What Jeremy Pruitt said after Tennessee's blowout win over UT Chattanooga
After two rough weeks, Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee Volunteers got their first win of the 2019 season, blowing out UT Chattanooga 45-0.
It was a much-needed victory for the second-year coach and his squad after people have been speculating the coach’s job status and prominent media members including the College GameDay crew saying it’s time for Tennessee to panic. A big, blowout win – even if its just UT Chattanooga – should improve everyone’s morale on Rocky Top.
Here are some of the highlights of what Pruitt told reporters in his postgame press conference:
- “It’s really nice for these guys to get a win.”
- “We definitely improved from last week to this week.”
- Jahmir Johnson was a little banged up, so coaches decided to hold him out.
- “We’ve gotta be more consistent on each side of the ball.”
- Whether your defense gets turnovers is determined by a certain attitude of play.
- “We took care of the ball on offense which is the most important thing.”
- On Jeremy Banks’ first INT, Pruitt joked that most good running backs make the first guy miss.
- On Tyler Byrd: He’s one of UT’s best special teams players.
- On backup QBs: No separation – both have done some good things, but also made bad decisions.
- “It’s good that we got Daniel Bituli to play. He needed to play.”
- On Jarrett Guarantano: He’s our quarterback and he’ll be our quarterback until we decide he’s not. He’s proven he’s our QB.
- “In the first three weeks, Henry To’oto’o has played as good as anybody.”