Jeremy Pruitt: Want to play early in the SEC? Come to Tennessee

NASHVILLE — The 2018 season is officially in the books and every ounce of attention turns to finishing out the 2019 recruiting class strong. Coaches will be on the road starting Monday, as they look to find more playmakers and most importantly depth to help this roster.

""You should have seen us in the spring," Pruitt said. "From where we were at, there was no where to go but up. We still don't have competition. We don't have competition at certain positions. You are either going to play somebody or play nobody. We have to recruit to recruit some depth to get that competition. When we do that, we will get better in a hurry. I think if a young man wants an opportunity to play in the SEC really early, this would be a good place to start."

The talent differential was clear to see in several games this season. Last season leading Alabama's defense, Pruitt and company held Vanderbilt to 78 total yards. Obviously, this Tennessee team isn't the 2017 Crimson Tide defense, but Pruitt made it clear that his defensive calls were similar with a very different result on Saturday evening.

"Guys I coached against this same offense last year," Pruitt said. "Run the same calls last year as I did today. I guess the (misdirection) effected us. I don't know."

Pruitt has been on the job almost a year and he will be the first to say take the blame for some of the hiccups in his first season as a head coach. The next time Pruitt will lead a football team onto a field will be next March where he hopes to get more accomplished than last spring.

"Last spring, we did the best we could possibly do," Pruitt said. "It was about as far away from a real spring practice as you can get. They thought it was something. We have a long ways to go. We will have enough bodies this spring to have a real spring practice. That will make us better. We will have competition and give us fight. We had five offensive linemen at one point."

Adding more speed across the board is paramount which makes players like Eric Gray and Khafre Brown important. Tennessee must also work to add players like 5-star Darnell Wright to fix this offensive line that struggled mightily all season long. At various points of the season, Tennessee wasn't able to turn to younger players on the sideline when veterans were struggling. Why? Because the players they would be turning to would have been a drop off from those on the field.

""We just have to get competition," Pruitt said. "When a guy don't practice the right way, you have to have someone else to put in. When a guy doesn't play well in a game, you have to have someone else to put in. What happens, when you have competition you fix all these things in spring ball and fall camp because you have the right habits."

And as Pruitt said after the game, work for next year starts tomorrow.