University of Tennessee Athletics
Football Shifts To Opener Prep, Watch Pruitt's Press Conference
September 17, 2020 | Football
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- With game week approaching, Tennessee football shifted its preparations toward South Carolina with a two-hour practice Thursday evening. Head coach Jeremy Pruitt met with media members via Zoom following the workout.Â
Below are quotes from Pruitt's press conference.Â
Opening StatementÂ
"We had an opportunity Tuesday to go out there and get a lot of specialty situations going and it felt like with the number of guys we had back we had some really good work. Today we went back, kind of approached it a little bit like game week and started working some on South Carolina. A lot of special teams. We had a lot of guys out, so doing special teams is obviously got to be a premium for us with the guys that have had to bump around. We got in some good work today. It seemed like we had a lot of juice out there, so that was good to see. We got a lot of guys back. This is the most guys we've had on the practice field since the third practice of camp. It's good to see guys out there. We got a lot of guys that got to get a lot of work in the next nine days, and they've got to put in time to do it. But, it was two good practices in a row."
On how many players from the two-deep roster does he expect to be available to play in the season opener against South Carolina…
"I would say all of them. We'd have everybody right now."
On Cade Mays' eligibility …
"Today we heard back from the NCAA – they approved Cade's appeal. This has always been a two-step process. The next thing is the SEC. It's good that our governing body decided to allow him to play. Now, we go to the SEC. I have not really had a chance to talk to (Commissioner) Greg (Sankey) much about it. I know this – in this whole thing from this pandemic, Greg Sankey has done a great job from a leadership standpoint with everybody within the conference and his No. 1 thing has always been the protection of the players and putting our student-athletes first. I have a lot of confidence in the outcome.
"I'm not sure on all of the NCAA rules with transfers. They might all be this way when it goes from conference to conference transfers. But, I do know that the SEC has not allowed that, so this would obviously be a waiver through the SEC."
On how the pass rush is looking right now…
"I don't know. That's a good question. It's definitely not where we would like for it to be. That's one thing we really got to focus on over the next nine days. We had a lot of guys that have been in and out. It's really our whole team. We have a lot of experience coming back and as these guys get back out on the field and get going, that's a positive. With the experience we have, we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball for us. We just got to get them going and kind of got to get them back into the groove a little bit. We've got to do that tomorrow, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and over the next four days. We got to have a lot of competitive reps at practice to get used to the game speed."
On Wanya Morris and Aubrey Solomon being able to practice during fall camp…
"Both of those guys have been hit with the quarantine, Wanya (Morris) twice. He practiced today. I think it's the second time he's practiced in 23 days. Aubrey (Solomon) was out there today. They've got a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we can get some plays out of them next Saturday. That will be determined based off of the next week."
On getting guys back at the WR position and working with Jarrett Guarantano…
"We've really got to knock the rust off, so to speak, in our throw game. A lot of these guys have been out. Most of them were back on Tuesday and got some good work in today. We've got to continue to do that. It is one of the positions that we were hit with an injury bug and had some guys out so we have to get going there."
On the position group he's most excited about going into next week's game…
"You always really find out about yourself when you start playing games. You would like to think that you can forget a little bit based off practice. In full-scale competitive, who runs through tackles, who secures the ball, who can respond when the coaches aren't out there and some adversity hits, who tackles, who can do it over and over again. We've had a lot of guys who have had a chance to do that and some that haven't. We've got to do a lot of one on ones to get these guys going. I wouldn't say there's any group until you play a season. You are trying to figure out who you are and are trying to create your identity."
On COVID-19 impacting players…
"I hope that we've reached a spike on our campus. I think it's been pretty evident across the country that when you have large gatherings of people for the first time there have been spikes. Our numbers have really gone down across our campus. We have a lot of guys back. Again, we've not had that many COVID cases, but we have been caught up in contact tracing. Most of our guys are back now, and we've got to continue to make sure that they really defend themselves. We can't be put in a situation that we can get it or be put in contact tracing."
On Bryce Thompson wearing the No. 0 jersey…
"He asked me. There was really only one other player who asked and he was a freshman so Bryce got it."
On if players are ruled out for the opener and the tight ends…
"We have some guys who are ruled out based on injuries, but I don't really want to share that. I don't want to give South Carolina a head start on us there. But the tight end position we are working several guys there. It is a competitive spot. There's not much difference in the guys. How they go about their business every day, how they practice, how they compete, what kind of habits they've created. They control it. We want to play the best players, and we've got some guys who are competing hard there to do that."
