KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt said the Vols continued to work hard and improve as the team gets set for its final non-conference game of the regular season against Charlotte, wrapping up practice on Wednesday night at Haslam Field.

“They’re very well coached, they’re fundamentally sound, they create turnovers, they give you different looks,” Pruitt said. “They don’t allow you to run the football and they eliminate explosive plays.”

The Vols will welcome the Charlotte 49ers to Neyland Stadium as former alumni, fans and friends return for Homecoming 2018.

“Our guys continued to work hard out there,” Pruitt said. “I think we’ve improved every day this week and it’s good to see that we’ve got some carry over from last week on both sides of the ball. We had a lot of lessons we could learn from last week and our guys have done a good job trying to prepare and not make the same mistakes twice.”

The Vols have had several players start games in the defensive backfield, including true freshmen cornerbacks Alontae Taylor and Bryce Thompson, the only true freshman duo to start an SEC game as the cornerback tandem in the league. Juniors Baylen Buchanan (at multiple DB spots) and Nigel Warrior (safety) have started every game. Buchanan has seen time at nickelback, cornerback and safety.

Pruitt said he wants his top five or six defensive backs on the field and has all of his players cross train.

“We try to teach all of our defensive backs two spots,” Pruitt said. “We teach everything conceptionally, so if you pay attention in the meetings and you jump in there when we’re doing walkthroughs and things like that, you should be able to play all spots the way we teach it, so it’s not uncommon for us. You look over the history of our coaching staff, we’ve always had players that have played multiple spots. I think you have to do that if you’re going to keep your best players on the field. If you’re going to play with five defensive backs, and maybe the backup left corner is your 10th best defensive back and the left corner gets hurt, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to put the 10th best player in the secondary. You want to put the sixth best guy in there, so to do that guys have to learn multiple spots, and Baylen has been able to do that and that’s positive.”

HOMECOMING 2018
Tennessee will welcome a large number of alumni back to Neyland Stadium this weekend for the 2018 edition of Homecoming. This is the first-ever meeting between the two teams. UT is riding a four-game win-streak on Homecoming, and is 72-19-3 all-time in Homecoming games. The Vols defeated Southern Miss, 24-10, in last year’s homecoming game.

Homecoming is a great time for alumni to reconnect to the campus and reunite with old friends. It is also a great time for current students to celebrate what makes the university truly unique and outstanding.

JOHNSON SERVES AS GRAND MARSHALL 
VFL and motivational speaker Inky Johnson, who played for the Vols from 2004-06, will serve as the Parade Grand Marshall for Homecoming. The parade will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday and will showcase student organization floats, community vehicles and includes the eighth annual Little Vol Walk, featuring children ages 10 and younger riding on decorated wagons, strollers, or tricycles. Johnson will also be speaking with faculty and staff as part of the alumni events.

Johnson is an American motivational speaker and former standout cornerback for the Vols on the field. He studied psychology and is now a motivational speaker at schools, community centers and ceremonies throughout the United States. He has served as keynote speaker at numerous events, including the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Press Conference Transcript (Oct. 31)

Opening statement:
“Our guys continued to work hard out there. I think we’ve improved every day this week and it’s good to see that we’ve got some carry over from last week on both sides of the ball. We had a lot of lessons we could learn from last week and our guys have done a good job trying to prepare and not make the same mistakes twice. We’ve got a lot of guys that are playing really good ball. We’ve got to be more consistent on both sides of the ball and then we’ve got to kind of raise our level of play on Saturdays. We’ve got a great opportunity this Saturday playing a really good team that’s very well coaches, so we’re looking forward to it.”

On the status of the team health wise and moving Jeremy Banks back to running back:
“It’s that time of year, everybody has a lot of guys that are kind of banged up and we’ve got our share. Our medical staff is doing a good job getting the guys healthy, getting them back out there. We obviously moved Jeremy (Banks) back to running back just to provide some depth. Carlin (Fils-aime) is learning a little bit more about the position. This will be his second week [at running back]. For Jeremy, he’s been there all year, so for him there wasn’t any learning curve going back.”

