Though Tennessee originally recruited Jeremy Banks to play running back, the true freshman has recently been running drills with the linebackers.

Volunteers coach Jeremy Pruitt shed some light on the potential position change during the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday. Banks was spotted practicing at linebacker Tuesday, and it appears that he may get some playing time at the position as early as Saturday’s game against South Carolina.

“It gives us a chance to get our best players on the field, contribute a bit more,” Pruitt said. “He’s had some problems holding on to the football. I think down the road, I think we will be glad we did. I think he could play (at linebacker) this week. He’s smart, he’s instinctive. We are simple on defense.”

It’s worth noting that Pruitt didn’t specifically say Banks is changing positions for good or that he won’t practice with the running backs again. It seems more like an experiment that could get its first trial run when Tennessee (3-4, 1-3 SEC) visits South Carolina (3-3, 2-3) at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Here’s everything else Pruitt had to say Wednesday.

On lack of success running the ball:

  • We need to be more efficient on every down.

On explosive plays:

  • Some of it is the familiarity of who we have played and what they do. We have to push the ball down the field some, but we have to be more efficient, we have to protect the quarterback better. We have to eliminate negative plays; that’s been an issue all year. We’ve had too many negative plays to be effective.

On slowing down the offense:

  • We need to be physical up front. If you take the defensive backs, you have to play one-on-one in the backend, not be able to let them make plays. You have to get to the quarterback, you have to disguise blitzes. We didn’t do any of the three.

On Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa’s lack of mistakes:

  • Ge’s very well coached. He has really good instincts for a quarterback. He had some mistakes he’s made, (but) when he does make a mistake you have to make him pay.