The anatomy of Tennessee's onside kick that spurred the Vols' comeback

JACKSONVILLE — With 4:19 remaining in the fourth quarter of a chaotic Gator Bowl, Tennessee scored its first touchdown of the game to cut Indiana’s lead to six.

The Vols had all three timeouts and a defense that had pressured quarterback Peyton Ramsey (four sacks, one interception) for much of the evening, but instead of kicking off deep, Jeremy Pruitt saw an opportunity to exploit the Hoosiers’ alignment.

And he went for it.

“I'm kind of a go-for-it guy,” Pruitt said postgame, grinning.

“I look at myself a little bit as a long shot. It hadn't been that long ago I was coaching high school ball, lining off the field, washing the uniforms and things like that, and now I'm the head coach at the University of Tennessee. If it looks like it's there, you might as well take it is the way I look at it. That's kind of the way we coach, you know, rather get them before they get us.”

Paxton Brooks, who had shanked a punt just a quarter earlier, executed a perfect squib kick down the middle of the field, with freshman tailback Eric Gray, the game’s eventual MVP, recovering the ball exactly 10.1 yards at the UT 46-yard line.

The Vols’ sideline erupted in euphoria, and a TIAA Bank Field that was filled with a sea of orange went bezerk.

Three plays later, Gray scored the go-ahead touchdown and the Vols stunned Indiana 23-22, holding on in the final few minutes for their sixth-straight win to close out to 2019 season.

Pruitt’s gutsy call, and the resiliency of his team despite the odds — Tennessee was the first FBS team in 472 games this season to score 13 points inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to win the game — was a microcosm of a wild and wacky year on Rocky Top.

With details provided by Pruitt, Brooks, Gray, Indiana head coach Tom Allen and others, here’s how Tennessee pulled off the surprise onside — now named the Paxton Special — that spurred the comeback win.

Pruitt: “We've probably repped it 500 or 600 times over the last six months.”

Brooks: I didn’t do that (squib) much in high school, but since I’ve been here I’ve worked it a ton. Sometimes in practice it’s not always perfect. Sometimes I hit it short. I hit it long. But I just go in the (indoor facility) and rep it and get it perfect and execute it with full confidence.

We rep it every time we do kickoff periods in practice. We rep it a lot, that’s why I felt really good about it. So when (Pruitt) called it, I just said, ‘Ok. I’m prepared for it.’

Pruitt: “It was something that we felt was there when we were breaking them down, and as the game went, we felt like it was there.”

Brent Cimaglia, UT field goal kicker: "We saw their formation (earlier in the game). It was open all game. We just didn't want to call it too early. That call was perfectly timed.”

Brooks: “You don’t want to change your (kickoff) angle too much because you want to make it look the same. That’s the biggest part of this. Make it look like you’re kicking it deep, but you’re really kicking it short. That’s the most challenging part. The coaches are watching. That’s when they make the calls. I just had to go out and execute.”

Cimaglia: "It came down from (Special teams coordinator Kevin Sherrer) and went down to the head man: Bunt Right. Now the Paxton Special."

Pruitt: "We like we needed to do it there, and Paxton laid down a great kick. We got three guys that's going to block the three returners, and we got two guys getting the ball. Eric timed it right, and it was a great kick. Wasn't much they could do based off how they were aligned."

Tom Allen: “They obviously didn't show an onside kick formation, just did it from the normal look. We could have and probably should have had (our hands team on the field), and that's our fault. But we went over it on the sideline that they would do a possible middle dribble, but it's 4:20 to go in the game, down by six. Their defense had played well enough to where, it wasn't like you say, hey, this is just an automatic situation. But we did discuss it.

Hindsight is 20/20. Wish you would have had them out there. But still, at the same time we didn't and they got the ball. But we didn't react very well even though we went over it and kind of felt like it was a possibility, just to be ready for it.”

Gray: “We've practiced it over and over a thousand times. We just never ran it. We saw that look on film all week. We saw that look when they backed their guys up and the hole was there. I was just I caught it when it was 10 yards.”

Brooks: “We’ve worked that play every week in practice. For it to pay off, really felt great. I had full faith in Eric. I knew he was going to recover it.”

Cimaglia: “It’s just about hitting your landmarks and executing. Paxton couldn’t have hit that ball any better. I’m proud of him.”

Brooks: “The feeling is relief. We had four last year that we were very close to getting. All of those were tough. This year, we work it every week in practice and for it to pay off really felt great. I knew it, I had full faith in Eric and those guys. I knew he was going to recover it. As soon as I hit it, I knew he was going to be there.”

Gray: I'm just glad that I caught it when it was 10 yards.

Henry To’oto’o: “I was like, ‘Holy crap!’ No way. Let’s roll!

… I had no idea it was coming. I was ready to go out on the field. I was already down there by the 20 ready to come onto the field (to play defense). Coach Sherrer did a great job of coming with that. It was terrific. We had been practicing, practicing and practicing it. The opportunity presented itself and Eric made the play.”

Trey Smith: “I was just (on the bench) just drinking some Gatorade. I was like, ‘Oh, they got it!’ That’s coach Pruitt. He’s the man.”