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. I know the people that are on their sideline and I know the people that are on our sideline. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea and have been around some pretty good football teams to know when I see one and know when one is getting closer.”

On what the team can do in order for the defense to improve …

“We have not played very well in the secondary for five games. Really, we’ve not played well defensively. I think Deandre Johnson has played pretty well, then he was out against Georgia and he got hurt today. Henry (To’o To’o) has been pretty consistent. I see a lot of guys improving, so we’ve got to figure it out – why we gave us big plays today. How come they kept running the counter and we didn’t get them stopped? A couple of guys got hurt and when you get hurt, you need to lay down on the field. The guys didn’t lay down on the field. They ran off the field while Alabama was going fast and we had too many men on the field. That’s youth. It cost us three times. One time we didn’t have the right personnel on the field and that’s my fault. Two other times that happened, as well. When you talk about how you play at a high level and do it over and over and over again, it’s all about the habits that you create in practice. We have some guys on our team that do that pretty well. We have some guys that are so young, it may be a lack of practice time, that they’ve not had a chance to create those habits. If you look around college football right now, it’s kind of like this right here each week because guys are in and guys are out. It’s tough on these guys. It really is. We’ve been able to stay together and stay the course. I’ve been proud of our guys for working hard to try to do that.”

On if there are times when he puts young players in the game just to speed up their development or does he want to see that on the practice field …

“I don’t believe in that. You have a purpose when you practice. I don’t think it’s the right way to build a program, because the players know who’s earned the opportunity to play on Saturdays. They know that. There are no secrets in this game. You can see it. We watch film every day. They know who plays hard. They know who makes mistakes. Just because a guy is bigger, stronger or faster, if he’s not done the right stuff through the week, then I think you’re sending the wrong message to the people within your program, when you’re trying to build a program. It’s part of earning it every week. You’ll see some guys that will do really well for a couple of weeks and then they may not have it for two or three days. If you’ve got a lot of good competitors in your program and you’ve got good competition, they move to the back of the line. It makes them work hard and improve so they don’t do that. That’s kind of what we’re getting to.”

On freshman WR Jalin Hyatt’s 86-yard performance …

“I’ve said all along that I’m excited about these young wide receivers. These guys are fast. They’ve got instincts to play the position. Jalin has got to practice more than the other three this fall camp. It’s about right. It’s the fifth game of the season and under the circumstances, it’s good to see him take that next step. Those guys guarding him are pretty good out there. He obviously had a really nice day. Those other guys have that same type of ability, but they’re going to have to get the same opportunities, by the number of practice reps, to get a chance to do that.”

On the message to the fans after a tough loss …

“Nobody is more disappointed than the people within our program, I can assure you. It’s the reason that I wanted this job. I understood the passion, the energy and the expectations of Tennessee football. When I took the job, I knew exactly where it was at, which is why I wanted the job. I wanted this job because I wanted to get it to where it’s supposed to be. It’s a heck of a challenge. I’m excited about being here. I’m not discouraged. The people in our program aren’t discouraged. I know where our program’s headed and we’ll get there.”

On freshman DB Tamarion McDonald’s practice habits and him being inserted into the game late …

“He’s practiced for two weeks. He’s a guy that came here and we found a labrum tear. Since we didn’t know if we were going to have football or not, we decided it would be the best thing to go ahead and let him have surgery. He had it in June. We knew that he would miss the first four games. Dr. (Matthew) Rappé did a really nice job. He healed pretty fast and then they released him. One night that we scrimmaged, he started doing some back-pedaling drills for a couple of weeks with us. We scrimmaged, they released him and he showed up. When I say ‘showed up’ I mean he’s hitting people and he’s all over the field. He’s a guy that we’ve started to try to bring along. On one of those over routes at the end

of the game, it was good for him. He was supposed to be doubling the guy coming over and Alabama got in an I-formation and made us go through a check. It’s something he’ll learn from. He didn’t make that play then, but it will pay off down the road and he will.”

On what he saw from the defensive line this week and if their week of practice translated into good play during today’s game …

“I saw a lot of guys that want to be good. I saw a lot of guys that have a long way to go when it comes to technique and the understanding of how to play the position. I’m a big believer, as a defensive coach, in learning to play the plays. There’s technique that you play, but there’s also tons of clues that the offensive formations give you about what plays are going to happen. I don’t think our guys completely understand that. We’ve got a long way to go. I’m excited about the group because they want to be good and they want to work hard. This past week, we worked the crap out of them. We’ll continue to do that and hopefully we’ll see some improvement there.”

