Tennessee is now 3-1 over the last month of the season with the lone loss coming at Alabama, which was a competitive game deep into the fourth quarter.

Now that the Vols are done with non-conference play and sit at 4-5 on the season with three games remaining, a trip to the postseason once again looks like a realistic option for Jeremy Pruitt’s program following the team’s disastrous 0-2 start to the season.

After beating UAB 30-7, Jeremy Pruitt met with the media to discuss his team’s latest win.

Here are the highlights of his postgame press conference:

on Tennessee’s plan at quarterback:

“We think it gives us the best chance to win. The one guy had surgery on Sunday (Guarantano). It’s cold out there, he’s got a cast on his hand. First time getting out there, you see him in warmups out there, he practiced most of the week but the ball was pretty slick the way the air was out there tonight.

“If JT didn’t run across the field and throw it against his body, he might have kept playing. There’s some mistakes as a quarterback you can’t make.”

on why Brian Maurer did not play:

“We worked Brian to play but with three quarterbacks, it was hard to get Brian as many reps as he probably needed to be ready. So, we elected to go with the other guys today. He will have an opportunity to have more reps as we get into it.”

on the team’s improvement in recent weeks:

“Our guys work hard at practice, they work hard to prepare to give themselves a chance to have success. They are a fun group to be around. We’ve got to execute at a little higher level in all three phases of our team but you can see some of the guys are gaining confidence as they’ve been in the system a little longer. Some of the young guys are gaining confidence — and some of the older guys. It comes from doing the same stuff over and over. We’ve got to continue to improve this week.”

on Bryce Thompson’s continued improvement:

“He’s improving, he been banged up for a couple of weeks now. He’s a tough kid that really wants to play, like to play. He has continued to improve and he should.”