KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Just 10 days remain until Tennessee opens its season against West Virginia in the Belk College Kickoff at Bank of America Stadium and with fall classes now in session, the Volunteers are starting to show cohesiveness as a team.
“It being the first day of school, I thought our guys had a little bit of bounce about them which was positive, but we’re still in the process of figuring out how to sustain,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “We had everybody out there today participating and started to get some cohesiveness on offense a little bit.”
Assisting with that cohesiveness is the return of sophomore offensive lineman Trey Smith and redshirt junior wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
“He [Smith] jumped right in there and took all the reps,” Pruitt said. “We probably limited him a little bit to build him up there in a couple of periods. He looks like he’s doing everything else but hitting so that’s not really a surprise there.
“At wide receiver, Jauan (Jennings) is back participating at full speed and it is helping cut some of the reps for the wide receivers so they can stay a little fresher towards the end of camp.”
Smith collected preseason All-SEC First Team honors from the media this summer and was a Freshman All-America selection in 2017.
Jennings missed the final 11 games of 2017 and all of spring camp due to injuries. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native has 57 receptions for 746 yards and seven touchdowns (all coming in 2016) for his career.
The Volunteers also continue to work on the coverage and return aspect of the game.
“We had to go in yesterday and work on some returns and couldn’t do it because we were inside, so we had to finish and do some of that today, ” Pruitt said. “Not a bad practice for the first day of school – that’s generally always a bad practice, but it was pretty good today.”
Pruitt Will Play Best 11 on Special Teams
The first-year head coach said he will absolutely play his best players on special teams.
“The way I look at it is if you’re not a good special teams player, then you are probably not a good offensive or defensive player,” Pruitt said. “There has been many times over the years, whether we are punting the football and we have a couple of gunners out there that are hard to block because their ability, or they are fast – we have rested them on defense when they have been our best players, just so they could play on the punt team. We are going to play our best players on special teams.”
Pruitt Sees Improvement from Nigel Warrior
One of Tennessee most experience defensive backs, Warrior will enter his junior campaign with 13 starts to his credit. He ranked second on the team with 83 stops a season ago, and Pruitt sees the Duluth, Ga., native getting better.
“He has continued to work hard,” Pruitt said. “I have seen a lot of improvement out of him this fall camp, he is doing much better playing the ball, tackling in space. He just has to continue to work.”
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Quotes
Opening Statement:
“It being the first day of school, I thought our guys had a little bit of bounce about them which was positive, but we’re still in the process of figuring out how to sustain. It’s the inconsistency. You get nine or 10 guys doing it the right way on both sides of the ball, but it takes all 11. We’ve got to continue to figure it out and get other guys to put a little pressure on their peers because time is running out and we’re winding up fall camp and ready to start game planning. We had everybody out there today participating and started to get some cohesiveness on offense a little bit. At wide receiver, Jauan (Jennings) is back participating at full speed and it’s helping cut some of the reps for the wide receivers so they can stay a little fresher towards the end of camp. Special teams got some good work out there today. Our kickers continue to kick the ball really well, so we’ve got to continue to work on that part of it and our coverage and return. We had to go in yesterday and work on some returns and couldn’t do it because we were inside, so we had to finish and do some of that today. Not a bad practice for the first day of school – that’s generally always a bad practice, but it was pretty good today.”
On JJ Peterson:
“It’s the same deal. That’s the good thing about any student-athlete – once they finish up their requirements and pass the NCAA clearing house, as long as it’s not a deadline past entering school, they can start school and we still expect him to be here.”
On Trey Smith and thoughts on where he will be factored in:
“I think Trey is probably excited to be out there and I’m sure the rest of the guys are too. He jumped right in there and took all the reps. We probably limited him a little bit to build him up there in a couple of periods. He looks like he’s doing everything else but hitting so that’s not really a surprise there.”
On the qualities he looks for that make a good defense:
“How many points you give up. That’s probably the most important. If you don’t want to give up a lot of points you can’t give up big plays, you need to get turnovers, maybe a good tacking team, you need to get off the field on the third down, be good in the red area, just the obvious. You probably want to put pressure, you’ve got to find a way to affect the quarterback. To me, I believe you should keep good edges and keep the ball in front of you.”
