Jeremy Pruitt Press Conference Transcript

Opening Statement … 

“Looking at Arkansas, I have been really impressed with how they’ve come together as a team. Looking at them defensively I’ll start with Barry Odem – I think has done a fantastic job, they’ve created a lot of different looks in the secondary, they have created a lot of turnovers. I believe they lead the country in interceptions, they have been very opportunistic there with tons of eight-drop, rushing three guys and getting out and getting into coverage, mixing it up there. Offensively, they’ve played with a lot of speed on offense, snapping the ball a lot of times. As the season’s gone, probably been more efficient offensively creating some explosive plays. When you look at them with special teams, you obviously see guys with ability as kickers and they have return guys there that have bounced around and had a couple of guys, but it looks like they’re settling in on who they have as return guys. For us, this open week was a great opportunity to go back to the basics. Just going back through the early days of install trying to catch some guys up and it was a good opportunity to do that and move some guys around to possibly create some opportunities for guys who have worked hard in practice and really give them an opportunity.”

On COVID results from the bye week and moving players around to different positions …

“With the COVID stuff, we get tested on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the results should be coming in any time now. We’ve moved several guys around, especially in the secondary. We moved Keshawn Lawrence to STAR and let him get some work there just to see what he looks like at that position. He is a guy that continues to work hard in practice. The guys in front of him at corner, he hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to play there during the games, but we thought he played well in the games that he’s played in; he’s done pretty well. We looked at him at STAR just to get more production out of that position. He possibly will get an opportunity on Saturday.”

On the younger guys he wanted to learn more about during the bye week …

“Dee Beckwith was a guy that didn’t participate any during the summer, he did absolutely nothing. When fall camp gets here, he’s back in quarantine again and then he turns his ankle. He’s a guy that we looked at a little bit at tight end but and we are starting to look at, at running back that has size and speed. Tee Hodge is another guy that was injured during fall camp that is starting to get his legs back under him a little bit; seeing a little more burst and speed out of him. There’s lots of guys, I could go through the whole roster. We need more depth at running back; we’ve really played three guys for the year and have been very fortunate that those guys have stayed healthy. We need to get those guys more of an opportunity. Another guy that was doing well is Len’Neth Whitehead. He had been out because of his foot injury but come back and was doing really well and unfortunately hurt his shoulder in camp and is probably going to do surgery on it in the next week to get him back in time for spring ball.”

On splitting the reps at quarterback with Brian Maurer and Harrison Bailey in practice and how different Feleipe Franks looks … 

“We repped three groups last week, didn’t have enough to do four but we did have three groups go. We split the quarterbacks among those three groups and got them a lot of reps there. Feleipe to me is a guy that I am very familiar with. I started recruiting him when I coached at Florida State and he was in the eighth or ninth grade. Very talented, multi-sport guy. Really a bug man and a really good athlete. He has as strong an arm as anybody in our conference. I thought he played well at Florida; two years in a row they won 10 games. I know he got hurt last year but he’s come back and you can tell that he’s got experience and he’s making a lot of plays for them.

On what he learned from the defensive line during the bye week …

“We’ve got to play lower. To me, every play we should be four to six inches lower than what we are. We don’t have a lot of really large men. There are a couple of guys, but all us need to play lower and play with more leverage. We need to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage. We need to be able to convert from RPO’s, play actions, off-the-run fakes and be able to convert from run blocks to pass blocks. We had a lot of really good work this week and we continue to see improvement there. There are a lot of positives and we’ll see how we do on Saturday.

On how the team’s week is impacted by Election Day on Tuesday …

“For us, it was pretty easy because we were off last week. We just came in yesterday and did our Monday or Sunday practice and today we’ll come in and do practice number two and take tomorrow off. There’s not a lot of shakeup with us.”

On what he has learned about Sam Pittman after working at Georgia …

“I never worked with Sam. We just kind of missed each other. I’ve known him for a while. I have a ton of respect for him as an offensive line coach. He’s a really, really good person. While he’s been at Arkansas, we’ve talked on the phone a couple of times and really enjoyed it. He has a good relationship with Jim (Chaney) and familiarity with each other. There’s a lot of people within Knoxville that have talked about him. He’s a very likeable guy. I think he’s done a really, really good job. You can see it. His team is playing hard and playing together. I think he’s doing a great job.”

