KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Sunday afternoon at Neyland Stadium, running 116 total plays between regular scrimmage work as well as situational, red zone and goal line work.
“We played a lot of guys in a lot of different situations with a lot of different groups,” Pruitt said. “At the beginning of practice, we worked a little bit of ones versus twos, and then twos versus ones and then some threes on threes. During that period, we moved some guys around to give them opportunities.
“I saw a lot of guys who were competing, but we were inconsistent on both sides of the ball and had too many undisciplined penalties, but we took care of the ball when we were running the ball. We had some turnovers when we put the ball in the air (but) we did create some explosive plays.”
Vols Still Competing at All Positions
Despite being almost two weeks into fall camp, Pruitt emphasized that they are still a long way from determining who will earn starting spots for the team’s season opener against West Virginia on September 1.
“As we get into figuring out who the players are going to be at which spots, it give us an opportunity to create some consistently and rhythm, but we are not there yet,” Pruitt said. “There is still a lot of competition and we have to figure it out. This will be ongoing for a lot of positions throughout fall camp and throughout the year.”
Pruitt also said he hopes most of his players have aspirations past starting a game for the Vols.
“With every position I hope I have players – whether they play quarterback, defensive tackle, punter or long snapper – I hope their number one goal is to not be the starter at Tennessee. I hope that is not their goal,” Pruitt said. “That is not much of a goal in my opinion. I hope their goal is to be the best player in their position out there.”
Young Vols Impressing but Still Have Plenty to Learn
Tennessee’s young players got plenty of opportunities to display their talents in Sunday’s scrimmage. The youngsters showed some promise but also still have a long way to go according to Pruitt.
“We have a lot of young guys who don’t know what to do, but they are more than capable and we are giving them opportunities,” Pruitt said. “Today was their first chance out there on the field. Just like most of the guys, as the scrimmage went on they got better.
“That is a good thing and that is positive, which means we didn’t make a mistake when we were recruiting them. We have to get them to be consistent and learn what is going on.”
Vols QB Derby Still Wide Open
Pruitt said that no quarterback has separated himself through nine practices. All four played in Sunday’s scrimmage.
“From a quarterback standpoint, Jarrett Guarantano and Keller Chryst have done really good things,” Pruitt said. “Will McBride played with our twos a lot today. He’s had a solid camp.
“J.T. Shrout may have the best arm out of all of them, but he has to learn what is going on. He can spin it but he has to figure some things out. If you look over the practices, no one has really separated themselves yet.”
Guarantano (six starts in 2017) and Chryst (13 starts at Stanford) have the most experience, while McBride (1 start in 2017) and Shrout are also battling to be the Vols’ signal-caller this fall.
Jennings and Hall Held Out of Scrimmage, Still Limited
Pruitt said that redshirt juniors Jauan Jennings and Chance Hall were held out of the scrimmage as they continue to be brought along slowly this fall camp.
Jennings, a wide receiver, missed the final 11 games of the 2017 season after totaling 40 receptions for 580 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore in 2016. Hall started 13 games at right tackle in 2015 and 2016, collecting Freshman All-America honors along the way. He missed all of 2017 because of injury.
The Vols will take Monday off before getting back to practice at Haslam Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Quotes
Opening Statement:
“You know we got 116 plays in today. We played a lot of guys in a lot of different situations with a lot of different groups. At the beginning of practice, we worked a little bit of ones versus twos and then twos versus ones and then some threes on threes. During that period, we moved some guys around to give them opportunities. So, it gives us a chance to evaluate them and then some situational later on with a lot of ones versus ones. I saw a lot of guys who were competing, but we were inconsistent on both sides of the ball and had too many undisciplined penalties, but we took care of the ball when we were running the ball. We had some turnovers when we put the ball in the air (but) we did create some explosive plays. We need to do a better job of protecting the quarterback and the quarterback has to do a better job of getting the ball out of his hand. I thought that our running backs ran pretty well today. I think we need to improve blocking on the perimeter with the wide receivers and we have to do a better job of converting third downs on the offensive side. As we get into figuring out who the players are going to be at which spots, it give us an opportunity to create some consistently and rhythm, but we are not there yet. There is still a lot of competition and we have to figure it out. This will be ongoing for a lot of positions throughout fall camp and throughout the year. We have a lot of young guys who don’t know what to do, but they are more than capable and we are giving them opportunities. Today was their first chance out there on the field. Just like most of the guys, as the scrimmage went on they got better. That is a good thing and that is positive, which means we didn’t make a mistake when we were recruiting them. We have to get them to be consistent and learn what is going on.”
