For more than 45 minutes in the last week, Jeremy Pruitt has stood at the podium and delivered a masterful display of obfuscation.

He didn't mention an individual player once, as Tennessee’s bossman from Rainesville, Ala., may not know what asparagus is, but he can chew up a heckuva word salad.

Have any cornerbacks progressed or emerged halfway through camp?

“Well, we’re playing a lot of guys back there, and we’re moving guys around. So, a lot of the time, I can tell you right now, on both sides of the ball, we’re probably exposing them to a lot. So, it’s not always perfect and they don’t always exactly know because they’re changing positions, but there’s one thing about it, you’ve got to expose them to it, because on the defensive side, you’re going to see it in the fall, and you can always pull back. You can always pull back and say, ‘Hey, I don’t think we need to be doing this much.’

But right now, we’re exposing them to everything that we do, so I’m sure that a lot of their heads are swimming a little bit, and it probably does affect their play. But when we go scrimmage, we’ll make it simple, and if we have to call one call on defense we’ll just call one call, so everybody knows what to do, there’s no excuse, and the best players show up.”

As Sawyer from LOST once said, ‘There’s a new sheriff in town. Y’all best get used to it.”

In this case, the “y’all” is the fans and media.

The practice microphone and music weren’t the only things that left with Butch Jones’ trash can.

After years of empty cliches and adjective-laced praise bestowed on players by the previous staff, Pruitt is taking a totally different approach “selling” his football team this spring.

There is no pitch. There is no marketing scheme.

In establishing his new disciplinarian, all ‘ball culture, Pruitt has closed the ranks. His public relations strategy isn’t “no nonsense.” It’s clearly calculated. The first-year head coach has kept everyone at an arms distance to avoid any premature expectations with his football team.

A year after Tennessee went 0-8 in the SEC, Pruitt's standard has been, even if a player is standing out, don’t say anything for fear that it goes to his head. If a guy or unit is struggling, it’s best not to say anything at all right now.

I’m not besmirching the approach either, but that’s simply what’s happening this spring.

How long will it last, though?

Pruitt has been upfront about the importance of truly evaluating his team — or individual players — after a scrimmage setting. It’s why he’s changed the dynamics of the spring game into an actual simulation for the fall.

No pregame autograph session this year. Instead, the team will stay in a hotel on Friday night and go through the Vol Walk before holding a true scrimmage.

Will he allow a peak behind the curtains afterwards?

It’s interesting to compare Pruitt’s spring strategy to what Dan Mullen is doing at Florida. The Gators have held multiple open practices and a scrimmage to the fans and media, allowing everyone to see just how good — or bad — his football team is.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but everyone is trying to temper expectations this spring.

For now, Pruitt’s strategy is mum is thy name.

His Alabama omertà communication ploy has already trickled down to the players, too, as three Vols talked with the media for the first time Tuesday since Pruitt took over as head coach.

“Talked” is being kind here. More like said words.

Offensive tackle Drew Richmond repeated the phrase “We’ve got our heads down and we’re just working” more than half a dozen times.

Nigel Warrior, making his first non-Media Days appearance in front of reporters, was even more deftly dodging questions, referring most inquiries back to Pruitt.

The junior safety’s final answer precisely summed up Pruitt’s media stance until otherwise, though.

“We don’t like to speak on too much," Warrior said.

"We like to see what everybody has to say about us, not what we can say about each other and not to set that standard too high.”