In Wednesday’s S&P Stock Report, Austin referred to them as “the glue guys.”

Others have referred to them at times as Butch Jones’ mistakes. However, as fans talk about youth movements and focus on Tennessee’s freshman class, the Vols need the “leftovers” to continue to contribute if they are going to right the ship at all over the next two months.

In fact, in a college football rebuild, one can really refer to this group as “the essentials.”

Whatever you want to call them, in case of the 2019 Tennessee Volunteers, we’re talking about guys like Theo Jackson and LaTrell Bumphus. Jackson and Bumphus are two players who are finding their roles on this current team and two of several guys who Jeremy Pruitt desperately needs as this season moves forward.

“I think both of those guys are two guys that are very good examples of players who have really tried to do exactly what we’ve asked them to,” Pruitt said.

“LaTrell Bumphus, when we started fall camp, he was fourth-team. He’s a guy that plays on kickoff return, he’s a guy that helps us on the punt team. So, we’ve got to get more guys doing things like LaTrell and Theo.”

Sitting at 0-2, and the thought of a 1-6 start a possibility, the natural reaction from many is it’s time for a youth movement.

“Scrap the year, build for the future.”

The reality is that Pruitt and Tennessee are already in a youth movement. He’s playing first and second-year players. He will continue to do so and will continue to play more of them throughout the year. It’s why he’s repeatedly said that while some guys might not be ready to start now, they might by October.

But Pruitt doesn’t have and won’t have a dozen of those guys who are going to be ready this year — much less 22.

It’s why likes like Bumphus, Jackson, Austin Pope and Riley Locklear are vital to this team’s success and growth.

Jackson, who is expected to get his second straight start on Saturday, had 9 tackles to lead the team last week against BYU. He had 20 all of last season and his first two years had 28 total stops.

“Theo is another guy who does what we ask him to do,” Pruitt said. “In the secondary I have coached guys with all kinds of ability. I have coached guys like Jalen Ramsey who have unlimited potential. I have coached guys like Robert Lester, who probably ran 4.8 but played 3-4 years in the NFL. It’s learning how to play the position. It’s understanding your abilities and your limitations. What you are good at and what you are not. And really studying your opponent once you learn what you are supposed to do.”

LaTrell Bumphus had 3 tackles, including 2 sacks last week. In his first two years, Bumphus had been in the box score once in 22 games played and that was a tackle for loss against Indiana State as a freshman in 2017.

Pope played the best game of his career last Saturday against BYU. Locklear, in two games according to Pro Football Focus, has graded out as well as any of the offensive linemen.

Those four guys are an example of what Pruitt and his staff need moving forward. Four examples of guys who have bought in and four examples of guys that Pruitt and the staff haven’t written off.

When coaches come in to new jobs, the first couple of orders of business is to tell everyone how bad of a roster you inherited and then run guys off so that you can have “your” guys. It’s an age-old move that has happened since 25/85 scholarship limitations came into play.

Weed out the guys who aren’t your guys.

But that’s harder to do than ever. With the inability to oversign, flipping a roster isn’t as easy as it used to be. In Butch Jones’ first two full recruiting classes (where he had a year to recruit them) he signed 60 players. That’s a serious roster flip.

In Pruitt’s first two full classes, he will sign 48. That’s 12 bodies. That makes a difference.

Thus new coaches need old players.

They need the Jackson’s, Bumphus’, and Locklear’s. They need them not only for depth, but they need them to be productive if they are going to turn things around sooner rather than later.

Whether the Vols were 2-0 or 0-2 — as they are — the key to improving as a football team is not simply turning to 23 new guys who have been here no more than nine months. The key is getting production from guys who have been on the roster and have been non-factors to this point.

No matter who recruited them, every Tennessee player must get better in the coming weeks. It’s about recruiting, yes, but it also about “coaching them all up”, whether they be “The Glue Guys”, “Butch’s Mistakes”, “The Leftovers” or “The Essentials”. Tennessee needs help from all of over this roster and it can come from even the unlikeliest guys.

Pruitt saw that this past week.

If Tennessee is going to turn things around, he’s going to need to see more of it in the coming weeks.