KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee will welcome in-state foe ETSU to Neyland Stadium for its home opener on Saturday at 4 p.m. (SEC Network). UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt said he has seen many of his players show more intensity this week at practice as the Vols prepare to host the Buccaneers for the first time.
“I have seen guys with our whole team that have come out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and you can see a little more giddy up in their step,” Pruitt said. “Guys have more intensity, which is a good thing.”
While the team continues to improve, the Big Orange received some unfortunate news on Wednesday evening when Pruitt announced that starting center Brandon Kennedy, a graduate transfer from Alabama, suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice this week.
Due to Kennedy’s injury, the Vols’ will have to move some pieces around on the offensive line for this week’s game. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Johnson, who started at center for UT during the final game of last season, and sophomore Riley Locklear are the two most likely candidates to fill the void at center for the Vols this week.
“We’ve repped four or five centers over the course of spring and summer and fall camp, you have to do that, so we’ll shuffle some guys around and see after today and tomorrow’s practice what’s the best combination,” Pruitt said.
Best Practice Players Will Play on Saturdays
Pruitt emphasized that the players that are the most productive in practice will be the ones seeing the majority of the snaps on game days.
“You play based on how you perform in practice,” Pruitt said. “Nobody is entitled to anything, and I think that is the best way. I think kids appreciate it. It makes them go to work and gets the best out of them. It makes them develop as football player and makes you have a better team.”
Eyes in the Sky
Pruitt was complimentary of the way his staff handled things from an “administrative standpoint” last Saturday when talking about which coaches would be on the field and which ones would coach from the booth.
“Defensively, Charles (Kelly) and Terry (Fair) and Chris Rumph all went in the booth,” Pruitt said. “Except for Terry, when you throw in Tracy (Rocker) and Kevin (Sherrer) on the field, we’ve all coached together at some point in time. So that part was easy defensively. From a special teams’ standpoint, Charles is the special teams’ coordinator, but he can do both, and he can see it from there.
“Offensively, some guys like to call it in the booth, some guys like to call in on the field. Tyson (Helton) would prefer to be in the booth, which is not unusual, lots of guys like to do that. To do that, you have to have men on the sidelines that can kind of control the unit, because it’s important to look them in the eye sometimes and say, ‘let’s go’, to get a feeling of what’s going on. And we have that with the guys on our sidelines.”
Manning Inducted into Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
Legendary Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as announced earlier today. Manning, a New Orleans native, joins his father, Archie, a 1988 inductee, in the state sports shrine. They are only the second father/son duo in the Hall, preceded by the Ruston combination of NFL stars Dub (1982) and Bert (1986) Jones.
Manning was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player five times and won two Super Bowls during his illustrious professional career while setting league records for career passing yards (71,940) and career passing touchdowns (539).
During his time at UT, Manning set 42 NCAA, SEC and Tennessee passing records and earned All-America status as a senior in 1997 while also winning the Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
Legend of the Game
Tennessee will honor the late Reggie White as its Legend of the Game on Saturday afternoon. His widow, Sara White will be accompanied by VFLs Phil Stewart and Bruce Wilkerson during a pregame presentation to honor the former UT All-American and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Times to Know
12:30 p.m. – Vol Village Opens (Located at Humanities Plaza)
1:45 p.m. – Vol Walk
4:01 p.m. – Kickoff
The Jeremy Pruitt TV Show Airs on Sundays
Find out the head coach’s thoughts on each game during the hour-long television program, the “Jeremy Pruitt TV Show,” which will air throughout the state and the southeast region during the football season. It will also be available on UTSports.com.
Market | Channel | Day, Time
Chattanooga
WTVC Ch. 9 | Sunday, Noon ET
Jackson
WJKT Ch. 16 |Sunday, 10:30 p.m. CT
Knoxville
WVLT Ch. 8 | Sunday, 11 a.m. ET
MyVLT Ch. 30 | Sunday, 9 a.m. & 9 p.m. ET
Memphis
WATN Ch. 24 | Sunday, 10 a.m. CT
WLMT Ch. 30 | Sunday, 10:30 p.m. CT
Nashville
WUXP Ch. 30 | Sunday, 10 a.m. CT
Tri-Cities
WJHL Ch. 11 | Sunday, 11 a.m. ET
Southeast U.S.
