Tennessee’s Bryce Thompson picks off a pass intended for Charlotte’s Isaiah Harris near the end fo the 4th quarter of game action at Neyland Stadium. Photo by Patrick Murphy-RaceyKNOXVILLE – Jeremy Pruitt knows what kind of defense he wants to have.
Now the trick is trying to establish enough players capable of carrying out his master plan.
According to the Tennessee football coach, he has the teachers to do it.
Saturday afternoon during the media viewing portion of practice, Pruitt was seen instructing with defensive coordinator and fellow defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley on one portion of the Haslam practice field. At another area, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was working his group hard.
In one instance when he was pleased with senior Emmit Gooden, Rocker yelled, “I like that footwork, Emmit!” He made Matthew Butler – a player the Volunteers could be counting on this season – go through a drill again, unhappy with the effort.
If any one coach is needed to develop his position group, it’s Rocker, who has only one player – Gooden – with any experience, especially if Michigan transfer Aubrey Solomon doesn’t receive a waiver from the NCAA to be eligible immediately.
“If you’re not good in the trenches in the Southeastern Conference, you’re going to have a hard day’s work,” Ansley said Thursday. “We have a lot of bodies up front, and a lot of competition in that group. Tracy does a really good job molding those guys, getting them to play the right way. I look forward to seeing the outcome in fall camp with those guys.”
Outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer was at one portion working with the inside linebackers while Chris Rumph instructed the outside guys.
“There are things that we want to get accomplished this camp,” Pruitt said Friday after the first practice. “The first thing is just being a smart football team and not making mistakes, so we have to get more guys that know what to do. The next thing is that we want to be a ball-hawking defense. You have to create turnovers for that.
“We want to be good fundamentally, and how you do that is practicing well every single day. If you’re going to be a good football player, you have to have some toughness to you. We obviously need to create some more toughness there.
“It’s the first day. We have a very young football team. A lot of these guys will learn a lot from today, since it was their first day out there with the coaches. We’ll be much improved tomorrow, and we’ll continue to improve as camp goes.”
Tennessee forced just 15 turnovers last season, which was tied for 12th in the SEC with Ole Miss. The Vols were 11th in the league in sacks with 25, and that was with a senior-led defensive line. If a team isn’t getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback, it better be solid in the secondary, but the Vols were 11th in the league in pass efficiency.
The objective is to be better defensively at all levels in 2019. It’s why Ansley was brought in, to help shore up the back end. It’s why Rocker has a clean slate of defensive linemen to work with. It’s why Sherrer and Rumph are still working with their respective groups, to aid in the improvement of a defense that Pruitt expects to be improved.
But he has faith in their abilities – and they have faith in their own abilities, as well as their fellow coaches to teach and instruct as the program tries to change the culture going forward.
“I think it is the more you say and do something, the more it becomes who you are,” Sherrer said Thursday. “Last year we were the leaders to that. Now it’s not only us, it is the players that have been here. You show them, and if they do not do it the way you want it done, you let them know here is how we do it, or we do not do it that way.
“There are a lot of different ways. Heck, every time you get in and go to work every day you may go the same way, but you have to drive differently because the cars are in different spots. It is the same thing with coaching: Every day you may have a plan, but your plan has to adjust as your players respond, as they learn, as you figure out what kind of personality [they have] and who they are.”
Notes
True freshman Jerrod Means has been moved to cornerback. The 6-foot-2, 214-pounder was recruited as a receiver, but with the logjam of experience at that position, Pruitt said the move happened to “give him an opportunity to contribute.”
“Jerrod is a really good athlete and we want to make sure that we have the best 22 guys on the field, so we’re giving him a look,” Pruitt said after Thursday’s practice. “We have four senior wide receivers and Josh Palmer and Jordan Murphy have played a good amount of football, so you’re talking about six guys there.”
The Vols have an open practice today at Neyland Stadium, starting at 2:30. Gates open at 1:30 and there will be an autograph session at 4:30.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.