On the depth situation on the offensive line right now:
“Well, if you just look at our entire team, we don’t have a whole lot of depth. It’s been that way since the first day I got here. I don’t think it was new. I think we’ve done a good job trying to create some depth moving guys around. It probably hindered us early on at certain positions because [we had] guys playing multiple spots, but it’s something we had to do to prepare in case we lost guys.”

On what he saw from the offensive line against South Carolina:
“We didn’t have as many negative plays. I think there were four or five times we had drives with maybe eight or nine plays or more. We didn’t have as many explosive plays, so to do that, you’ve got to be more consistent, which we have not been for most of the year. We’ve had big plays, but we’ve had too many negative plays. We didn’t have as many negative plays Saturday. You take away the self-inflicting penalties that put us behind and it was a very productive game. We didn’t have many opportunities because of the long drives. It was a short game, but I thought our guys were efficient. We didn’t score a touchdown in one trip. Some of it had to do a lot with penalties.”

On his evaluation of the defensive line with Jonathan Kongbo out for the season:
“We’ve got young guys there. Deandre Johnson has played some, Darrell [Taylor] has played a lot. We haven’t played a lot of guys beyond that. Some of that has to do with who we’re playing. Lots of times we just play with one outside linebacker. Depending on who our personnel is, there has been some years at places that I’ve coached where we played nickel and we play with two outside linebackers and two D-tackles. It’s just about getting the best players on the field.

On if younger defensive line players are ready to play:
“John [Mincey] was doing really well, unfortunately he dislocated his elbow in warm-ups at the Florida game. He had played some up to that point. He came back last week and played a little in the game, so he’ll play throughout the rest of the year.”

On the challenges Charlotte’s defense presents:
“They’re very well coached, they’re fundamentally sound, they create turnovers, they give you different looks. They don’t allow you to run the football and they eliminate explosive plays. If you eliminate explosive plays, make the other team earn it, get off the field on third down and get turnovers, you’ve got a chance to have a good defense. When you get in the red area you got to hold people to field goals and they’ve done a good job of that.”

On freshman quarterback J.T. Shrout and his progression:
“We’re just trying to get J.T. ready to play. He spent the first half of the year on the scout team. All of our quarterbacks take reps in practice. We do a lot of good on good stuff, but when you start preparing for an opponent you’re only going to work two guys. You might let a third guy get just a few reps but not many, so they got to take mental reps. He worked the first half of the year on the scout team and we’ve swapped him and Will (McBride), but they both takes reps in practice in good on good.”

On having to keep players focused for a midseason non-conference game:
“Well, if somebody is looking at it that way, they’re not ready to play. These guys (Charlotte) have a better record than we do. If you look at them statistically, they’re better than us in probably every statistical category. They have 85 guys on scholarship just like we do. We’ll have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance to have success Saturday.”

On what position Jeremy Banks will play in the future:
“Everything we’re focused on right now is here and now. We’re trying to find a way to give our team the best chance to have success and our players to have the best chance to have success. We’ve got some guys that are banged up, so just common sense wise, it makes sense to do that.”

On Baylen Buchanan’s versatility and how valuable that is:
“We try to teach all of our defensive backs two spots. We teach everything conceptionally, so if you pay attention in the meetings and you jump in there when we’re doing walkthroughs and things like that, you should be able to play all spots the way we teach it, so it’s not uncommon for us, You look over the history of our coaching staff, we’ve always had players that have played multiple spots. I think you have to do that if you’re going to keep your best players on the field. If you’re going to play with five defensive backs, and maybe the backup left corner is your 10th best defensive back and the left corner gets hurt, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to put the 10th best player in the secondary. You want to put the sixth best guy in there, so to do that guys have to learn multiple spots, and Baylen has been able to do that and that’s positive.”
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