Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Opening Statement…

Tennessee 17, No. 2 Alabama 48 October 24, 2020 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Neyland Stadium Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Opening Statement… “Looking at the game, I thought offensively it was one of the better games we played. We did have one turnover for a touchdown, which is inexcusable. But we started running the ball at times pretty well, and I thought we protected pretty well for the most part, but just didn’t have the time of possession Alabama had, which goes back to the defense about getting off the field and being more stout in the run game and getting off the field on third down. It’s just what I told the players in there, I see a lot of guys that are trying really hard, but we’re making mistakes. And as coaches and players, we’ve got to go back and be able to execute at a higher level. A lot of guys were playing really hard, we just made mistakes in the game as far as over routes and giving up explosive plays like that. We have always been pretty good about not doing that and haven’t given up many this year, but today we did, and it’s tough to stop those guys when they start on the play action passes and being able to throw the overs. You’ve got to be able to do one or the other, whether it’s stop the run or stop passes, so it doesn’t make it so tough to defend. We have to get off the field on third down. And when I look at third down, most of it, I’m not saying we would have stopped them if we did it exactly right, but from an execution level we are nowhere where we need to be. “This next week will be a great opportunity. We have a lot of young players in our program that try really hard, but based off opportunities, they haven’t had chances to get in there and to learn and create the right habits, and this next week will be a great opportunity for them. So, that’s what we have to do, and since we are off next week, we have to go back to work and hopefully continue to do what we’re supposed to do when it comes to COVID, because we have had five weeks now where we have been COVID-free which will give us an opportunity to improve as a football team. With Alabama, offensively, their offensive line is really good, and there is no doubt they came off and hit us with more thump than some teams we have played before, and we didn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback. And lot of that goes to play action trap passes, seven-man protection, and we’ve got to win some one-on-ones there and do a better job covering them in the back end. Obviously, (I’m) very disappointed; I am not used to this for sure, and I know the players in our locker room, this isn’t what they came here for either. These guys are hungry, and they want to improve, and they will because of that. We have a young football team that is going to work hard, and we’ve got the last half of the season to show that.” On playing younger guys late in the game… “To play at a high level in this league, and if you’re at the top level in this league, it’s probably the highest level in college football. There is a lot of preparation, practice habits and these young guys are not there yet. They’re not and it’s something this next week we’ll get them an opportunity. They have to earn the right to play because the guys that are ahead of them earn it in practice by the way they prepare. Just because you run fast or were so many stars coming out of high school, you have to earn it. That’s some of the learning curve when you get to college and these guys will, I’ve been around a lot of really good football players and some of them were really good as freshmen. Some of them were not and it’s different for everybody. Jalin Hyatt took another step, I thought he made a couple of explosive plays out there and they struggled to guard him. The other guys have the same type of ability that Jalin has and some of it is based off circumstances that they went through in fall camp, but this will be a big week for them and I just told them that in the locker room. Not just them, there is about 14 other guys that need to really work hard so they can help the team.” On the decision to play sophomore QB Brian Maurer … “Based off reps we felt like Brian earned it this week and we gave him the opportunity and I thought did a pretty nice job in there.” On redshirt senior QB Jarrett Guarantano’s play against Alabama … “You talk about being in a rough week, Jarrett can’t control what anybody else does. All Jarrett can control is what he does. Just like the rest of us in that locker room. That’s what he needs to focus on and I thought he did a nice job this week being mature about it and focusing on the things he needed to improve. He did a nice job managing the offense today, had some scrambles out there and was accurate on some throws. That was good to see.” On the games played against Alabama, Georgia and Florida after three seasons … “To be honest, they have been better than us. Plain and simple. If we were better than them and lost the games I would say that. They have been better than us. We’ve played with them in spurts, but from an execution, finishing standpoint we have not been able to sustain and do that. When I look at our team I really like our makeup, got a lot of young guys that have the chance to be really good for us and as they grow and develop we’ll continue to close that gap.” On the Alabama rivalry and if the gap should be this big … “As a fan and as a coach, no it shouldn’t. I promise you I don’t want it to be that way. For us to beat these guys today, we needed to play really clean football and have a couple of things to go our way. That’s the truth of the matter. I think a great indication of talent level when you look at your team is look and see who gets drafted. We have a lot of young guys on our team and we’ve got some older guys on our team that are continuing to improve. We have to execute at a higher level on both sides of the ball to give ourselves a chance. The last half of this season will be a great opportunity to see where we’re at as far as these guys doing that.” On if he is discouraged at the gap between Tennessee and Alabama … “I was on the other sideline three years ago, you think I didn’t see that? I can assure you that the gap is closing. It might not show on the scoreboard today, but the gap is closing. I can assure you that. That’s one thing that is frustrating to me and it is frustrating to our players. There are times that we have done some really good things as a team, whether it is the offense playing really well or the defense playing really well or special teams. We’ve not put any of that together and that’s what elite teams in our conference do. They don’t have many bad plays and they don’t make many mistakes. They make the other team beat them. There have been times where we have done that this year, but we haven’t done it for a whole game, even the games we have won. This will be a great opportunity this next week to go back and see where we are at this point and where we have improved. From that we’ll have an opportunity to fix some things moving forward.” On how he keeps the players from becoming discouraged … “They’re not discourages. Our players are not discouraged. Our players live in the reality. These guys came back when nobody in the country was playing football, but the SEC. They didn’t know what was going to happen or what this virus does. They didn’t know any of that. They came back and went to work. Unfortunately, along the way, some of them got it. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves through this. I can tell you that we’re not discouraged. There’s nothing that’s discouraging in our locker room. We’re frustrated that we’re not playing the way we expect to play. I think part of fixing it is recognizing it. I saw a lot of improvement, but it’s going to take all of us to play at a high level and to beat those guys.” On why he believes the gap is closing between Tennessee and Alabama … “I was here three years ago when I walked in the room the first day.

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