Tennessee will hold its second full scrimmage of the spring later this afternoon, as the Vols are exactly a week away from concluding spring practice with the Orange & White Game (6 p.m., SEC Network).

Here’s what we’ve learned in the last week…

The most interesting development this week is the continued evolution of Tennessee’s offensive line.

The much-maligned unit has seen several players display real growth this spring. Pruitt rarely mentions players specifically, but he noted that redshirt sophomore K’Rojhn Calbert has had “a really good spring so far.”

Calbert has been hampered with knee injuries and concussion issues since arriving at Tennessee, but the 6-foot-6, 330-pound lineman is among the most athletic players on the team. He’s a long-armed mauler inside, and he’s found a home at right guard this spring, getting lots of work with the 1s.

Pruitt also highlighted the play of Nathan Niehaus, Jahmir Johnson, freshman Wanya Morris and Jerome Carvin.

Come the fall, the expectations for the offensive line should remain quite modest. This is still a unit with lots of questions (What is the best five?, can Brandon Kennedy stay healthy? Will 5-star freshman Darnell Wright be ready to play right away?) and consistency has not be the strong suit of any of the aforementioned lineman who’ve performed well thus far. But the group has seen progress this spring and the continued competition should make the unit better than it was a year ago.

It’s probably not a good sign that when I asked Pruitt how he thinks his inexperienced defensive line has performed this spring, Tennessee’s head coach immediately began to talk about four guys who haven’t practiced with the team at all — injured redshirt freshman Kurott Garland, freshman Elijah Simmons and JUCO transfers Savion Williams and Darel Middleton.

By all accounts, Tennessee’s first-team defense did little to slow down Ty Chandler and Jeremy Banks in the run game last scrimmage. Pruitt was also disappointed with a lack of pass rush and takeaways.

Emmitt Gooden is the lone known quantity up front right now, and even then, the former JUCO transfer only averaged around 20 snaps per game in 2018.

Latrell Bumphus, Kingston Harris, John Mincey, Aubrey Solomon and Matthew Butler have flashed at times, but consistency has escaped this unit. Outside of Darell Taylor, who lines up at both outside linebacker and defensive end, Tennessee still has no idea where its pass rush may come from, which continues to concern Pruitt, who used an interesting example from the scrimmage to prove his point.

"When you give up sacks, and you run the draw, if you're giving up sacks, then the draw play would be a good play for you, right?" Pruitt said.

"But if you only gain a couple of yards on the draw, that tells me one of two things. Either you're not getting any pass rush, or you've got one guy that's creating all the pass rush. We've got to improve in the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, be more consistent."

Unlike a year ago, Tennessee hasn’t experienced with moving around a bunch of guys this spring. Princeton Fant has gone from tailback to tight end and Quavaris Crouch and Daniel Bituli have crossed-trained at both linebacker spots, but that’s really it.

Until this week.

Georgia transfer Deangelo Gibbs went from receiver to defensive back despite the former 5-star looking like a potential impact player at wideout the first two weeks of practice. Apparently that was always the plan, though, with Pruitt explaining the coaches still aren’t quite sure where Gibbs fits best on the team right now.

Gibbs, who played strictly defense in his two seasons at UGA, will remain on defense for the rest of spring before the staff decides his ultimate role.

“The offensive coaches were very reluctant to him practicing on defense, but I think for us it gives us an idea just moving forward, if he practices a couple of days there, just so we can get an idea, saying, ‘We think this is your best position potential-wise,’” Pruitt said.

“He’s doing that, he kind of slid in there and our defense, verbiage wise, is probably similar to Georgia’s, so, it was a pretty easy transition for him.”

📈📈📈Darrell Taylor gave Marcus Tatum fits during the first scrimmage, per sources, and the redshirt senior pass rusher believes he’s a more complete player entering his final season. Taylor led Tennessee in sacks and TFLs in 2018, but Pruitt has seen a veteran truly focused on trying to get better, especially with his football IQ.

“I’ve always thought he’s had a good motor, but when you talk about situational football and having a really good understanding, kind of eliminating the plays that you’re not going to get, you can do that sometimes. I think he’s come a little more wary of those situations, which can help his play and improve his play. … The last couple of days he’s been really good.”

↔️↔️↔️ Sophomore Jeremy Banks also had a nice scrimmage, recording a 50-yard run and Pruitt complementing the tailback’s physicality and toughness. But simply running the ball hasn’t been a big problem for the Memphis native, it’s been holding onto it. Evidently, that remains a work in progress. Pruitt said with “lots of repetition,” Banks is improving his ball security but he still “working hard to do it.”

📈📈📈 Two years ago, Tennessee had more than a dozen expected contributors in street clothes for the spring game. Last year, Pruitt cobbled together just enough bodies to actually hold a scrimmage.

That’s not a problem this April.

The Vols are a very healthy football team right now (as Tennessee fans earnestly knock on wood).

Baylen Buchanan (undisclosed), Kurott Garland (knee), Trey Smith (blood clots), Brandon Kennedy (knee) and Darrin Kirkland (knee) are the only players currently limited or out. Freshman Tyus Fields (foot) and Eric Gray (shoulder) likely won't play in the spring game but both have been participants in practice over the last week. Contrasted to the last couple seasons, Pruitt has to like where his team is from a health standpoint entering its second scrimmage.