FOX Sports SE | Sunday, Noon ET
Note: Affiliates and times are subject to change
Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Quotes
Opening Statement:
“We had a pretty lively practice out there today. I thought the guys had a little more juice. Two days in a row we had to go inside because the weather. Obviously, we’re shuffling some guys around. Unfortunately, yesterday we lost Brandon Kennedy for the season. He had a leg injury, just kind of standing on his feet there. Nobody really rolled up into him. It’s very unfortunate for him. It’s like I told him, he’s got another year. He’s been through this before. He gets an opportunity to get another degree, so he seems to be in good spirits. I know our staff and our players, everybody really has respected Brandon since he’s been here and how he’s worked and went about his business so it’s unfortunate for him. That happens to people all over the country and it’s tough on these young men that pour a lot into it throughout the year to get an opportunity to play and the thing about it – you’re never guaranteed anything. It’s unfortunate but it does happen. So, we’ve shuffled a few guys on the o-line but the fact that we’ve moved guys around during fall camp I think will help us and this is why you have to do it. It makes growing pains for your offensive line through fall camp because guys don’t play the same position. For instance, a guy like Jerome Carvin, the guy gets here at mid-year, he’s already played left guard, right guard, right tackle and now he’s going to be probably be the third-team center. We’ll get him some reps there but it’s what you have to do and our guys have been willing to do that. I think our guys are excited about playing this week. You only get so many opportunities and I can kind of see it at practice a little bit, these guys have a lot of respect for the team that we’re playing in ETSU. They know a lot of guys on the team, so I know they’re looking forward to playing.”
On how the linemen responded to Brandon Kennedy’s injury and who will start Saturday:
“This has happened. It’s not the first time it’s happened to people at Tennessee and it won’t be the last unfortunately. It’s part of the sport and everybody understands that. The next guy will be Ryan Johnson. Ryan’s played there. Riley Locklear, Jerome (Carvin) can play center. We’ve repped four or five centers over the course of spring and summer and fall camp, you have to do that, so we’ll shuffle some guys around and see after today and tomorrow’s practice what’s the best combination.”
On Brandon Kennedy’s injury:
“Yes, it was an ACL.”
On trying to pursue a sixth year for Brandon Kennedy:
“Right now, the big thing is we are going to worry about getting him the proper medical care and getting fixed and rehabbed. We will worry about that when the time comes.”
On the offensive line’s continuity and players getting repetitions at other positions:
“We’ve always – you’ve always got to have guys that can move around a little bit. For instance, if you’ve got 10 offensive linemen, so there’s you’re two-deep, right, well maybe your backup center on the depth chart might be your 10th-best offensive lineman, so if you lose your center, should you play your sixth guy or your 10th guy? Makes sense to play your sixth-best guy, so to do things like that you’ve got to be able to move guys around. Some of the reason I talked about I have a lot of confidence in our offensive line moving forward because these guys have been doing this the whole time. Trey (Smith) practices on August 17, so we’re practicing like Trey’s not going to be there. Chance Hall has gradually worked his way in there. Jerome (Carvin) missed all summer. Brandon (Kennedy) wasn’t there in the spring so there’s lots of guys, lots of moving parts there. I think as these guys kind of start playing the same positions over and over and get used to playing beside the same guy, they’ll have a lot more confidence in who’s in there with them.”
On the starters in the secondary not rotating out much vs. West Virginia and if anyone has earned more playing time:
“To me, we had starters going into the West Virginia game. Then you evaluate how that game went. There were a few guys who got to play in the game. Then you start practice the next week, and we will have starters for this game. That is the way it will be for as long as I am here. You play based on how you perform in practice. Nobody is entitled to anything, and I think that is the best way. I think kids appreciate it. It makes them go to work and gets the best out of them. It makes them develop as football player and makes you have a better team.”