On if the technique issues are a surprise for the defensive line, with several upper classmen …

“They’ve got some upper classmen, but let’s talk about them. LaTrell Bumphus played tight end for two years. Then, we didn’t have our spring ball this year. It’s the same thing with (Ja’Quain) Blakely. He’s played on both sides of the ball. He’s bounced around, then we don’t have spring ball. Darel Middleton has never had spring ball here. He came during the summer (of 2019). That’s the case for Savion Williams, as well. Omari Thomas just got here. I could go down the list. That’s the reality. Darnell Wright has never had a spring ball. There’s a lot that goes into that. If you look at the team that we just played and look at their offense, which I think is really, really impressive. If you look at the people that they’ve got, those guys have been around for a while. It takes a little bit to learn to play at a very high level. They could do that. They lost one of their best players on the opening kickoff and they plugged another guy in, a couple of guys in, that have been in their program for several years. You learn how to compete in practice by playing against good people every day and it makes you better.”

Tennessee 17, No. 2 Alabama 48 October 24, 2020 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Neyland Stadium

Tennessee Player Quotes

Josh Palmer, Sr., WR On freshman WR Jalin Hyatt scoring a touchdown …

“He’s growing up. Even on my touchdown I thanked him for sparking the play, so I’m excited to see what Jalin is going to bring in the near future.” On what the main priorities are for the offense heading into practice …

“Coach Pruitt emphasized just making up for the time lost due to COVID in the fall camp, so we’re just going to come into the next two weeks of practice and strain as hard as we can. We’ve got a big game coming up in two weeks, and we’ve got to be prepared.” On the outlook for the rest of the season …

“I think we can finish the season strong, because we’re a resilient team. We got punched in the mouth the past few weeks and it hurts, but we’re not a team full of quitters and we showed that last year. We’re going to come back stronger.” On Alabama’s passing game …

“They were just able to connect. They’ve got great receivers and a great quarterback.”

Alontae Taylor, Jr., CB

On how frustrating it is to not make numerous plays on the ball as a DB group …

“When you think about it and as competitors I feel like anyone would get frustrated with something like that. We just have to work on attacking the ball better, but other than that I feel like we had the right schemes, we just have to make plays.”

On the gap closing with Alabama and if it’s something he’s seen …

“Most definitely. I’m not saying that because it’s the right thing to say, but because it’s something I truly believe is true. We have the players for it and everyone wants to win. When it comes to Alabama, we’re a bit more focused at practice. I also feel like we’re doing everything right. Coach is bringing in great coaches and we’re bringing in great players.”

On if he believes this team has the ability to bounce back and turn the season around …

“Absolutely. I feel like we had what it took to go undefeated this year. That’s not what happened, so we’ll take this bye week, get the mental aspect of our game ready, get physically better and we’ll start working on Arkansas.”

Matthew Butler, Sr., DL On having an open date next week and bouncing back …

“An open date is always good, especially in SEC ball. In the case of this year, we have nothing but SEC ball so you’re able to get good recovery and then turn around and work on the fundamentals and develop vastly as a program and as individuals, so bye weeks are always a good thing in that respect. We intend on winning the rest of these games and we’ll do everything we need to do that whether we had a bye week or not.” On closing the gap with Alabama …

“In some ways yes, in other ways, no. It really doesn’t matter who we’re facing or who the ‘standard’ is, were just trying to play excellent football day in and day out, week in and week out. We’re not really comparing ourselves to anybody on a day-by-day basis because if you do that, you’d be living a pretty miserable life. So, we’re just going to keep on excelling and controlling what we can control the best that we can.” On what impressed him about Alabama’s offense …

“Nothing in particular. Everything that allowed us to lose the football game, in some way, shape, or form was self-inflicted, so we have to be better.” On Alabama’s quarterback Mac Jones’ hot start …

“I don’t really pay attention to whether a player is hot or not. If he’s hot, we just have to stop him. If we would’ve stopped him on those 11 plays, we’d have to continue stopping him so that doesn’t really phase a player while they’re playing.” On if he’s noticed changes since Coach Pruitt began coaching the defensive line group …

“In some small ways, but a little does go a long way. Our style of coaching and what we did during practice changed and like I said, a little goes a long way. Sometimes it doesn’t happen like that but we’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing and doing it better until nobody can stop us as a team.”

