Tennessee Athletics photo by Kate Luffman / Aubrey Solomon and Tennessee’s other defensive linemen are getting extensive tutelage this week from Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt.Jeremy Pruitt spent most of his coaching career overseeing defensive backs until his role as Alabama’s defensive coordinator during the 2016-17 seasons, when his position group was inside linebacker.
Pruitt has finally worked his way to the defensive front.
As Tennessee practices before its lone open date of this 10-game regular season consisting solely of Southeastern Conference contests, Pruitt is still the third-year head coach of the Volunteers but has delved into the trenches as well. Tennessee has been without a defensive line coach since Oct. 18, when Pruitt dismissed assistant Jimmy Brumbaugh after only four games.
“I really have kind of dove into the defensive line,” Pruitt said Wednesday. “To me, we’ve always been kind of an attacking-style defense, and we haven’t really been playing that way. You have to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage if you’re going to be able to stop the runs and create negative plays and affect the quarterback. We’ve really got to improve in that area, and I think it goes back to fundamentally being more of an attacking style.
“We have lots of areas on defense that we’ve got to improve on, and we’ve got a plan to do that. Our players are trying to work hard to get it fixed.”