Jeremy Pruitt offers up latest on his QBs, admits Tennessee’s offense has ‘more juice’ than the defense this spring
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Considering how poorly Tennessee’s offense played last season and the fact that Jeremy Pruitt is known for his outstanding coaching on the defensive side of the ball, most would assume the defense on Rocky Top would come along faster than the offense this spring. According to Tennessee’s coach, that’s not necessarily been the case.
Several times this spring, Pruitt has mentioned how he’s been more impressed with the offensive side of the ball coming off the practice field. When asked what exactly he likes about the unit, here’s what Pruitt said during his latest media availability.
“Every day, there’s lots of positives. One thing in football is that it takes all 11 guys. Sometimes, to me in high school ball, college ball, I’ve never coached in pro ball, but, if you want to, you can find a way, and you can figure it out,” Pruitt noted. “To me, I felt like in the last couple of practices, our offense, whether they’re doing it right or not, there’s a little bit more juice on that side. It’s gotten a little bit contagious, so it’s good to see.”
While he wasn’t willing to reveal much in terms of how the quarterback competition is playing out this spring, Tennessee’s coach was willing to offer up his thoughts on what he’d like to see from his signal callers in the upcoming Orange & White Game.
“In the throw game, we need to run the right routes, we need to protect. The quarterback needs to get the ball out of his hand and make good decisions,” Pruitt said. “When we do scramble, we need to get two hands on the football.”
When asked about Jarrett Guarantano and the comments Pruitt made regarding the QB’s toughness during the Alabama game last season and where the QB competition stood halfway into spring football, Pruitt claimed it was too early to tell.
“I think it’s too early to tell with all of our guys, at all positions. You have a practice setting, each day whether we’re going to be in basic or slot formations, we’ve got something we are working on. We’ve kind of done it in stages, and you build your practice plan accordingly,” Pruitt continued. “To me, I think it’s a lot easier to figure out how everyone is developing, once you put it all together in a scrimmage situation, you can get an idea of exactly where you’re at. I think until we do that, it’s going to be hard to tell.”
Based on answers like these, it’s safe to assume Pruitt is a pretty good poker player. Good luck reading the poker face he displays when speaking publicly with the media.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