On movement of players to different positions during the bye week …

“We’ve moved some pieces. Bryson Eason is at outside linebacker. We took (Kurott) Garland and moved him to inside linebacker to create a little more depth at that position. Morven Joseph has worked at inside and outside linebacker. Normally, these things happen if you have them during the summer. During June and July, you can see these guys move around a little bit and get a clearer picture of what position they should play. Then, you get probably 14 really hard days of camp to see it. Some of these guys didn’t get to do it, so after going through the first five weeks of practice here, it’s an opportunity for us to put them into positions so that we can see them for their future.”

On Arkansas’ running game and what the key is to playing better in the second half of games …

“If you look at Arkansas’ run game, I think they did a really good job last week of getting the ball on the perimeter. Some of that was designed quarterback reads. I think Kendal Briles has done a really nice job of mixing the RPO’s. The wide receivers have plus splits, so they’ve been able to get the ball out on the perimeter. It’s not been as congested there. I feel like they block really well up front. They’ve used two tight ends, whether it’s counter schemes, running it the same side or the other side with stretch schemes, inside zones and split zones. The other night, they probably got lots of yardage on Feleipe (Franks) just scrambling. He probably scrambled for 50 yards. They’ve really done a nice job up front. Their wide receivers have blocked well on the perimeter.

“If you look at us, the first thing is don’t turn the ball over. All of our coaches, we have a thing where you look each week at turnovers. We usually do it across the league. What’s everybody’s record based off the turnover margin. In the three games that we’re in the red in the turnover margin, we’ve lost. In the two games that we’re in the positive area, we’ve won. That’s kind of that way all across the conference. So, number one, we can’t turn the ball over. We’ve got to be able to take care of the football. How do you do that? You do it by being clean up front, from the offensive line to the tight ends to the running backs and wide receivers, protecting the football. We’ve got to get turnovers. We’ve had way too many dropped interceptions and we’re not causing enough turnovers. That’s something that we’ve focused on, something that we always focus on. For whatever reason, we’ve not been very opportunistic and we’ve got to finish when we get our hands on the ball.”

On knowledge of opposing personnel ahead of the Arkansas matchup …

“It’s the first time I’ve coached against Arkansas since the 2016 and ‘17 seasons. You can really see, on their roster, the difference in the talent level from 2017 until now. Over the last couple of years, they’ve done a nice job of recruiting some good, young talented guys. I’m probably not as familiar with their roster in itself. There are several guys on their team that we recruited at one stop or the other but didn’t get them. We know that they’ve got some really talented players.”

On improving fundamentals …

“Yeah I think absolutely you can. We spent lots of times working with individuals. We have ABCs that we do every day. It could be some kind of block protection, tackling, turnover drill where you’re handling the football, or footwork. You have these things that you do whether its Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. There’s nothing like going back and doing cleanup as far as when you get to the season. There’s nothing like spending thirty minutes a day just on fundamentals. Teaching progression conceptually so the kids understand exactly what they’re doing.”

On Omari Thomas, Dominic Bailey, and leadership roles on the team …

“Dom Bailey and Omari Thomas both have really good talent. Dom hasn’t played at all this year. He’s still learning and growing. There’s a big difference when you walk in there and you’re going to strike a guy in front of you that’s 22 years old compared to a 16-year-old. Some of that comes with time. I think Dom’s got lots of ability. When you look at Omari, he’s played more and more each game. I think the longer he plays, he’s going to continue to improve. He’s one of those guys that has to continue to learn to play lower. I felt like all along we’ve had good leadership. We’ve had good practices. We’ve had good energy. If we take care of the football and create more turnovers, we’ll be a much better football team. Some of the circumstances some of the guys have had, especially the younger guys, they couldn’t control that. I think our guys have worked really hard. I see the guys in the office all the time now. Everywhere I’ve coached, I’m used to players being in the office constantly. The first year we had to drag them up here. Now we have kids up here all the time studying and trying to be the best player they can possibly be.”

On a change in training during the bye week …

“We went back to fall camp. In fall camp we usually work four groups, and everybody gets the same amount of reps at every position. We believe that players develop because we spend that much time working in four groups. We split the staff up. We watched every bit of tape. This past week we kept some guys out of practice to help them heal up a little bit. We only worked three groups, but we still went back to camp mode. We worked very little on future opponents. We worked very hard just on ourselves and the fundamental parts of getting back to the basics. I think it was good for a lot of players in our program. It’s something you can’t do in a game week. You can do a little bit every day. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we always work on our opponent and we always do 7-on-7 and team run. From a competition standpoint, you need it.  You don’t want to always be going against a scout team.”

