots of talent up front, they’ve got talent in the back end, got really good linebackers. They’ve given up some plays a little bit this year, but I think some of it is circumstance. If you watch them offensively, they’re scoring so fast they have to play a lot of snaps on defense, which is a little bit different. It’s probably been the same the last couple years there. They’ve scored a lot of points and done it really quickly, which is probably different than the years that I coached there. The style of play is totally different, so they’re having to play more snaps. They got a really good return game. Got good specialists, so it’ll definitely be a challenge for us this week, and we really have to focus on ourselves.
“Yesterday, I decided to make a change at the d-line position. Coach (Jimmy) Brumbaugh has done a really nice job for us. He worked his tail off. Sometimes from a philosophical standpoint, things are just not a fit and it just didn’t work out for us, so I decided to do that, and I’m going to coach the defensive line for the rest of the season.”
On the quarterback situation heading into this week…
“Well I’ve talked about it a little bit in the past, obviously, there’s three or four plays in the game that Jarrett (Guarantano) would like to have back. Talked about them Saturday after the game. Same thing with J.T. (Shrout). When you look at Brian (Maurer) and Harrison (Bailey), both of these guys were very limited in fall camp, which is one of the reasons that we’ve continued to have these scrimmages on Sunday night, to try to get these guys kind of caught up, just to give them an opportunity. There’s nothing like live action, and again, we had a scrimmage last night and both of these guys took reps. So, we’ll continue to evaluate that position as the week goes.”
On if he believes the program is continuing to improve …
“Absolutely, if you look at where we were when we got here and where we’re at now, I understand that in this business, everything is based on wins and losses. That’s what counts. Unfortunately, we got beat last week and got beat soundly by a good football team. If you look at the last six quarters, we have seven turnovers in six quarters. It doesn’t matter who you play. You’re not going to have a chance. The number one thing is the ball. It’s the thing that we stress the most. In the first two games, we took care of the ball. In the first half against Georgia, we took care of the ball, but in the last six quarters we have not. Our margin of error is not big enough to overcome those situations. We’ve got to play better in all areas and last night was one of our better practices. Our kids have good attitudes. They understand the mistakes that we’ve made and the things that we need to correct. They’re working hard to do that.”
On the reasoning behind moving on from Jimmy Brumbaugh at this time …
“If it’s not working out, it’s better to just do it right now. Jimmy and I had a really good conversation. Unfortunately, probably because of the COVID-19 circumstances, when you’re a new coach and you don’t have a chance to be around your players in March, April and May and then a limited amount in June, it puts you at a disadvantage. This is no knock on Jimmy as a coach whatsoever. He is one of the most knowledgeable guys I’ve been around and he’ll do a good job wherever he goes. It’s just something that I felt like we needed to do and we did it.”
On issues with protecting the quarterback and limiting turnovers …
“Here’s the things about protecting the quarterback. Everybody always starts with the offensive line, but there’s times that we have tight ends in protection. There are times that we have running backs in protection. There are different ways you can do that. It’s a little bit of a combination of things. If you have a wide receiver that runs the wrong route and he’s your hot read, those things play into it. We’ve made enough mistakes all-around offensively that we have to fix it, clean it up and execute at a higher level. Regardless, we have to take care of the football.”
On if there will be a graduate assistant helping coach the defensive line and if he will give more of his attention to coaching the defensive line …
“I’ve been bouncing around, helping a lot of different positions this entire camp, because it’s not been a normal camp or a normal season. We’ve had guys in and out. For instance, Morven Joseph worked at inside linebacker last night. He’s still going to rush the quarterback on third down some, but if this had been a normal camp, he would have already done that. We would’ve had enough practices for him to work both spots. We’ve had several guys that have had to do that. Keshawn Lawrence has bounced from cornerback to safety, back to corner. We’re just trying to spend a lot of one-on-one time with young players. I’ve been doing this all camp and then going to the offensive side. I’ve got plenty of help from the GA standpoint. We’ll be fine.”
On rotating players through the offensive line and establishing a starting line-up …
“Yes, absolutely. That’s a position that the more continuity you have, the better the group plays. If you look at the first game of the year, we probably played more guys. Riley Locklear has been hurt and Jahmir Johnson has been hurt. Wanya (Morris) got hurt against Georgia last week. We’ve had a few guys that have gotten bumps and bruises, and that’s part of the reason we’ve done that.
On replacing position coaches …
“Well, I think that if you look at just this game period, whether its college or pro or high school, I would say everybody’s job is on the line. It’s about how you perform. I think everybody that gets in this business, we all understand the circumstances surrounding it. It’s just part of it.”
On freshman QB Harrison Bailey’s performance …
“Well, when we put him in, he hadn’t taken any reps for the Kentucky game plan so we just called plays that we knew he would know. Again, I can’t reiterate enough, when it comes to Harrison (Bailey), the lack of opportunity that he got during fall camp. He’s getting more and more reps. When you get ready to play a game, you work one quarterback and you have a backup. The third team guy gets a few reps if he can get it. With Harrison, we’re going to continue to work him and develop him. Same thing with Brian (Maurer), J.T. (Shrout), all of them. There’s only one fall. It’s not camp. We’re not in camp now. We’re in the season and we have to prepare for our opponent which is why we’re having these extra things on Sunday night. Probably, if we can stay healthy, we will continue to do some of this, maybe on the Tuesday and Wednesday practices as well.”
