Late in Tennessee's 59-3 win over ETSU, the SEC Network show a video montage of Vol head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Much of it was of Pruitt barking, yelling and instructing.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case the message is much more concise: Every rep is a competition.

It's a message Pruitt has been delivering since his arrival. It's something he preached to his team in winter workouts, in spring practice, summer meetings, fall camp and the start of every game week. This week Pruitt's message became that of action as he coached as hard in the fourth quarter with a 56 point lead as he did Monday afternoon on the practice field.

Don't compete to the standard. Don't play.

It's the standard that Pruitt was more interested in than celebrating his first career win as a head coach.

“I don't see this as any different than any other game I've coached in. I'm happy we won,” Pruitt said.

“You will probably figure out the more games we win, I will probably more ticked at the games we win. There's a standard we want to play to. Everything wasn't perfect this week. Everything wasn't perfect the last couple of days. Even our warm ups today. We are learning from it. I think it will make us a better football team. I think it will make us a better football program.”

Alontae Taylor didn't start Week 2 after starting in Week 2. Why? He didn't practice to Pruitt's liking. Jauan Jennings caught one ball and played little in the first half. In the fourth quarter, Jennings was playing kickoff coverage and punt return. Reps are earned not given.

In Pruitt's mind it's simple. The slate is clean on Sunday, and you have 5+ days to win the job for the week. Mess up on a Saturday morning on game day during walk-throughs and you might not start. It's why Bryce Thompson, who had four first half tackles including two for loss, an interception and a pass break up, got his first career start.

“Bryce would be the first to tell you he didn't play very well last week,” Pruitt said. “Some of their players had something to do with it and some of his lack of experience and him making some errors had a lot to do with it. The one thing he did is he came back on Monday and he competed. He played with an edge. He practiced with an edge. If he continues to do that then he's going to get better every week. It was drastically different than some of the other guys.

“To me the guys that practice the right way are the guys that are going to play.”

Thompson and juco transfer Emmit Gooden, who led the team with 8 tackles, stood out defensively on Saturday. Arguably, the offensive stand out was freshman running back Jeremy Banks. The Cordova native had 62 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries. Pruitt made it clear that Banks has miles to go before he's “arrived” but quickly noted he doesn't have to worry about Banks showing up for work.

“Jeremy Banks is another guy that likes to practice,” Pruitt offereed. “He practices the right way and competes hard. He has a lot to learn when it comes to his judgement in practice in terms of staying on his feet, when to try to run over people and when to let them thud him. But I would rather be saying whoa than go. You gotta say whoa with him.”

Now at 1-1 Tennessee has another learning game next week against UTEP before stepping into the SEC waters against Florida. Sunday, Pruitt and his staff will wipe the slate clean and for the newcomers as well as the veterans the countdown clock is on to earn your game day snaps.

It's a message Pruitt has delivered since his arrival. Saturday in his first career win, it's the message Pruitt enacted –

Every rep does indeed count.