Tennessee got off to a dreadful start to the season, but the Vols have been one of the hottest teams in the country in the second half of the season and are currently riding a four-game winning streak.

Coach Jeremy Pruitt explained when it changed for the Vols.

“At the stadium in Gainesville, I was pretty direct with them, I wasn’t very happy with the way we played that day, we were better than that,” Pruitt said, according to video from Marshall Hughes. “You’re only as good as you put on the field. I was frustrated. I had a chance to think about it on the plane ride back. I’m sure the players thought about what we talked about in the locker room. Then I wanted to share another message with them. When we got back, the fact that I believed in them. We’re better than what we’re showing and I wanted to lay out a way to get to this point and we’ve done that.”

Pruitt also said at that press conference that watching a team come together is why he got into coaching.

The Vols are 5-2 since those meetings and optimism is flowing on Rocky Top as the Vols clinched a bowl berth with the win at Missouri. Now they face Vanderbilt looking for win No. 7.