On Wanya Morris and Jerome Carvin’s injuries …
“I didn’t even mention Jerome (Carvin) the other day. Jerome started the first game and has a chance to be a really good player for us. He didn’t play against Georgia, and I think that after last night he’s moving around much better than he was previously, so he will be available this week. Wanya (Morris) is probably day to day. I think as we get through today and tomorrow with the treatment, he’ll be able to play.”
On Alabama QB Mac Jones …
“Well, Mac was the scout team quarterback when I was the defensive coordinator there. When you look at how much he’s improved in four years it’s really interesting. When he was a scout team quarterback, compared to four years later, it just shows you over time when you’re in the same system you can continue to develop. He’s really done a nice job doing that. He came in last year and played well and he’s playing at a really high level right now with a lot of confidence.”
On the problem throwing to the middle of the field …
“Well I think we have to do a better job getting a push upfront. When you throw the ball short over the middle, it usually has to go through the five offensive linemen and four defensive linemen. We’ve got to do a better job of getting a push in the pocket, we’ve got to get our hands up, got to have tighter coverage whether we are playing them inside out or outside in, got to do a better job disguising so they don’t know that it’s there. Every coverage, there is a weakness and you have to be able to hide the weakness and you don’t need to know where it’s at. We have to do a better job disguising also.”
On having the talent on scout team to prepare for games …
“First of all, there are very few teams if any that have elite talent on their scout team. Start with that, when I was asked that question, it was about how to prepare it in practice. Nobody, that I’ve ever seen, has talent like people are playing with on their ones and twos on the scout team. They may have guys who have the same ability, but don’t have the same experience; there’s a big difference there. You can look, over the years, I see it every year whether it is their third year or fourth year become elite players. Some of them may do it as a freshman, but most of them improve the longer they’re in college, the longer they’re in the system. I feel like we have some really good players here, we’ve got some young players that we’ve got to continue to grow and develop and gain some experience. We have to start playing better on both sides of the ball as a unit.”
On how Jarrett Guarantano compares in games versus in practice…
“Well, you go back and look and let’s take Saturday for an example; he throws an out route for an interception. They’re playing middle-of-the-field coverage, man-to-man and we run an out route. The corner never gets in a back pedal, he just squats on the route. At wide receiver we have to play with more speed, if the guy is covered – don’t throw the ball. That was a mistake in a couple areas there. We got a chance, we are throwing the ball down the field and we have a chance to throw a check-down and we try to force a ball inside, which we shouldn’t do. There are two spots there that really hurt us. The fumble on the running back, the running back has to avoid the quarterback there. Everybody runs RPOs and we’ve got to get the ball out, we know that we can’t run into the quarterback there. When you’re standing there in the pocket and you get hit from behind the chances are, I played quarterback in high school, when you stand there and you don’t see them coming there is a chance you may fumble the football. We’ve got to understand how our protections are, and again it’s not always on the offensive line; tight ends tied into this, running backs are tied into this. As a unit, we have to do a better job of protecting the quarterback. Jarret has thrown very few interceptions all of fall camp. He’s done a really nice job taking care of the football. That’s why he’s our starting quarterback. He’s really done a nice job taking care of the football. He’s got to eliminate those mistakes and we’ve got to do a better job upfront, collectively as a group offensively being more efficient on third downs and protecting the quarterback, whoever the quarterback is.”
On if Jarrett Guarantano is the starting quarterback …
“When you look at it, Jarrett didn’t play his best game but there are other guys who didn’t play their best game too. He’s going to have to go out here and earn it in practice just like everybody else. Am I wanting to put Jarrett Guarantano on the shelf? No, absolutely not. I think the guy has a lot of really good qualities about him. He’s helped us win a lot of football games. Did he make a few mistakes, Saturday? Sure he did, but I think everybody on our football team and organization all could have done better starting with me. This isn’t about one person. It is about everybody within our program and everybody within our program understands that.”
On ball security offensively …
“This fall camp we have done more for ball security, No. 1 because we knew we didn’t get a lot of scrimmage time. If you don’t get hit with somebody that carries the football a lot and kind of get used to it, you can be loose with the ball. We have actually added two extra periods throughout the week to where it is nothing but ball security for offensive players. We always do something against the defense every day when it comes to turnover circuit. We’ve actually added extra for every position for these reasons. Statistically, if you look, college football, I don’t know if it is somewhere between 81 and 85 percent? If you do not turn the football over, you will win somewhere in that category that percentage of games. If you don’t turn it over. If you do turn it over, it drops drastically in a hurry. It has nothing to do with how many turnovers you have defensively, it’s just securing the ball offensively. The No. 1 thing we put up there for our goals is the ball on both sides of the ball. We’ve got to continue to work hard at it and we will.”
-UT Athletics