On if having lots of guys out has hurt the offensive line more than other positions…
"Well I do think with the offensive line that they've got to work together because they've got combination blocks. Communication is key. It's pretty interesting, just for instance, when I go home at night, based off the time that I go home I have an idea of what's going to be going on at my house. If I got home at nine o'clock than I'll have two kids in the bed and one up. If I go home at 9:30 they'll all be in bed or get there at seven and everybody will be up. I know it's kind of a crazy scenario but I'm just saying as an offensive lineman, you get used to playing beside somebody. You get a feel as you're working a combination when I can move on to the linebacker or when I need to stay or when I need to kind of slow down to let him catch up, because everybody's a little different. So, I do think it's important about those guys kind of playing together."
On if he's ever had to deal with an interconference transfer situation like the one with Cade Mays…
"I've been on the other end. I think the first time was in 2016. Now it was a grad transfer, but at that time nobody was allowed to transfer within the conference, and I think Moe (Maurice) Smith, who was a defensive back for us at Alabama transferred to Georgia and he was granted a waiver. Brandon Kennedy was a grad transfer, so I think this would be a first."Â
On the kickoff and punt return game…
"It's been an important piece. We've got lots of guys to choose from, in my opinion. If you've got five or six guys that can return punts or return kickoffs, which two or three are you going to settle on and do those other guys fill in at other positions on special teams? As we've had guys in and out of practice, we've not really had a chance … all the returners have been catching balls, I guess would be the right thing to say. The part about who's the top three, we've just now got everybody there, so kind of the top three guys at each position, you want to get those other guys involved on special teams possibly at another spot, so that's something that we've really had to work hard on the last couple of days."
On how he feels about the tight end group and an update on Austin Pope's status…
"Austin (Pope) is not going to play right now. We're working Princeton Fant, Sean Brown, Jordan Allen, Jacob Warren, so we've got a lot of guys that are getting reps in there. Most of those guys have played very little football for us, so they've got to work on their consistency, they've got to be able to block the C-area, they've got to play fast, they've got to be good communicators. That's one position that you really need to be instinctive to have a feel because we ask the tight ends to do a lot. It's a position where there's lots of competition. I have confidence in all of those guys, but somebody's got to separate themselves."
Â
Below are quotes from Pruitt's press conference.Â
Opening StatementÂ
"We had an opportunity Tuesday to go out there and get a lot of specialty situations going and it felt like with the number of guys we had back we had some really good work. Today we went back, kind of approached it a little bit like game week and started working some on South Carolina. A lot of special teams. We had a lot of guys out, so doing special teams is obviously got to be a premium for us with the guys that have had to bump around. We got in some good work today. It seemed like we had a lot of juice out there, so that was good to see. We got a lot of guys back. This is the most guys we've had on the practice field since the third practice of camp. It's good to see guys out there. We got a lot of guys that got to get a lot of work in the next nine days, and they've got to put in time to do it. But, it was two good practices in a row."
On how many players from the two-deep roster does he expect to be available to play in the season opener against South Carolina…
"I would say all of them. We'd have everybody right now."
On Cade Mays' eligibility …
"Today we heard back from the NCAA – they approved Cade's appeal. This has always been a two-step process. The next thing is the SEC. It's good that our governing body decided to allow him to play. Now, we go to the SEC. I have not really had a chance to talk to (Commissioner) Greg (Sankey) much about it. I know this – in this whole thing from this pandemic, Greg Sankey has done a great job from a leadership standpoint with everybody within the conference and his No. 1 thing has always been the protection of the players and putting our student-athletes first. I have a lot of confidence in the outcome.
"I'm not sure on all of the NCAA rules with transfers. They might all be this way when it goes from conference to conference transfers. But, I do know that the SEC has not allowed that, so this would obviously be a waiver through the SEC."
On how the pass rush is looking right now…
"I don't know. That's a good question. It's definitely not where we would like for it to be. That's one thing we really got to focus on over the next nine days. We had a lot of guys that have been in and out. It's really our whole team. We have a lot of experience coming back and as these guys get back out on the field and get going, that's a positive. With the experience we have, we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball for us. We just got to get them going and kind of got to get them back into the groove a little bit. We've got to do that tomorrow, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and over the next four days. We got to have a lot of competitive reps at practice to get used to the game speed."
