Tennessee fans in need of some good news should know Jeremy Pruitt sounds optimistic that his best offensive lineman will return to the field in 2018.

Of course, referring to rising sophomore Trey Smith — who missed all of Tennessee’s spring transition to Pruitt’s program due to an undisclosed medical condition — the latest comments from the UT head coach suggest the hulking offensive lineman continues to progress in his attempt to return to the field.

During his recent stop in Chatanooga for the Big Orange Caravan, Tennessee’s coach offered up these comments.

“I tell you what, Trey’s working really hard right now,” Pruitt said according to Patrick Brown of 247Sports. “Right now, the NCAA has a discretionary weeks, so you have to have seven discretionary weeks throughout the year, which means you can’t have mandatory workouts. Right now, that’s us.”

While Pruitt noted he hasn’t personally seen Smith in the weight room every day, it’s against NCAA rules for him to do so, there are members of his program that are permitted to record that information. While it is not mandatory for Smith to show up each and every day, that hasn’t stopped him from doing so.

“We can’t make it mandatory for our players, and everybody does that during the month of May. But they do have to have somebody in the weight room for supervision, and somebody told me that Trey’s been in there every day,” Pruitt continued. “He’s feeling great and he’s ready to go to work.”

Without specifically confirming Smith would play in 2018, that last line is somewhat revealing. If Smith hasn’t been cleared, at the very least, he’s keeping himself in shape for if/when that does happen.

Pruitt’s comments are also interesting considering Smith recently tweeted out, “Clear Now” before deleting that comment. Read into that what you will but Pruitt’s comments in addition to this tweet suggest arguably Tennessee’s best player will return to the field this fall.

https://twitter.com/BarstoolTenn/status/992242869317627904