On Trey Smith’s status and the timetable on naming a starting quarterback:
“Trey has been cleared. It’s interesting to me that nobody asks who’s going to be the starter at center, who’s going to be the starter at center, who’s going to be the starter at safety, who’s going to be the starter at MIKE linebacker — we don’t know that either. Again, we’ll figure it out as we get there.”
On what the term “strain” means to him:
“The easiest way to describe it for me is I can remember when I was a young kid, we used to have some drills that we did in the offseason where somebody laid on their back, and to win you had to get off of your back as somebody was holding you down. That was in the old school days in the gym. You have to strain to get off of your back if you want to win the drill. So I look at it like that — if somebody held you down on the floor and told you that you had to get off of your back, you would be straining to get up, right? That’s the easiest way to put it to me.”
On what he’s seen from the cornerbacks during fall practice:
“We have guys that have talent, we have really good competition. Everybody in our program is still learning the ‘how’. They pretty much know what to do, but the how to do it we’re still trying to master. It doesn’t matter if it’s cornerbacks or quarterbacks or tight ends or wide receivers or the long snappers, we’re still looking for that. And we’re getting closer, but we’re not there yet.”
On the defense’s performance in situational work:
“If you look in all three phases — offense, defense or special teams — there’s a lot of good things going on, but just a whole lot of inconsistencies. And it’s not the same person, it’s different guys every day. There’s different guys that raise their level every day and there’s some guys that can’t sustain every day. We’ve seen a lot of guys in our program that have showed that they can do it and do it the right way. We have to get them to do it all of the time, and they have to learn to do it all of the time. They have to do it when they’re tired, they have to do it when they don’t feel good, when it’s hot, when the other team is kicking their tail – they have to find a way to do it, figure it out, sustain it and do it again. We have a long ways to go in that department, and to me, that’s just mental toughness. Physically, we’ve seen guys be able to do it and from a mental standpoint, we’ve done it some, but we have to learn to do it more and more.”
On the upcoming practice schedule:
“We’’ll start working on West Virginia tomorrow. Tomorrow will be like a Monday practice, then a Tuesday, then a Wednesday, then we’ll start back over next week.”
On using starters on special teams:
“I think we need to play our best players. The way I look at it is if you’re not a good special teams player, then you are probably not a good offensive or defensive player. There has been many times over the years, whether we are punting the football and we have a couple of gunners out there that are hard to block because their ability, or they are fast – we have rested them on defense when they have been our best players, just so they could play on the punt team. We are going to play our best players on special teams.”
On Jauan Jennings and Nigel Warrior:
“Jauan took some snaps the other day, he had banged his shoulder up so he was in a black jersey, but today he was out there taking some licks and he needs to take licks. When you have a black jersey on it’s obviously no contact. If you look, those are the guys traditionally at camp that turn the ball over because they are not used to getting beat on and tackled, so it is good to get him back because he needs some of that. As far Nigel, he has continued to work hard. I have seen a lot of improvement out of him this fall camp, he is doing much better playing the ball, tackling in space. He just has to continue to work.”
On depth chart and naming starters:
“I don’t know if we have anywhere who we know will be a starter. I think we have that much competition. We’ve got guys that can play multiple positions and over the years we’ve had guys substituted every play. Play the guys that are doing it right, play the guys that are practicing the right way; it is a performance-based deal. The people that are practicing the right way, that prepare the right way, perform the right way, they play. The ones that don’t, play somebody else. Hopefully we will be able to play a lot of guys. Hopefully we have a lot of guys doing it the right way.”
On positioning the cornerbacks:
“I think it is easier if you play a left and right (cornerback). There has been years that we’ve played field and boundary, we’ve played left and right, we’ve had them follow certain guys. With the speed of the game, the way the offense plays it’s much easier to play left and right. In the old days, you could probably play field and boundary. Most of the balls in college go to the boundary, very few of them go out to the field, it’s too far of a throw. Most of the run game doesn’t get out there, but with the speed of the game the way the offenses play fast, it’s just much easier now to play left and right. When we go in fall and spring camp we don’t even play a strong safety and free safety, we play a left and right safety. What it does, is it helps them learn how to play the other position. Say tomorrow we play a strong and a free, at least they have all these reps in the fall camp to learn both spots, and it really helps you develop and understand how to play both positions.”
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