KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee returns to action this week with its final away contest as the Vols travel to face Vanderbilt at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT Saturday in Nashville. Head coach Jeremy Pruitt previewed the matchup at his Monday press conference.
The Vols (2-6) and Commodores (0-8) will be televised on SEC Network with Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb and Dawn Davenport on the call.
Below are quotes from Pruitt’s press conference:
Opening Statement…
“Reviewing the Florida game, starting with special teams, we had two penalties on kickoff returns that were huge and hurt us in field position. I thought Paxton (Brooks) did an excellent job of kicking the football and controlling their punt returner. We had really good coverage and created some really good vertical field position. We had the one fake punt that I thought we executed really well, we just needed to finish it. When we didn’t, it cost us field position for the remainder of the first half. Offensively, I felt like once the second quarter started, we were much more aggressive in play calling and started moving the ball at times. We had a couple of times where we didn’t protect like we needed to. We had some guys open. There were two really critical plays at the end of the third quarter and fourth quarter. We got an intentional grounding where we were throwing the ball down the field and then end up giving up a sack. Both of those very easily could have resulted in points, but it knocked us out of field goal range and it was too far to go for it. I think it was fourth-and-14 and maybe fourth-and-12. Defensively, I thought we did a nice job controlling the run game. There were three plays in the game that we got our hand on the ball but didn’t come down with the interceptions that we needed to. There were probably four third downs in the game that I felt like we were in a good call and just didn’t get off the field. They (Florida) made some plays there. I didn’t say it after the game, but I thought the guys that hadn’t practiced all week played extremely hard. It says a lot about them to come out there and play without any practice. After the game, on Sunday, we had a special graduation for our football team that didn’t get to participate earlier in graduation ceremonies. I believe it was the week of the Auburn game. We had 15 guys that received degrees on Sunday. Chancellor (Donde) Plowman and Coach (Phillip) Fulmer were there. We had a special ceremony for those guys and their families. I thought it was a fantastic event. We had two guys that got their graduate degrees. That’s good to see. That’s why you come to school – to get a degree. Looking at Vanderbilt – with Tennessee and Vanderbilt, you are always going to get the best game from Vanderbilt. You look at these guys, they’re playing a young quarterback. I think he’s leading the country in yards per game for a freshman. He’s had three 300-plus yard games where he’s passed for that amount of yardage. They always play hard on defense. Looking at them on special teams, they create issues there, with some unorthodox looks. Our kids are excited about going and playing. I feel like our kids played hard on Saturday. They continue to do that and work hard. We’ve got to go back and go to work this week.”
On what Tennessee’s quarantine numbers look like…
“We got our results back from our Sunday test and everybody was negative, so that was good. We’ll get a couple of players back this week, at some point in time. That will probably help a little bit more with some depth. Right now, I feel like we’re in a good spot with the quarantine.”
On what K’Rojhn Calbert’s injury was on Saturday…
“K’Rojhn and Cade Mays both had lower leg injuries. I think both of them will be out today, or maybe today and tomorrow. I think we’ll probably get them back as the week goes.”
On when a decision will be made on Saturday’s starting quarterback…
“Harrison (Bailey) and J.T. (Shrout) will take the majority of the reps moving forward. Brian (Maurer) brings an extra element with his athleticism. We’re trying to keep him with a role. I thought he did a nice job on Saturday with the role that he had. We’ll continue doing that moving forward.”
On when the latest time is that he has waited to name a starting quarterback…
“I think that it’s probably normal (to wait until Thursday or Friday), maybe at the beginning of a season. On a couple of the staffs that I’ve worked on, the quarterback competition was so close that it went all the way up until Thursday or Friday before the first game.”
On what he liked from Harrison Bailey and J.T. Shrout at quarterback on Saturday…
“Not traveling to Arkansas (for J.T. Shrout) was really a unique circumstance at that time. That was the week we had a lot of false positives. It was Thursday before we got a lot of guys cleared. We didn’t know exactly where we were at with the 70-man roster traveling. That probably wasn’t as much about him as it was the other positions on the team. J.T.’s a guy that has continued to work really hard. He started one year in high school. He had a really good fall camp this fall. The couple of plays that he played against Kentucky, it wasn’t his best, but he’s continued to work hard. Like I said last week, he had a really good 10 days of practice leading up to the game on Saturday. That was good to see. If you look at the game with him and Harrison, number one, they took care of the football. I thought Harrison showed some poise in stepping up, scrambling and making some plays. I felt like he handled the signaling from the game, the communication with the O-Line and the wide receivers well. We did use one timeout there around the 30-yard-line. He told me when he was coming off the field that he was snapping the ball. I thought he did a nice job. I thought J.T. came in and did a really nice job and Brian did too on the plays he played.”
