Upon Further Review: What do you see?

NASHVILLE — With his Tennessee career over, Shy Tuttle struggled to find many words after Saturday’s dispiriting loss to Vanderbilt.

His eyes fought away tears and the lump in his throat did most of the talking.

The senior defensive tackle did manage to note that he believes Jeremy Pruitt has the Vols headed in the right direction.

“For real,” Tuttle said.

Maybe.

I firmly believe two things are true about Pruitt and Tennessee in 2018. The Vols finally have a real football coach but I don’t pretend to know how good of a head coach Pruitt will ultimately be.

After a 5-7 season where Tennessee was outscored by 58 points the last two weeks, the Vols are like a confusing painting hanging in The Louvre.

Depending on where you’re standing in front of the picture, you can see what you want to see with this team in Pruitt’s Year 1.

Oh, those victories over Auburn and Kentucky look magnificent.

Wow, why did the artist leave in those blemishes at South Carolina and Vanderbilt?

We don’t talk about the spots marked WVU, Florida or Alabama.

Technically, the Vols took a step forward this year. They won five games a season after going 4-8.

That’s progress.

But that picture looks foggier when you take into account six losses by 25+ points. If you replayed this season 10 times, I’m not sure Tennessee wins five games more than two or three times.

Pruitt would probably acknowledge as much if you gave him truth serum.

The reality is the Vols are a mess. They’ve been a mess, but it’s up to Pruitt to clean it up. After 12 weeks, all we really know now is that Pruitt better have a helluva big mop and bucket.

“If you want a reality check of where you’re at: It’s right there,” Pruitt said, pointing at the stat sheet after the season-ending loss to Vandy.

“Look and see. We’ve got a long ways to go.”

It’s not Pruitt’s fault he inherited a roster that couldn’t win the AAC. It’s not Pruitt’s fault he’s in charge of a program that largely ignored strength and conditioning the last two seasons. But it’s on Pruitt that his team laid a pair of eggs to end the season. It’s on Pruitt that his team had excellent gameplans against Auburn and UK yet appeared befuddled multiple other weeks.

Hubbs wrote it last night: This was a year of reality for Tennessee. Pruitt isn’t going to accept it, but his steps to change it this offseason will determine his success with the Vols, starting in 2019.

Tennessee must become bigger, stronger and faster, but one recruiting class won’t suddenly turn them into a championship contender. One recruiting class won’t suddenly execute all of Pruitt’s calls.

“This is all new for me,” Pruitt said.

It’s not for Tennessee fans, which is why many don’t even want to look at the picture anymore.

Each week, I’ll rewatch the tape so you don’t have to. Here’s a skinny dozen of quick-hitters, analysis and final thoughts…

1. Rapid report card grades!

QB: D

RB: C

WR: C

TE: C

OL: D

DL: D

LB: F

DB: D

ST: C-

2. Five guys who I thought played well

A. A man has no name.

B. A man has no name.

C. A man has no name.

D. A man has no name.

E. A man has no name.

I legitimately could not come up with five guys who played well on Saturday. The closest contender was probably Emmit Gooden (for the second straight week no-less), as the JUCO transfer was solid in around 20 snaps, making a tackle on the first play of the game and blowing up two runs down by the goal line when Vandy ultimately missed its short field goal.

Outside of that? Guys mostly made plays in spurts: Marquez Callaway ran a good route against Vandy’s top corner for his touchdown. Ryan Johnson, DWA and Riley Locklear all had perfect blocks on Ty Chandler’s 75-yard score. Darrel Taylor made a nice speed move for his sack, Alexis Johnson forced a couple TFLs.

3. Five guys who’d like Saturday back

A. Alontae Taylor

B. Tennessee’s LBs

C. Jarrett Guarantano

D. Tennessee’s coaching staff

E. Baylen Buchanan

It’s a similar list as last week, frankly. Taylor had a brutal game, getting pulled early in the third quarter.

As a unit, Tennessee’s linebackers were dreadful, getting picked on in pass coverage and routinely failing to fill the right gaps in run support. Guarantano played his worst game of the 2018 season Saturday. Buchanan was responsible for a touchdown and allowed at least five other receptions.

Finally, Tennessee’s coaching staff — from the HC on down — didn’t have their team prepared to play at all Saturday. The Vols got a nice stop on Vandy’s opening possession, but otherwise they were flat the entire first half. The offensive gameplan lacked rhythm and cohesion. The defensive plan did little to disrupt or confuse Kyle Shurmur.

4. Guarantano finished the regular season with numbers that don’t look all that different from a year ago:

2017: 61.9 percent completion percentage, 7.2 yards per attempt

2018: 62.2 percent completion percentage, 7.8 yards per attempt

The second-year starter had his moments this season, but he did not play well three of the final four games of the regular season. Guarantano had a particularly tough afternoon Saturday, much to his own doing.

