KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt said the Volunteer football team had one of its best weeks of practice on Wednesday as UT has turned its focus to this weekend’s road test against South Carolina.
“I think our guys have had a really good week of practice for three days,” Pruitt said. “There’s been a lot of energy and you see guys practicing with a purpose. I think we’ve improved in three days, which we need to.
“There’s really but one place to go for us right now and that’s up, and that’s good, but if we practice like that every single day, we’re going to continue to improve. I appreciate our guys’ effort and intensity that we’ve had and we’re looking forward to this weekend.”
This is the 37th time these two teams have met as the Vols look to snap a two-game losing streak to the Gamecocks. Tennessee’s last win at South Carolina came in 2014 when the Vols won a 45-42 thriller in overtime. Then-sophomore quarterback Josh Dobbs threw for 301 yards and ran for 166, while the team rushed for 344 yards as a whole. The Vols trailed 42-28 with under five minutes left, but battled back for the win.
The Gamecocks are 3-3 this season and are coming off a bye week. South Carolina dropped its last game to Texas A&M, 26-23, on Oct. 13.
“They’re very balanced, they’re multiple in their formations and they can beat you a bunch of different ways,” Pruitt said.
Saturday’s game will be played under the lights at Williams-Brice Stadium at night for the fifth time in series history. Tennessee is 2-2 in those games. This weekend’s game will be broadcasted live on the SEC Network with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers will be on the call with Cole Cubelic on the sideline.
Banks & Fils-aime Make Moves
At the start of the week the Vols saw a couple of players make position changes. Freshman Jeremy Banks has made the move to linebacker from running back while junior defensive back Carlin Fils-aime has made the move back to running back for the Big Orange this week.
“Well, I think he’s (Banks) a runner and a hitter and he’s physical, he likes ball. He’s practiced for three days on defense, so he probably doesn’t have a whole lot of knowledge on what we’re trying to get done, but I think he’s a guy that can play there,” Pruitt said.
Banks, has played in all seven games for the Vols and has 41 carries for 161 yards and three touchdowns at running back this season. Fils-aime played running back for the Vols during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and has recorded 45 carries for 273 yards and four touchdowns during his career.
“I think if we’re going to move Jeremy to linebacker we need to have a fourth running back and Carlin is a guy that played snaps here before,” Pruitt said. “He’s a fast guy. He’s got good change of direction, so just trying to manage the roster and create possibilities for everybody.”
Could Be a Close One
The last six meetings between Tennessee and South Carolina have been decided by one possession, with the average margin of victory being 3.3 points. In last season’s contest at Neyland Stadium, the Gamecocks stopped the Vols on the 2-yard line as time expired, and escaped with a 15-9 win. In 2016, Tennessee kicker Aaron Medley’s 58-yard field goal attempt fell short as time expired to give the Gamecocks a 24-21 victory. In 2015, Malik Foreman forced a fumble by South Carolina tight end Jerell Adams inside Tennessee territory with under a minute to play, which was recovered by linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin. The Vols held on to win, 27-24.
Extra Time
The Vols are 13-7 in overtime games and their 20 overtime appearances are the most in FBS history. The Gamecocks have accounted for three of those overtime games, with Tennessee winning all three of those contests and all three being decided by a field goal.
Defense Making Plays
The Volunteer defense has stepped up the last two games. For the first time since 2007, Tennessee has scored a defensive touchdown in back-to-back games. Alontae Taylor recovered a fumble in the end zone at Auburn for a score and a week later Kyle Phillips picked off a pass from Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. UT has scored three defensive touchdowns on the season. The other one came on a 33-yard interception return by Darrin Kirkland Jr. against ETSU on Sept. 8.
“We have a lot of guys that are obviously new to the system. The more they’re around it, obviously the more knowledge they’ll get, they gain confidence,” Pruitt said.
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Press Conference Transcript (Oct. 24)
Opening statement:
“I think our guys have had a really good week of practice for three days. There’s been a lot of energy and you see guys practicing with a purpose. I think we’ve improved in three days, which we need to. There’s really but one place to go for us right now and that’s up, and that’s good, but if we practice like that every single day, we’re going to continue to improve. I appreciate our guys’ effort and intensity that we’ve had and we’re looking forward to this weekend.”
On if Trevon Flowers is close to playing:
“No, he’s not ready yet. It will probably be a couple more weeks before he’s out there, but it’s good for him to get around. He’s itching to do it, so I was glad to see him out there.”