On how to handle QB Jarrett Guarantano being available to practice again and moving forward…
“Well, we’re going to go with Harrison (Bailey) and J.T. (Shrout) and probably stay with the same schedule as we did this past week.”
On the tight ends being more productive the past few weeks and Princeton Fant’s improvement…
“Princeton (Fant) is up here all the time. Football is very important to him. He continues to work hard. He’s a guy that early on in his career here bounced around at a couple of different positions, but he’s finding a home at tight end. He’s a guy that probably the strength of his game is his pass catching ability, his speed and his athleticism. He’s worked hard to be a good blocker in the C-area, but he’s going to continue to improve because football is important to him.”
On what he meant when he said he might be too tough on his players…
“So, you’ve got 10 or 12 guys that haven’t practiced, right? So, it’s very easy in the heat of the moment, when a guy makes a mistake, you forget that they’ve not been there for 14 days. Just the reality of the circumstances that have been presented in some of these cases along the season.”
On WR Josh Palmer accepting an invite to the Senior Bowl and what that means for his future at Tennessee …
“Usually we talk to players about these things at the end of the season. It’s kind of unusual, I guess this past week would normally have been the SEC Championship Game, so our season has been moved back a couple of weeks. We’ve not really had those conversations, but it’s a great opportunity for Josh (Palmer). With an invite to the Senior Bowl, they don’t just give those things away, so it’s a great opportunity for him.”
On if he thinks the program has developed how he would like and what gives him confidence moving forward…
“Well, Saturday, that’s a really good football team we played against. There were times in the game that we’re playing with them toe-to-toe, and it’s been that way for most of the season, periodically with every team we’ve played. The circumstances around the season – and hey, it’s everybody, and I only know our circumstances, I don’t know the circumstances anywhere else – but our kids play hard. There’s lots of really good that we do every single week. You see a lot more younger guys that continue to develop and get an opportunity to contribute. I feel like our guys are gaining confidence and that’s part of it right now. I can tell you this, when the game’s over with Saturday, we got a lot of guys hurting in our locker room. The No. 1 thing for us is to win and obviously we didn’t get that done Saturday. But when you look at it, we’ll come back in here today and figure out what we did really well (and) try to continue to develop that part of our football team. Figure out the issues that we had during the game, was it a preparation area? Was it a technique issue? Correct it and continue to move forward.”
On the team’s play at the end of the first half and early in the second half vs. Florida…
“I think if you look Saturday, the difference in the ball game is what we call the middle eight. The last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. We lost that 14-0, so we didn’t play good in the last 1:38 of the first half on defense. There’s a third-and-12 they convert, there’s a third-and-11 they convert. On the first drive of the second half, they go down and score, so there’s 14 points. If you look, when we had won eight games in a row, I think seven out of those eight games we either tied or won the middle eight. That’s something that we’ve always really focused on and we’ve got to do a better job executing that part of the game plan.”
On seeing his players graduating during a difficult year…
“Well, just the circumstances for all these guys, and not just ours, everybody across the country. I’m 46 years old and the last nine months has been tough on me, just like I’m sure it’s been tough on y’all. Just the circumstances changing. I can’t imagine being a teenager, somebody in college, the way the whole dynamic of our world has changed. The fact that these guys have stayed the course, worked hard and continued and finished their degrees just speaks volumes about them and our academic support here at the university.”
On how crucial a win vs. Vanderbilt will be…
“Yeah we are focusing on Vanderbilt. We continue to improve every week but the bottom line is you want to win football games. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to figure out a way to put our players in the best position to have a chance to do that.”
On Velus Jones Jr. getting more targets and third down execution defensively…
“To start with Velus, he is a guy that is strong. He weighs 200 pounds. He has experience and he’s fast. He’s a guy that we’ve tried to use in our game plan in a bunch of different ways so it was good to see us have a chance to get him the ball. Defensively, I think we were 6-of-13 on third down on Saturday. There are probably four calls in the game that we felt we were in the right call for the play that they had called, and we just didn’t get off the field. Obviously, it goes back to us, right? We’ve got to do a better job so our players understand what they’re trying to do. We’ve got to be more technical, because some of it was more technical, some of it was awareness. You have to go back and just keep coaching them, that’s all you can do. Just keep coaching the fundamentals, the details until you can’t get it wrong.”
On an assistant coach having a head coaching opportunity…
“I’ve worked at places where those opportunities have presented themselves. For us as coaches, we always continue to do our job but just like players want to advance their career, coaches want to advance their career. For me, I want to help coaches do that. It is a great opportunity for guys, if they get that opportunity, to go and take that next step. It’s not unusual, it goes on with every staff. We’ve really only had one situation since I’ve been here and that was with Tyson (Helton). Tyson knew the Western Kentucky job was very open.”
