On Saturday afternoon, Tennessee will hold its second and final major scrimmage of the preseason. As we discussed on the Volquest podcast Friday, most coaches biggest takeaway from the second scrimmage is that it separates who can help you at the start of the season, and who can’t.

For Jeremy Pruitt and his staff, there are certainly plenty of questions surrounding this team with kickoff two weeks away. Here are five things to watch (or learn about) from the Vols' second scrimmage.

On Tuesday, head coach Jeremy Pruitt tried to throw the brakes on the Gray hype train at least a little bit. Then Thursday, running backs coach David Johnson noted Gray was a freshman, but noted that he wasn’t a typical freshman.

“He comes to work every day. Obviously he is talented, but he is a mature freshman. He just wants to work and see where he fits in with this offense. That’s the biggest thing. He comes to work every day

“Even during spring time (Gray as out due to injury), it would be 8 o’clock at night with him going over protections. He wasn’t participating in spring, but he wanted to make sure he was prepared when he got out there. And obviously when he gets the ball in his hands he can make people miss.”

Everyone within the program has been raving about Gray and his play to this point, does that continue in the final scrimmage?

Pruitt said on Tuesday that his defensive line from a football IQ and awareness standpoint were like school kids given their inexperience. He’s expecting growth this week.

“Right now, we’re still like … with most of our players on the defensive line, we’re still in elementary school,” Pruitt said on Tuesday. “Hopefully this next week we can get to junior high and the next week we can get like we’re in high school and eventually be on the college level before the season is over with.”

Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker said he was following advice from former Vol great Reggie White when it comes to dealing with a young unit.

“One thing I learned that Reggie White said a long time ago when I met him. I met him when I was coaching at the University of Arkansas. Reggie White came and spoke with us and the first thing I said is, ‘How you get these guys to play a little bit older?’ He said, ‘You got to tell them they’re older. You got to tell them to act like you’re older, think like you’re older and not play like you’re a freshman.’ So that’s one thing I’ve never forgot. That’s part of it. Getting them to think older, play older, and mature and grow up faster,” Rocker recalled.

“You keep building confidence. It’s easy to walk out there and beat them down. When they do something well you have to praise them. When they do something bad we are on them. But you have to keep building them up.”

Pruitt disclosed the exact injury to Baylon Buchannan this week and with the neck concerns, Buchannan’s return to the field is no where near imminent and is unclear if it will even happen.

As it has been all fall camp, the nickel or star position is open and up for grabs. Over the last week, Shawn Shamburger has been getting the bulk of the first team work at that position. Can he put his stamp on the position later today?

Shamburger’s talent has never been a question mark. His issue has been his inconsistency when it comes to work ethic on the practice field which has landed him in and out of Pruitt’s dog house.

The former 4-star who Pruitt and Derrick Ansley recruited to Alabama has never had a bigger opportunity than he has right now. Does he take full advantage of it with game week looming?

Pruitt says they aren’t close to finding their five. If Trey Smith is going to play but not scrimmage, then they won’t work their best five in a game setting until the week before Georgia State.

But today does someone push themselves closer to being in that five? From an outsiders vantage point, it appears that Marcus Tatum is going to be the starting right tackle in two weeks, Brandon Kennedy the center, and Trey Smith the left guard. So who is going to be the left tackle and right guard?

K’Rohjn Calbert is the most physical of the candidates to be the right guard. Can he show some consistency to win that spot? At left tackle, it’s a Jamir Johnson and Wanya Morris battle. Johnson seems to have struggled some this week. How does he respond today and how fast is Morris grasping it all?

It’s a big day for those individuals and for that entire group. It’s been a tough week for them on the practice field. Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney has been relentless this week on that unit about exploding off the ball and finishing. Who are the five (four counting Trey Smith) who can do that?

Everyone knows this is Jarrett Guarantano’s team. There is no looking over the shoulder. However, a backup quarterback is essential for the football season just in case one is needed.

So who will it be? Does someone take a real step to winning the job today?

Pruitt said on Tuesday that both JT Shroutt and Brian Maurer had some flashes in scrimmage one, but also didn’t take care of the ball well enough. Quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke indicated on Thursday that neither had separated themselves as he rotates them with the two’s and three’s.

“What we have provided for them is the opportunity to compete and as a quarterback that’s all you really want,” Weinke said of the competition. “You know you are challenged every day and we are flip flopping them every single day getting the same amount of reps letting them challenge each other.”

When asked if they would like to have a clear cut backup by game week or if the competition would continue all season, Weinke said his focus was on taking it a day at a time.

“I will continue to share what I feel about the guys at the position, but I will not make that decision,” Weinke said. “That’s up to coach Pruitt and coach Chaney. Ultimately, I don’t know what the plan is. Our goal is to focus on one day at a time, continue to let those guys compete and we let the chips fall as they may.”