When Tennessee was 1-4, no one thought the Volunteers would go to a bowl game. On Saturday, UT defeated Missouri 24-20 to notch a sixth win and become bowl eligible.

After the game, Jeremy Pruitt had high praise for QB Jarrett Guarantano, who threw for 415 yards and 2 touchdowns. Three wideouts accounted for most of those yards. Jauan Jennings, Josh Palmer and Marquez Callaway all had more than 100 receiving yards, the program’s first time having three pass-catchers hit triple digits in a game.

Here are the highlights of what Pruitt said in his postgame press conference, which was streamed live by WATE ABC 6 and covered on Twitter by the station’s Marshall Hughes:

  • “I can’t say enough about the leadership on this team.”
  • “This is why you get into coaching: to watch a team become a team.”
  • On QB Jarrett Guarantano: We’ve got confidence in him. He’s got everything you want to be a good QB. Tonight was by far and away his best game. He got the ball out of his hands, he got us in the right plays.
  • “I think this is the first time in school history that we’ve had three receivers go for over 100 yards.”
  • “We dug ourselves a ton of holes in this game but we found a way to win.”
  • On season-finale against in-state rival Vanderbilt: We know we have a big game next week so we’ll enjoy this game until we get home and then we’ll focus on Vanderbilt.
  • On the state of the program in Year 2: “We knew what we were doing when we took the job. We knew where the folks on this team could take it. We are not where we want to be but we’re headed there in a hurry.”
  • “We have everything we need to have success.”
  • On turnaround from 1-4 start: “I’m excited for our players, especially our seniors. It was a goal after the Florida game. We were sitting there 1-4 and we said, ‘We’re going to make a bowl.’ They backed up what they said they were going to do.”