For Pruitt and Vols, the next month will define 2018
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt's message to his team, the fans and the media was simple. To compete against the elite in the SEC, the Vols need more players.
That's not exactly a revelation, but it was one that hit those clad in orange square in the mouth Saturday in front of a nationally televised audience.
However, the fixing the talent issue is a long term solution. And no offense intended for Pruitt, but he needs more than 25 new guys to compete with the top ranked team in the country. He needs more like two classes of 25.
The challenge for Pruitt and the Vols is in the short term — the short-term being the next five games and a quest for a bowl bid. For that quest to be a reality Pruitt said more guys have to do it the right way.
“Going into it, we knew that we would have to play a perfect game to have a chance to beat them, but what I wanted to see was I wanted to see our guys compete and play hard and keep improving. There’s a lot of guys on our team who did. The unfortunate part is if you have some guys who don’t, it really doesn’t show up in the game. I think we learned a lot about our football team today. There are some guys we had on our team that this game was way too big for them, and I think everyone was able to see that. It helps us, and we’ll move on with it. We play a good football team next week, so we have to go back to work tomorrow and get ready for South Carolina.”
When asked specifically for examples of guys not doing it the right way, Pruitt found plenty.
“When you’ve got guys man-to-man when they run down the field, and you don’t even guard them,” Pruitt said.
“When you can’t keep your poise enough to look to the sideline and get the defensive call, that’s pretty elementary. I don’t know about the offensive side as far as that part of it, but just from the defensive side, it’s pretty telling. I know their signals; I watched their calls. They kind of made the same calls we made, just watching them over there. You call a corner blitz, and we tippy-toe in there and nobody blocks us, and they throw a 50-yard touchdown. I bet you when they call a corner blitz, I bet you their corner didn’t tippy-toe up in there.”
Seven games into the 2018 season, Pruitt's roster is what is it and senior Kyle Phillips said as one of the leaders on the team they have to deal with it.
“We have to work with what we have got,” senior Kyle Phillips said. “The guys who are doing it the right way each and every day we have to over compensate for the guys who aren't doing it right every day. For that to happen we have to be better leaders on and off the field and keep guys accountable. Me, I think we can win out. That's what we plan on doing. We just have to keep on working every day and we will get the results we are looking for and still end up with a good season.”
Ending up with a good season means finding three more wins starting next week with a trip to South Carolina, who will be coming off a bye. It's not the ideal set up for the Vols which is why Phillips said the Vols must move on quickly
“The game is over,” Phillips said. “We have to move past it. All we can do is more forward on to South Carolina and win that game.”
College football is a fickle sport. Three weeks ago following a loss to Florida, Tennessee looked like they were heading to 3-9. Last week after a win at Auburn, the Vols were on the rise. After giving uip the most points they ever have to Alabama, reality hit as to how far away from their rival who is far and away the best team in college football.
No one expected Tennessee to beat the Tide. There was hope that they could compete and they couldn't.
The challenge now is to make the loss a blimp on Pruitt's first year and not a defining moment. To do that, the small number of those doing it the right way will have to rise to the moment and they better bring a few more with them.