On what must change for the defense to improve …

“We have to eliminate mistakes in the front, second level, and back end. We have to play collectively as a unit and when I say that, I just mean clean football. Stringing together multiple plays where all 11 people on the field are doing things perfectly, immaculately. As far as physicality and toughness, we have to raise that level and bring guys along with us while we’re doing that.”

Tennessee 17, No. 2 Alabama 48 October 24, 2020 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Neyland Stadium

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban

Opening Statement …

“It’s always a great win. It’s a great rivalry game. I know it means a lot to a lot of people in the state of Alabama, and I’m certainly proud of our players for the effort they put in. The game that we played to win tonight—it’s always great to win. I think there’s a lot to learn in this game. We didn’t have our best week coming off the Georgia game. I don’t think we played our best or to the standard that we like, but it’s great to win. I want our players to enjoy the win. Obviously, we have to be very technical about things that we need to do to get better. It’s really a sad time for me (and) for Jaylen Waddle and his family. He’s got a very similar injury to what Kenyan Drake had. It’s a high ankle sprain but also a fracture, so they’ll probably have to do surgery on him. We’re going to fly him back privately with the doctors and take him right to Birmingham and see what we have to do right away. If that’s the case, and we’re pretty certain that it is, then he will probably be out for the year. The guy’s a great player. He’s a great teammate. He’s an exciting player to watch. I hate it that people in college football can’t see a great player. Other guys stepped up tonight and created an opportunity for somebody else, and we’re going to coach the players that we have and do the best we can to try and get better. That’s about it.”

On how the secondary responded to being tested by Tennessee’s passing attack…

“I think at times we did okay, but I think we gave up at least three big plays, maybe four. They were running the ball a lot, and early in the game we weren’t stopping them running very well. So, we put pressure on the secondary. In the second half, though, we really shouldn’t have given up the plays because we were playing split-safety coverages. We’ll look at it and try to get it fixed, but you can’t give up explosive plays. We have to stop the run and not give up explosive plays. I thought the defense played better tonight. This is probably the best we played even though there were some plays in there that you could be critical of. I’m sure we’ll do everything we can to get them fixed, but I was kind of proud of the way the guys played. They played with a little more confidence. They were pretty aggressive overall.”

On freshman WR Traeshon Holden’s performance after Jaylen Waddle exited the game…

“I thought he played well. He had a drop there in the end zone at the end, but I thought he made some good plays in the game. I thought Mac (Jones) played really well and made some really good throws. We need some of our young guys. This is one of things where not having a game outside of the SEC where you can play some of these guys, we’re going to have to. Have some of those guys step up and be ready to play when they really haven’t gotten much experience. It was good to get Bryce (Young) in there a little bit tonight. He moved the ball okay and did okay, and he needs some experience as well.”

Tennessee 17, No. 2 Alabama 48 October 24, 2020 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Neyland Stadium

Alabama Player Quotes

John Metchie III, So., WR On the team’s reaction and response to Jalen Waddle’s injury…

“It was tough; of course it’s tough hearing that with everything going on, as the game is going on and having to hear that one of your brothers went down. But I think we responded well and focused on the most important thing which is the next play at hand.”

On Mac Jones and his progression over the last four or five games…

“I think Mac, like everyone on the team, even as a complete team we continue to take strides forward each and every game. It’s something that we focus on and keep elevating the standard of play at all costs.”

On his confidence in redshirt sophomore WR Slade Bolden…

“I was completely confident when Slade came into the game. Slade had a great performance. (He) did his job, like everybody else. I think we all have faith and trust in the next man who’s supposed to step up.”

Patrick Surtain II, Jr., DB On how far the defense has come since the Ole Miss game…

“We just set ourselves to a higher standard. We know Ole Miss wasn’t our best performance. You know, we just learned from that game, and we played better as the weeks came. We just focus on our roles, focus on our plays and focus on communicating and finding the rock.”

On if they expected the downfield routes from Tennessee and how well he thinks they defended them…

“It’s something we expected, for sure. They made a couple big plays. We made a couple big stops, but it’s something we’re going to look at in the film room and look to get better on and improve on.”