Tennessee's Marquez Callaway eludes a would-be tackler during last Saturday's 24-0 win against UTEP in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE - Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt marched off the practice field on Wednesday of last week disappointed with his team's effort as it prepared to face a University of Texas at El Paso team on a 14-game losing streak.
The Volunteers beat UTEP 24-0 last Saturday but committed 55 mental errors on offense alone that stymied momentum, according to Pruitt's calculation.
Pruitt left the practice field this Wednesday with a different sort of feeling.
"I think this week I can see a little bit more sense of urgency," Pruitt said, "guys that are taking things a little better from the meetings to the practice field, from period to period.
The Vols (2-1) hope the increased sense of urgency translates to a clean game Saturday night at Neyland Stadium in their Southeastern Conference opener against Florida (2-1, 0-1). Kickoff is at 7, with ESPN televising the game.
"I think there's a lot of excitement," Pruitt said. "I know our guys are excited about an opportunity to play in this game. We're playing against a really good football team that's really well-coached."
Wednesday's report from Pruitt still included a critique.
"We've still got to finish," he said. "Out there at the end of practice, we had a couple of things we had been working on and doing really well. At the end of practice, we didn't do it as well. So we've got to learn to sustain."
Committee at full strength
With four healthy running backs, each with at least one rushing touchdown this season, the Vols will have options in the backfield against Florida and - barring injury - the rest of the season.
Ty Chandler returned from injury to run for an 81-yard touchdown on the first play of the third quarter against UTEP. Fellow sophomore Tim Jordan and freshman Jeremy Banks have also turned heads with their physical running, and graduate transfer Madre London has quietly averaged 6 yards per carry.
"I think it'll take all four guys to finish through the season," Pruitt said. "I think you figure out who is performing at the highest level, and if they're close, they deserve to play and you give them an opportunity to play."
Pruitt still counting on Callaway
Junior receiver Marquez Callaway dropped a punt against UTEP that gave the Miners the football in Tennessee territory, but don't expect to see a change at punt returner against Florida.
"I have confidence in him," Pruitt said. "We sent him right back out there. He's our best punt returner, so I believe he's going to do a good job. We'll continue to roll guys behind him."
Callaway, who is Tennessee's leading receiver, also struggled fielding punts in 2017.
Harris spending time on O-line
Freshman Kingston Harris is playing on the offensive line this week after being recruited as a defensive lineman and playing that position throughout preseason practices.
"We really thought Kingston was doing well at defensive line," Pruitt said. "But when you look at our defensive line, he's probably the one guy that could make the transition and be able to help us, just to create some depth. We just felt like it was something we needed to be able to do this week, for next week and through the off week."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.