Tennessee will hold its first full-scale scrimmage of the spring on Saturday and with a completely new staff implementing a completely new system on both sides of the ball, it figures to be a learning experience for everyone involved.
After practice Tuesday, head coach Jeremy Pruitt said he could "stand up here and talk for probably about 24 hours about what I’d like to see."
While Pruitt has avoided specifics on players, scheme and production so far this spring, he has harped on the "details" he wants to see improvement from his football team.
"We’re starting over. We’re starting from scratch. It’s a new offense, it’s a new defense, it’s new special teams," he said.
"So it’s the first time for a lot of things. Our guys are learning an understanding exactly what we want from a day-to-day basis.”
Pruitt doesn’t expect everything to go perfectly Saturday, but he had no problem rattling off a list of small things he’d like to see which could all add up to having a positive day.
“On offense, I’d like to see ball security. First off sideline organization, getting the calls in, getting lined up, ID’ing the front, making sure we’re in the right play, (have) the right splits at the wide receiver position. Just the details, because that’s where it starts,” Pruitt said.
“Then I want to see guys play with good pad level and play until the whistle blows. Go in the right direction up front, know your assignment, step with the correct foot, play with the right body lean and play until the whistle blows.
“In the throw game, we need to run the right routes, we need to protect. The quarterback needs to get the ball out of his, make good decisions. When we do scramble we need to get two hands on the football.”
He did narrow it down to two basics that he’s looking for at a bare minimum from his football team.
“There’s a lot of details with both sides of the ball, same in the kicking game. There’s a lot of things that I would like to see, but I hope that I see that I see lots of effort and paying attention to details,” he shared.
