Sunday scrimmage primer

On Sunday afternoon, Tennessee will hold its first major scrimmage of the preseason and while there's many things on the agenda to work on for the Vols, the first priority for Jeremy Pruitt is rather simplistic.

“We have some guys who play with toughness but they don't do it all the time,” Pruitt said on Thursday.

“They show that they can do it but if you are going to be a great player and have a great team, the number one core ingrediant is you better have a tough football team.

“Anybody can do it for one day. The great teams do it all the time and they can do it over and over in October and November. If you are talking about are we bigger and stronger? Yea absolutely. Our guys in the weight room have done a fantastic job. They have worked really hard. Do they have more discipline? Yes, we do. Do we have more mental toughness from the spring? Absolutely. I think a lot of that has to do with an infusion of guys who didn't participate in the spring. I think things are contagious. If the expectations are this is how we are going to do it and the people in the room demand it. Then you either do it or they probably get replaced. I think we have some guys who are trying to do it the right way.”

Who and how many of those guys show up in Sunday's scrimmage will be telling for Pruitt and his staff.

As for what else Pruitt is looking for today...

Pruitt has made it clear by what little he has said that he's not interested in daily updates on his quarterback battle. Last Sunday, redshirt sophomore Jarrett Guarantano clearly had the best day of the quarterbacks in the open practice and the New Jersey native has been the best signal-caller to this point in fall camp.

But Pruitt is looking for more and it starts with consistency.

“Some days some guys do better than they did the day before, but there’s lots of inconsistency,” Pruitt said. “We’ve got to find guys who are going to be consistent, who are going to take care of the football, that are going to make the guys around them better. These guys are all getting opportunities. They’re taking it all in and we’ll kind of assess things a couple of days after the scrimmage.”

Did the quarterbacks avoid turnovers? How did they affect their teammates? These will be key questions Sunday afternoon.

*** How will the wideouts perform?

The unit has has too many drops during open periods, but Pruitt doesn’t seem overly concerned about the group just yet. The first-year head coach said Tennessee’s receivers and defensive backs have had their moments in camp and the staff has challenged both groups with lots of 1-on-1 competition.

“If you can play one-on-one on the defensive side, you don’t have any limitations. If you can’t, then you’re going to have limitations on your defense,” Pruitt said.

“If you look at the offensive side, if you can’t get away from people that are going to play one-on-one on you, then you’re going to struggle offensively. We’ve tried to create a lot of competition. Both groups need to really improve at that, and I think they have to an extent, but we need to take that to another level.”

*** Will the lights be too bright for any newcomers?

Sunday’s scrimmage is closed, but the first scrimmage during any fall camp oftentimes gives coaches a real indicator of which newcomers will truly be able to contribute this fall.

Pruitt slowed the Alontae Taylor hype train down a bit earlier this week — He’s learning how to play defensive back and he’s got a long way to go. He does have some abilities. He’s got length, he has good ball skills. I think he wants to be good. But there’s other guys out there that are competing with him every day. — but Taylor is going to be a factor this fall. We know that.

What about the freshman defensive lineman? Can Bryce Thompson climb up the depth chart? What about the two freshman punters? Lots of young guys will be challenged like never before this afternoon.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys that are inexperienced and every day they’re improving,” Pruitt said.

“They’re hungry to do that, but they’ve got a lot to learn.”

*** Who wins the LOS?

With all the talk about physicality, which unit “wins the day” will certainly be a discussion Sunday evening. Tennessee’s offensive line is still missing a few key pieces, but with spots up for grabs, it’s important that guys like Drew Richmond, Marcus Tatum, Ryan Johnson and others to perform well.

Similarly, Tennessee has a pretty set first four guys up front defensively — Shy Tuttle, Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Emmitt Gooden — but that’s hardly enough depth to survive in the SEC. Who else can the Vols count on? They hope to be closer to that answer after tonight.