KNOXVILLE - The last time West Virginia faced a Southeastern Conference football program with a first-year head coach to open the season, the Mountaineers waltzed to a 26-11 victory.
That came in 2016 when Missouri began the Barry Odom era at West Virginia.
Again, the Mountaineers will open the season against an SEC East team led by a first-time head coach, when Tennessee and West Virginia clash in Charlotte on Sept. 1.
There is no tape to review of a Jeremy Pruitt-coached team at Tennessee, but West Virginia coach Dana Holgersen indicated this week that he has a general idea of what to expect from the Volunteers.
"Jeremy's a good coach, and what good coaches do is they take a little of both," Holgersen told reporters Sunday. "They take what they believe in and they implement it, and then they take what they have and they kind of merge the two of them. So how much is going to be 100 percent what they do and how much is going to be 100 percent of what they need to fit, I don't know yet. We'll do our best to try and figure that out."
Don't expect Pruitt to tip his hand. The Vols executed some 11-on-11 drills during an open practice earlier this month, but the offensive and defensive schemes during the event were generic. The rest of Tennessee's practices have been closed to the public and either closed to media or open only for portions of individual drills.
Pruitt is cordial in interview settings but not forthcoming with information about schematics or the performances of individual players. It's emblematic of what he referred to as "a team policy" on the Paul Finebaum Show of not commenting on things that go on within the program.
"I think it's important that we keep everything in house, and I think our guys are trying to buy into that," Pruitt told Finebaum on Monday. "You look at it, everyone growing up, they have family secrets, right? And you don't want this to get out. I don't know how many secrets we have, but obviously you don't want to give the opposing teams information that they could use to their advantage."
Even with Tennessee's introverted approach, Holgersen said West Virginia's scouting report on the Volls "is done."
"It's been done for about a month," he told reporters in Morgantown. "There's a book on my desk. I haven't looked at it yet."
Holgersen said the Mountaineers will begin focusing on Tennessee preparation Monday. West Virginia is 1-2 in season openers against Power Five opponents under the eighth-year head coach.
Alabama beat the Mountaineers 33-23 in Atlanta to open the 2014 season. West Virginia beat Missouri to begin the 2016 season. Last season, Virginia Tech, led by second-year head coach Justin Fuente and longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster, beat West Virginia 31-24 in a netural-site game to begin the year.
"Even last year, we had a pretty good idea of what Bud Foster was going to do and what Fuente was going to do, and there's still some new stuff mixed in with it that you've kind of got to figure out," Holgersen said. "That's the first game anywhere anyway."
Limited action
Offensive linemen Chance Hall and Eric Crosby and linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. spent time on stationary bikes during the period of Tennessee's practice open to media Tuesday.
Hall and Kirkland are returning from knee injuries. Receiver Jauan Jennings continues to be a limited participant in individual drills.
Still no Peterson
Four-star linebacker J.J. Peterson, the highest-rated player in Tennessee's 2018 signing class, still has not reported to preseason camp.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.