On Vanderbilt playing without former head coach Derek Mason…
“There’s really nothing to go on. They have not played a game without Derek being the head coach and let me tell you, those guys played really hard for Derek. I thought he had always done a fantastic job coaching against him, recruit against him. He’s very well respected within our conference for the job that he did there. Knowing the guys that are on the staff there now, those kids will be ready to play and they will play hard.”
On PK Brent Cimaglia opting out for the remainder of the season…
“I just got done having a conversation with him and, I’ve said this before, he’s played through some difficult circumstances throughout the season. We just got done talking and he feels like it is better for him to not participate for the remainder of the season and put him in a better spot to get ready for next year. His indication to me is yes he’s coming back next year.”
On who will fill in for Brent Cimaglia…
“Well Paxton (Brooks) has been doing it. Paxton has been our backup. If not him then Toby Wilson. When we play home games, Toby comes and he’s the backup kicker. This past week, Paxton was not at practice the entire week. Toby was there and was ready. We will figure that out as the week goes.”
On if he’s talked to anyone from Vanderbilt to confirm the game this weekend…
“I’ve not talked to anybody from Vanderbilt. We’re working on (prepping for) them. I think the last time we were supposed to play them, we practiced on a Sunday night, took Monday off and we were in the middle of our Tuesday practice when we got word that we wouldn’t play. We’ve probably worked two days on them already, and today will be our third day.”
On who determines if games will be shuffled or rescheduled…
“It goes through the SEC office.”
On how much time he feels would be adequate if the team had to play Texas A&M instead this week…
“We already started working on A&M one week, so already kind of been down that road before. So, hey, we’ll play whoever they tell us to play. We’re just going to worry about the things we can control.”
On if the team missed Brandon Kennedy’s presence at center against Florida…
“Well, I thought that Cooper (Mays) and Jerome (Carvin) played well. They’ve done a lot of really good things. Jerome hadn’t had an opportunity to play a lot since the Missouri game. He was a guy that we felt like was one of our best six or seven offensive linemen going into the season, and he played a lot in the first two games. Getting him back out there was good. I thought Coop did a really nice job. And hey, we’ll be happy to get Brandon back whenever that comes.”
On if they will continue Sunday practices moving forward after not practicing yesterday…
“Well we didn’t do this Sunday because of graduation. I just felt like (because) we had parents in town for the game, we had a graduation ceremony at 2 o’clock and I just felt like it was a great opportunity for our players and their families to really kind of enjoy the moment.”
On if he grades J.T. Shrout differently than Harrison Bailey based on which quarter they played against Florida…
“No, I can assure you Florida was trying to stop us and Dan (Mullen) was going to try to score more points.”
On how the pandemic has impacted future recruiting classes…
“Really the circumstances are different everywhere. There are schools that played in the state of Tennessee. There are schools that didn’t. Some of the schools that played, maybe they didn’t have a whole lot of practice time leading up to when they started to play. Maybe some of them had a lot of practice time. The state of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, to an extent, have played a season. I think Louisiana has, maybe Mississippi. North Carolina has not. South Carolina started late. It’s unusual across the country, so you really have to worry about the ones that you get, not the ones that you don’t. You got to really focus and make sure you know what you’re getting. For the younger kids, it’s unfortunate because you don’t have camps and an opportunity to bring them in and kind of see where they’re at. I think we’re all trying to adjust to this and we’ve had a plan that we’ve really worked hard to execute and we’ll continue to do that. With the NCAA changing rules and allowing players to come back and this season not to count, that also affects your numbers a little bit when you talk about recruiting.”
On how he prepares for Vanderbilt having a different head coach…
“We’ll probably just look and see what they’re doing right now.”
On how many early signees he expects and what common questions have recruits been asking…
“It’s hard to predict how many guys will sign with the early signing period because it’s their choice. They can sign in December. They can sign in February. So, we try to figure that out as you get closer to it. There’s a lot of them that we obviously know because their midyear. That obviously plays into some of it. In recruiting, it’s pretty interesting. Because from a recruiting standpoint, the circumstances at their high schools have been so different than what their used to. A lot of the questions are about, are we going to have school in the spring, when is the next time you think recruiting will be open – things of that nature.”
On if it’s too much of a load for Paxton Brooks to take care of all of the kicking responsibilities…
“It’d be the first time that he’s done it in a college game. He’s done it in high school. I think you have to be careful about how much time he kicks during the week and just be efficient with how many kicks that he has.”
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