On the team being mentally tougher compared to the spring:
“It’s human nature that when you have success, everyone gets fired up and walks around with their chest stuck out. We have to get to where, when things don’t go our way, we are like a yo-yo. We have to put the fire out. That is one of the things that comes with consistency. You create the right habits. Our scrimmage was like that today. There was a lot of good with a lot of different guys, but we will be looking at the consistency. I will know more once I watch the practice.”
On what he saw from the quarterbacks during the scrimmage and through fall camp:
“I would have to watch the tape. From a quarterback standpoint, Jarrett Guarantano and Keller Chryst have done really good things. Will McBride played with our twos a lot today. He’s had a solid camp. J.T. Shrout may have the best arm out of all of them, but he has to learn what is going on. He can spin it but he has to figure some things out. If you look over the practices, no one has really separated themselves yet.”
On if he adds more to the scrimmages than to practices:
“Every day, every practice and every opportunity says a lot about who you are. If you don’t love this game, you probably won’t be very good at it. It’s too tough. If you want to be great, you have to go to work every day. The best players that I have been around were the best practicers. I have been around very few guys that were the best players who weren’t great practicers. I think it goes hand in hand. I wouldn’t say any day is more important.”
On ending possessions with a kick and how the defense tackled:
“When you look at the tackling aspect, it’s no different than being out on the practice field. When you tackle someone, you want to use the same fundamentals and habits. As far as kicking the ball, we created a lot of opportunities for our guys to kick, whether it was punts, field goals or kickoffs. We spent a lot of time on special teams today.”
On the timeline of starters and quarterbacks:
“With every position I hope I have players – whether they play quarterback, defensive tackle, punter or long snapper – I hope their number one goal is to not be the starter at Tennessee. I hope that is not their goal. That is not much of a goal in my opinion. I hope their goal is to be the best player in their position out there. If you’re goal is to be a starter and you become a starter, then you’re the big fish in this pond here. We are a long ways on naming positions or any starters here. We are going to try to find as many guys as we have play. Hopefully we have a bunch of them that can play. That will create some depth and competition. This is a long season and it is a physical conference. We want to be able to be a team that plays a physical brand of football. You are going to need bodies to do that.”
On Pruitt’s assessment of the offensive line:
“When it comes to the run game or protection, sometimes you can be running into wrong looks. It only takes really one guy on the offense to make a mistake and it can mess up the entire play. You have to have guys that play together. I think our guys are learning to do that. We have guys that are playing multiple positions, which I think is important, so we can find their top six to eight guys and create depth from there. The guys have worked hard in practice. They just have to become more consistent and they need more time together. There are a lot of guys that are here for the first time.”
On the pass rush:
“When it comes to pass rush, if you look at it on both sides of the ball, sometimes they cover them really well in the back end and maybe the receivers aren’t getting open. Maybe the offensive line blocks great, but a running back doesn’t. Maybe the quarterback is supposed to get the ball out. There are a lot of things that go into it. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”
On what Pruitt focused on during the scrimmage:
“Everybody on the offensive line and everybody on the defensive line. Linebackers. With defensive backs, they play corner, safety, star and nickel. With linebackers, they have to be interchangeable, along with the offensive and defensive line. You have to do that to be able to have depth on your team. That is something we have been doing the entire fall camp. Everybody does that. The negative about that is that you don’t play one position the whole time. There is a learning curve, but it usually pays off in the long run.”
On the team going to church on Sunday morning:
“I grew up going to church. I think a lot of these guys did. I know our staff did. It is Sunday. It is fall camp. It’s a habit you can create and it was something we wanted to do. I think our players enjoyed it and had a really good time.”
-UT Athletics