Tennessee Player Quotes

Eric Gray, So., RB

On the biggest focus for the offense during the open week … 

“We really just wanted to go back to the basics and start over with just getting all the execution down. Make sure we’re executing at a high level, make sure everyone knows what they’re doing from the o-line to the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends. Everyone knows what they’re doing in basic run game, basic pass game, different things like that.”

On how he would evaluate the team’s performance through five games and what areas the team needs to improve in …

“I think we’ve done a good job from the start, we just have to learn how to finish games. We got to play 60 minutes every single game. But, like I said, it’s not a five-game fight, this is a 10-game fight. We’re here for the rest of the five games and we’re going to go out there and play hard.”

On if the experience of last year’s turnaround can help them this season … 

“Most definitely. We’ve been in this spot before, so we know the recipe to make that in season transition. I think there’s a lot we can look at from last season and see where we were at after the little change in our team last year. The same thing happened this year. We had a sit down and talked about that this is our team and we have to go change the culture and we have to make this turnaround, and I think we’re going to do it again.”

On how he’s seen the freshman running backs develop this season …

“I think this week was a great week for them. Those guys that didn’t really know everything, just to get back on track and give them more time to get better, give them more chances to perfect their craft, perfect their skills and learn what it takes to be great in college.”

On if the preparation for Arkansas is different because they play them so infrequently and don’t know their personnel as well … 

“Well actually, coming from Memphis, a lot of guys go to Arkansas. So, I do know a couple of the guys that go there. But, watching them on film, they are a great team. They’ve got a lot of momentum. I think it’s going to be a great matchup between us and Arkansas.”

On why he thinks Arkansas is so much better this season than past years …

“I think they just play hard. Coach (Sam) Pittman, give a lot of credit to him for going over there as a first-year head coach and turning their program around. I think they’ve caught some momentum, and like I said, I think it’s going to be a great matchup.”

On creating more explosive plays …

“(I’m) definitely working on that. It’s definitely stuck in my mind. You got to make big plays, and that’s definitely what I worked on over the break, just focusing on making big plays, keeping my feet going, and I think those big plays are coming for sure.”

On what freshman Dee Beckwith can provide to the running back room …

“He’s a very hard worker. He’s very coachable. He’s a bigger back. He’s a big guy that can definitely provide those hard-nosed yards that you need sometimes.”

On the tone of the team meeting last week …

“The tone of that message was just, ‘hey, look everybody, this is our team. We got to go out there and we got to play hard.’ Everyone was just basically saying that everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to get on the same page and go out there and just have fun. It’s fun when you win, and everyone wants to just go out there and win. It was just making sure that everyone was getting on the same page and saying, it’s going to take hard work, but we know the recipe to do it.”

Trey Smith, Sr., OL

On how the open week was able to benefit Tennessee …

“Your open week is really important not only for team development, but also for recovery. As a player, it’s a great opportunity if you are banged up and bruised up to get that proper rest and time you need off. Anything that can make the team healthy, it helps us a lot.”

On playing an opponent that Tennessee doesn’t normally face …

“In terms of playing another SEC West team, it’s always interesting because we’re not familiar with them. At least personally I’m not, this will be my first time playing Arkansas. But at the end of the day, everyone in the SEC is pretty similar. You’re going to have insane athletes at certain positions, especially defensive line. You’re always going to have that freak of the week, that guy that you need to be prepared for. Defensively, a lot of the schemes they run are similar to a lot of our opponents, especially Missouri because their defensive coordinators have past connections.”

On how the offensive line used the open date …

“This week was a perfect opportunity for a lot of the younger guys and guys who don’t play as much to get the chance to present their skills and present their abilities. I think a lot of guys definitely shined through this week. It’s a great opportunity, like I said earlier, for players who don’t get the proper reps that they need to present their abilities on a stage in front of the coaches.”

On how he would evaluate his own performance through the first half of the season …

“I don’t think I’ve played that well in terms of playing up to my abilities. I don’t feel like I’ve really scratched the surface of it yet, which is frustrating. There are a lot of things that I can do better, but like I said the game isn’t based on sympathy. You have to bring it every week. At the end of the day, I have to bring it every week and step my game up every week, which I feel like I’ve progressed in. But to be where I want to be, I still have a ways to go.”