On Jeremy Banks moving to linebacker:
“Well, I think he’s a runner and a hitter and he’s physical, he likes ball. He’s practiced for three days on defense, so he probably doesn’t have a whole lot of knowledge on what we’re trying to get done, but I think he’s a guy that can play there. He hasn’t had any carries in the last couple of games. Not that he couldn’t be a running back and a good running back, and he still might go back there, but it’s been good for him. The first day he thought he was about to die out there because he took a bunch of reps. I told him it’s a little different over there then it is sitting there and swapping out. You know, there’s only one ball, so you’ve got four running backs and they sit there and kind of rotate through, but he got a bunch of reps the last few days.”
On if the team has thought of changing pregame routines to help with slow starts:
“No, I bet you we did the same pregame routine as the last team we played, but they haven’t had a problem. It’s not the routine, I can assure you.”
On his relationship with South Carolina offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon:
“B-Mac is a phenomenal recruiter, really good coach and very detailed. He got an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator and has done a really good job. They’re very balanced, they’re multiple in their formations and they can beat you a bunch of different ways. He’s a great guy to work with, has a great family and does an outstanding job.”
On generating big plays in the passing game:
“We have some guys that can compete for the ball and our quarterbacks, when they have time, can put the ball on them. I think our offensive coaches have done a really good job finding ways to get some of these guys the ball. We have to be more consistent. Lots of times creating explosive plays is the hard thing to do. We’ve been able to do that some, we have to continue to do that and we need to create more, but we need to have more consistency and we’ve had way too many negative plays.”
On the outside linebackers position group:
“We have a lot of guys that are obviously new to the system. The more they’re around it, obviously the more knowledge they’ll get, they gain confidence. If you don’t know exactly what to do, sometimes you don’t play fast, but I think the longer we go I see guys that are improving every day.”
On when Jeremy Banks asked to move to linebacker:
“He asked me to move to linebacker in the fourth quarter of the Georgia game. I told him that I didn’t think now was the time to talk about it. He’s just looking for an opportunity to play, and I think he’s a guy that has the skill set to do it.”
On if he was concerned how the team would practice after Alabama:
“We actually had really good practice last week too, and our guys have really for the last several weeks since the bye week. There’s very few days that we don’t improve as a team. We have to put it all together. I see it every day. We had a few injuries along the way and we had some guys that have played for the first time. We have to come together a little bit offensively where we don’t have negative plays. Defensively, obviously we can’t give up explosive plays, but there’s lots of guys last week that played really good. Unfortunately, it takes all 11 and if you give up negative plays on offense or you give up explosive plays on defense, the way the score gets, a lot of people don’t realize how well some guys actually play.”
On Carlin Fils-aime moving back to running back:
“Well, I think if we’re going to move Jeremy (Banks) to linebacker we need to have a fourth running back and Carlin is a guy that played snaps here before. He’s a fast guy. He’s got good change of direction, so just trying to manage the roster and create possibilities for everybody.”
On if Carlin Fils-aime is up to speed on the offense:
“I would say he’s like Jeremy (Banks). It’s tough to transition during the middle of the year. It’s something that you’d probably want to do maybe during an off week, or you would really never want to do it, but both guys have a lot of football ahead of them. Carlin has worked really hard at being a defensive back and I think that he feels more natural playing running back. Just like with him and Jeremy, I would never move a guy unless that’s what they wanted to do. After a couple years, you know hey, if it wasn’t working out for them and we said, ‘hey, maybe we think you might be better [here]’, but it’s not going to do us any good as a program if we move guys to positions they don’t want to play. Both of those moves were really instigated by the players.”
On the job the medical staff has done getting players healthy:
“You know, I saw Brandon (Kennedy) today and he kind of was bouncing down the hall, so I asked him if he was ready to play. I went in there and sat down in my office and I’m looking at the calendar just trying to see, and I think he’s maybe seven or eight weeks out of surgery. Riley (Locklear) is back really fast, so that’s good. These guys come here to get a degree and to play ball and unfortunately, because it’s a physical game sometimes there are injuries along the way, so you want to have a medical staff that can get them out there as fast as possible as long as they’re fine, and I think our guys do a fantastic job and I think it’s showing.”
On what goes into the team getting better every day:
“I think we’re kind of creating the right habits. I think that we have guys that really want to be good football players and they’re starting to demand it from their teammates. If you’ve got positive energy it can be contagious and if you’ve got negative energy it can be contagious. I think our guys are liking to come to work. They’re working hard out there at improving and we are improving. We got to play better on Saturdays. We got to be more efficient and stay away from negative plays and explosive plays on defense.”
On the status of Dominick Wood-Anderson for Saturday:
“When you have a pulled hamstring, it’s kind of day-to-day. Sometimes it depends on the severity of the injury and some guys heal faster than others. He’s practiced this week every day, so he’ll be a guy that’ll be questionable and we’ll have to make a game time decision.”
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