He was pressured some, but Vandy wasn’t in his face on every drop back. I actually thought he got much better protection compared to the last several weeks.

He threw a bad interception when he panicked on a blitz and he could’ve had two or three more picked, too. He also made several poor decisions in the run game — both with checks and bad reads. His keeper on the zone read was a 5-yard loss. As Pruitt said on his coach’s show, “We hand that ball off, we’re probably still running.”

It’s honestly tough to evaluate Guarantano’s season right now. Perhaps I need more time to let things marinate.

He throws a nice deep ball, but he seems to have little effect on his teammates and he doesn’t see the game very naturally. One of Tennessee’s key decisions this offseason (both in December and until the summer) will be what it wants to do at quarterback. Do the Vols go after a grad transfer (see: Jalen Hurts)? Do they try and sign two guys in the 2019 class?

Right now, we don’t know these answers.

5. Outside of Tennessee’s opening drive (which started inside the 10 yard line), I have no idea what the offensive gameplan was yesterday. The Vols couldn’t run it against a terrible rush defense. They couldn’t throw it consistently against an average pass defense either.

As has been the case for much of the year, one play seems to sink this unit and then linger like a bad fart.

Tennessee’s opening drive stalled around midfield because on 3rd and 3, Vandy sent a double A-gap blitz vs. UT’s empty set. Jahmir Johnson picked up the wrong guy, allowing a free release to the quarterback to force an incompletion. Ok, bad play. Flush it.

Instead, the Vols went 3-and-out on their next possession. A very similar sequence happened after halftime. Tennessee had already scored its first touchdown and just survived Vandy’s short missed field goal. Tim Jordan then takes the first carry 20 yards up the gut.

The Vols have some momentum and dial up a double-move, only Guarantano gets sacked in a seven-man protection because Marcus Tatum whiffs on his assignment. The sack not only ruined that drive but lingered with the offense (and the playcalling) over the next three series (zero first downs). By then, Vandy had scored two more times and the game was effectively over.

While Tyson Helton’s head is probably spinning today, I will say Tennessee’s lack of team speed is particularly evident on offense when the Vols do make a good play.

It sounds weird but a couple instances come to mind: The slant to Marquez Callaway on the final possession before halftime. That was a nice throw and catch. Multiple SEC receivers might’ve scored on that play. Tennessee gained 16 yards.

Jauan Jennings caught a ball in stride in the third quarter on a deep crossing route that gained 40 yards. Again, many on Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU, Texas A&M, etc. might’ve scored on that play. That’s the type of margin for error this offense is dealing with.

6. An inability to run on Vandy seemed objectionable before the game, yet the Vols managed to do just that. Outside of Chandler's long score, Tennessee averaged 1.86 yards per carry on the other 15 runs on the game.

7. How bad was Tennessee’s inability to stay on the field? Vandy’s time of possession was absurd: 43:03. The ‘Dores essentially had the ball for three quarters Saturday.

8. Alontae Taylor had as bad of a 3-play sequence on Vandy’s first scoring drive as any Tennessee defender this season. First, the freshman cornerback bailed in Tennessee’s Cover-2 defense, yielding a reception in the flat where he was supposed to be. Worse, Taylor then missed the tackle, allowing a big gain on 2nd-and-19. On 3rd-and-6, Taylor whiffed again on a short throw-and-catch, allowing a first down. On the next play, Daniel Bituli was beat on a wheel route by tight end Jared Pinkney for a touchdown. That was another bust by Taylor, per Pruitt on his coach’s show. The Coffee County product had a solid freshman season and has real promise, but he didn’t finish his first year on a high note the last couple weeks.

9. Pruitt said postgame that he called the same plays against Vandy a year ago (Alabama gave up just 74 yards) and he doubled-down on that statement in his coach’s show, saying, “We’ve got to do what we’re supposed to do. It really should be 3-0 at halftime.”

He scoffed at the notion that all of Vandy’s window dressing and motions caused any confusion for his defense, but the Vols certainly looked slow live … and even moreso upon review. They looked like they were stuck in Tennessee mud all game. Shurmur picked them apart with quick slants, screens and bubbles. Of his 31 completions, I counted 22 less than five yards beyond the LOS. The ‘Dores probably gained more than 150 yards after the catch Saturday.

10. Which leads me to … tackling. That’s been a foreign concept to Tennessee’s defense the last two weeks. Four players missed at least two tackles Saturday. I lost count overall but it had to be north of a dozen total.

11. The last word: Jeremy Pruitt on his coach’s show today.

“I think sometimes it just comes down to want do. I think the last couple of years, me looking at it from afar, Vanderbilt wanted it more than Tennessee. And it looked like that was the case again today.”