Tennessee’s offensive line received a lot of hype earlier this season as one of the best in the SEC. But the Vols have struggled to deliver the production many expected from that position.

Coach Jeremy Pruitt addressed how he sees the offensive line on the SEC coaches media teleconference on Wednesday.

“If you look at this bunch, there is a lot of talent but there’s also inexperience,” Pruitt said. “They were one of the hardest hit groups when it came to contact tracing… one thing about the offensive line, all 5 have to play together, throw the tight end in there… when it comes to running the ball, we’ve been good outside of one game. Last weekend was our best game, a lot of that having to do with the same group playing.”

Pruitt explained how Tennessee handled the changing schedule from playing Vanderbilt, to not having an opponent this week.

“We learned of this Monday afternoon as we were practicing on Vanderbilt,” Pruitt said. “We continued to work on Vanderbilt in that practice and we worked on Florida the next two days. I think this is the 3rd week in 5 weeks that we have not played. In football, you want to create the right habits… we will adjust and we have adjusted and we have a plan for the next three weeks and we are going to do that. I look at our team, we compete everyday. They work hard to prepare. We have an extremely smart group of young men that are used to winning. They recognize what it takes to be successful, and when we give up a big play why that happens.”

Pruitt also shared his thoughts on Bryce Thompson.

“He can play any position in our secondary, he has been very valuable at cornerback… he has good eyes, instincts, playing him at safety allows him to make plays. We’ve moved him around based on necessity,” Pruitt said.

About Alabama coach Nick Saban testing positive again for COVID-19, Pruitt said, “I think he would be frustrated but, like all of us, there are a lot of first times. There are no playbooks for this. I’m sure it has happened at other schools, I just hope he recovers, that’s been the focus for everyone this year.”