On what specifically the offensive line focused on during the open week …

“Fundamentals and finish. One thing you always want to do as an offensive line … you can harp on great fundamentals, you can harp on playing with great technique and proper execution, but at the end of the day, you’re trying to finish someone through the ground. I think that’s one thing that Coach (Will) Friend preached to us. Get low, drive, finish, get after guys and really sustain and finish blocks.”

Henry To’o To’o, So., LB

On what he’s seen from the defensive linemen …

“Coach Pruitt got them boys going. They got a lot of energy. Coach Pruitt has been doing a great job with them up front. They’re all buying into it. They all love it. They just have to come together as one and just play.”

On playing Arkansas for the first time …

“I feel like every single SEC team plays exactly the same. They do a lot of RPO’s. They like getting the ball on the edge. So, it’s pretty much nothing that we haven’t seen throughout the season. Our coaches came up with a great game plan yesterday. Now we got to go throughout the week, find little tendencies of (Arkansas) and take it on from then to Saturday.”

On improving Tennessee’s tackling …

“We do a lot of drills, a lot of open-field tackles. Coach Pruitt is right, we did miss a lot of tackles in that game (against Alabama). This off week that we had was huge for us. We did a lot of tackling drills with the offensive guys, a lot of open-field tackles with them. We spent a lot of time in individual – trying to get that and making sure we don’t overrun things. This week was huge for us.”

On the importance of regrouping during the bye week to prepare for Arkansas …

“It was huge. We needed this week off and we needed it as a whole. Not only the defensive side, but the offensive side. We just needed to regroup, figure out our fundamentals. You go through the season, you go through a lot of games and you lose track of your fundamentals and what got you to the point where you’re at. So it was huge for us this week.”

On how he approaches being a leader on the team …

“It honestly comes with integrity; it comes with consistency. Being able to do the right things at all times. I don’t have the right to yell at somebody and tell them that they’re doing something wrong if I’m not doing it right. So, if I’m not doing it right, I don’t have a right to yell at somebody. I take it upon myself to try to do it right all the time – to try to put the extra work in, to try to put the extra time in so that I can lead these guys in the right way. So that I can try to navigate where I defense is supposed to be and how we’re supposed to play. It’s little things that I need to fix. I just try to motivate our guys. We know how we can be. We know our top tier. I just try my best to be able to get our guys going.”

On what he learned from the 2019 season turnaround that can help with this season …

“We’ve been down and out before. We’ve been counted out before. We know what it takes to get back. We know what it takes to be (back) from our lowest point. Coach Pruitt harps on us all the time, ‘We’re going to find a way.’ No matter what it is, no matter how we’re looking, how we’re doing, we’re going to find a way to come out with the results that we want.”

On how he thinks he has played and improvements he focused on during the bye week …

“I kind of expect a lot out of myself. I always evaluate the bad things in a game, no matter how much good I do. I try to look at the bad, to learn from it, to grow from it. So, through these past five games, I felt like I didn’t really exceed where I wanted to be. I didn’t really do the things on the field that I wanted to do. This week made me focus on obviously tackling, making calls, getting calls in faster to the guys. That’s probably a huge part I see of my game that I need help on.”

On the NCAA’s decision to give student-athletes off for Voting Day …

“I respect it. It gives everybody a chance to be able to use their right to vote. I think it’s huge not only for a lot of players in the NCAA. We just have to take advantage of it as players and use our right.”

On what Tennessee can do to improve during the second half of games …

“Execution. Creating turnovers. There’s a lot of opportunity out there for us to create turnovers, to create strip fumbles, catch interceptions and being able to execute the game plan. Not having a lot of mental errors and just coming out and playing clean football. As long as you play clean football and give your all, that is something we’re trying to harp on the rest of this season.”

 On how UT can improve its defensive coverage …

“Back to the fundamentals. Not going to lie to you, we did it in camp and kind of strayed away from it as the season went on. We just got to be able to practice the fundamentals over and over and over again, no matter how stressful it can be. Fundamentals will take you a long way – that’s what got us to where we are. We just gotta harp on it. We have to have in-depth practices with it. If the coaches aren’t harping on it, we gotta do it as players. So, that’s something we have to execute on.”

On working with the linebacker group during bye week …

“The young players are doing a great job with buying into what the coaches are telling them, buying into what the older guys are trying to teach them. Like we said the whole time, the bye weeks are huge for fundamentals. The younger guys are doing a great job, especially on the d-line, the outside linebackers and the DBs and especially at the inside linebacker position. They’re doing a great job.”