On playing three true freshmen in the secondary and what he’s seen out of them in practice this week:
“I have seen guys with our whole team that have come out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and you can see a little more giddy up in their step. Guys have more intensity, which is a good thing. When things don’t go your way, the first thing you want to do is point fingers in another direction instead of figuring out what you can do to make your part better. A lot of our guys are trying to do that. They are trying to figure out how they can improve as a football player. How can they help their unit. How can they help this team. That is what we have to do. It was one game. Was it the way we wanted it? Heck no, but we could have gone out and played our best, and we might not have won either. The key is to go play our best. That is what we are looking for.”
On evaluating the pass rushers from last game:
“There is a lot that goes into rushing the quarterback. The first thing is that you have to cover them as a unit. You have to cover them in the back end. You have to disguise, so the quarterback doesn’t know where the ball is going and it’s not out of his hand. If you’re playing against a good quarterback, you can bring as many people as you want, but he will understand what he has and the ball will be gone. You would be better off not rushing anybody because the ball comes out so fast. There is a combination with our guys. I think they have the ability on the edge, and I think they do a lot of things the right way. We have to be able to finish on the quarterback once we get back there. We have to do a better job in the back end and make the quarterback hold the ball to give those guys a chance.”
On JJ Peterson in practice and the receivers getting yards after the catch for explosive plays:
“First of all with JJ, I have been recruiting him for a long time, so I know a lot about him. Probably the biggest thing right now is that he is out of shape. He didn’t go through summer conditioning or fall camp, so he has a long way to go physically before he would be able to play. As far as wide receivers, lots of time schematically if you can hit wide receivers on the move you tend to get more yards after the catch than you do if you are coming back to the line of scrimmage or have outside breaking routes. Lots of times it depends on what coverage people are playing. You have to take advantage of what they are doing. But definitely hitting guys on the move or when guys are facing the line of scrimmage like backs when they catch the ball, it gives them a better opportunity to get yards after the catch.”
On players like Kingston Harris and Emmit Gooden starting to contribute more:
“You could throw John Mincey in there, Greg Emerson as well. We really have to improve and create some depth on the defensive line. The way we practice, we’ve been putting those guys on the scout team and then back up there with the defense, so they’ve been taking a ton of reps. The only way that you can get better as a football player and really understand how to play is to do it. There’s no other way around it. You can’t get it in drills, you can’t get it in one-on-one, you can work technique, you can work toughness and all that, but to play the game, you have to go play. We give our guys a lot of opportunities every day and they’re like all freshmen, they have some days where they practice extremely well, and then they have some days where they’re trying to figure out whether or not this is for them. But that’s everywhere, it’s called maturing.”
On how the administering of the game went as far as location of the coaches:
“Defensively, Charles (Kelly) and Terry (Fair) and Chris Rumph all went in the booth,” Pruitt said. “Except for Terry, when you throw in Tracy (Rocker) and Kevin (Sherrer) on the field, we’ve all coached together at some point in time. So that part was easy defensively. From a special teams’ standpoint, Charles is the special teams’ coordinator, but he can do both, and he can see it from there. Offensively, some guys like to call it in the booth, some guys like to call in on the field. Tyson (Helton) would prefer to be in the booth, which is not unusual, lots of guys like to do that. To do that, you have to have men on the sidelines that can kind of control the unit, because it’s important to look them in the eye sometimes and say, ‘let’s go’, to get a feeling of what’s going on. And we have that with the guys on our sidelines.”
On the improvement of a team from the first to second game:
“I believe there’s truth in that. You can go out here and practice and most of the time, what you see in the scrimmages is what you’re going to get on Saturday’s. But sometimes, you might get something a little different. Not a whole lot, but you may have a guy that plays really well in the scrimmages and for whatever reason — maybe it’s because he has anxiety, maybe lack of focus, whatever it is — he doesn’t play well on Saturday. And then sometimes — and again, very few times — you’ll get guys that don’t perform as well in scrimmages, but when you get to games, they kind of raise their level. It doesn’t happen much. One thing after playing a game is that you know what you have. You know who can do what, you have a baseline of what you have and what you have to improve on with each player, each unit and each side of the ball.”
-UT Athletics