On Wanya Morris and Aubrey Solomon being able to practice during fall camp…
"Both of those guys have been hit with the quarantine, Wanya (Morris) twice. He practiced today. I think it's the second time he's practiced in 23 days. Aubrey (Solomon) was out there today. They've got a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we can get some plays out of them next Saturday. That will be determined based off of the next week."
On getting guys back at the WR position and working with Jarrett Guarantano…
"We've really got to knock the rust off, so to speak, in our throw game. A lot of these guys have been out. Most of them were back on Tuesday and got some good work in today. We've got to continue to do that. It is one of the positions that we were hit with an injury bug and had some guys out so we have to get going there."
On the position group he's most excited about going into next week's game…
"You always really find out about yourself when you start playing games. You would like to think that you can forget a little bit based off practice. In full-scale competitive, who runs through tackles, who secures the ball, who can respond when the coaches aren't out there and some adversity hits, who tackles, who can do it over and over again. We've had a lot of guys who have had a chance to do that and some that haven't. We've got to do a lot of one on ones to get these guys going. I wouldn't say there's any group until you play a season. You are trying to figure out who you are and are trying to create your identity."
On COVID-19 impacting players…
"I hope that we've reached a spike on our campus. I think it's been pretty evident across the country that when you have large gatherings of people for the first time there have been spikes. Our numbers have really gone down across our campus. We have a lot of guys back. Again, we've not had that many COVID cases, but we have been caught up in contact tracing. Most of our guys are back now, and we've got to continue to make sure that they really defend themselves. We can't be put in a situation that we can get it or be put in contact tracing."
On Bryce Thompson wearing the No. 0 jersey…
"He asked me. There was really only one other player who asked and he was a freshman so Bryce got it."
On if players are ruled out for the opener and the tight ends…
"We have some guys who are ruled out based on injuries, but I don't really want to share that. I don't want to give South Carolina a head start on us there. But the tight end position we are working several guys there. It is a competitive spot. There's not much difference in the guys. How they go about their business every day, how they practice, how they compete, what kind of habits they've created. They control it. We want to play the best players, and we've got some guys who are competing hard there to do that."
On if having lots of guys out has hurt the offensive line more than other positions…
"Well I do think with the offensive line that they've got to work together because they've got combination blocks. Communication is key. It's pretty interesting, just for instance, when I go home at night, based off the time that I go home I have an idea of what's going to be going on at my house. If I got home at nine o'clock than I'll have two kids in the bed and one up. If I go home at 9:30 they'll all be in bed or get there at seven and everybody will be up. I know it's kind of a crazy scenario but I'm just saying as an offensive lineman, you get used to playing beside somebody. You get a feel as you're working a combination when I can move on to the linebacker or when I need to stay or when I need to kind of slow down to let him catch up, because everybody's a little different. So, I do think it's important about those guys kind of playing together."
On if he's ever had to deal with an interconference transfer situation like the one with Cade Mays…
"I've been on the other end. I think the first time was in 2016. Now it was a grad transfer, but at that time nobody was allowed to transfer within the conference, and I think Moe (Maurice) Smith, who was a defensive back for us at Alabama transferred to Georgia and he was granted a waiver. Brandon Kennedy was a grad transfer, so I think this would be a first."Â
On the kickoff and punt return game…
"It's been an important piece. We've got lots of guys to choose from, in my opinion. If you've got five or six guys that can return punts or return kickoffs, which two or three are you going to settle on and do those other guys fill in at other positions on special teams? As we've had guys in and out of practice, we've not really had a chance … all the returners have been catching balls, I guess would be the right thing to say. The part about who's the top three, we've just now got everybody there, so kind of the top three guys at each position, you want to get those other guys involved on special teams possibly at another spot, so that's something that we've really had to work hard on the last couple of days."
On how he feels about the tight end group and an update on Austin Pope's status…
"Austin (Pope) is not going to play right now. We're working Princeton Fant, Sean Brown, Jordan Allen, Jacob Warren, so we've got a lot of guys that are getting reps in there. Most of those guys have played very little football for us, so they've got to work on their consistency, they've got to be able to block the C-area, they've got to play fast, they've got to be good communicators. That's one position that you really need to be instinctive to have a feel because we ask the tight ends to do a lot. It's a position where there's lots of competition. I have confidence in all of those guys, but somebody's got to separate themselves."
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Players Mentioned
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