KNOXVILLE - When asked Monday who was the leader of his Tennessee football team, coach Jeremy Pruitt said the Volunteers had "some good leaders."
Tuesday afternoon, senior receiver Jauan Jennings said, "I'm the leader of this team."
It would make sense. Jennings is one of only three seniors to have been in the Tennessee program for five seasons. He's experienced highs and he's experienced the lows. Has it ever been any lower than what transpired Saturday, when the Vols lost 38-30 to Sun Belt Conference member Georgia State? Maybe not.
"Here's the thing about leadership: It's easy to be the leader after the game," Pruitt said Monday. "It's easy to be the leader in a meeting before practice. But when the bullets start flying and things don't go your way, that's when you need good leadership. We have plenty of guys capable of doing that. I believe we have good leaders on this team. We have a lot of guys that are younger and they respond to the leadership.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Tennessee's Jauan Jennings (15) eludes two Panther defenders. Jennings pass reception help set up the Vols's go-ahead field goal. The University of Tennessee Volunteers opened the season wit the Georgia State Panthers at Neyland Stadium on Aug. 31, 2019. "There's no secret to why we lost this game. I said it after the game. They did a better job coaching than we did. They executed better than we did. It's not because we lacked leadership. It's not because we lacked effort. It's because we lacked execution. They executed better than we did. We turned the ball over five times and only got one turnover. It's hard to beat anybody that way."
But on Tuesday, Jennings took "full responsibility" for what had happened. He had been one of the team's brightest spots - according to Pro Football Focus advanced stats he was the Vols' best player, grading out at 80.7 out of 100, which is rated as "very good" - but as a fifth-year senior and the most productive player on the roster, that wasn't good enough.
"We did let our Vol fans down this past weekend," he said. "We're going to continue to get better and hope they have our back through it all.
"As a leader this week, I just come out each and every day fired up and let these guys know what happened last weekend is unacceptable and it won't happen again."
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Jauan Jennings (15) celebrates a pass reception. The University of Tennessee Volunteers opened the season wit the Georgia State Panthers at Neyland Stadium on August 31, 2019. Jennings noted that he felt the team didn't have the right vibe on the sideline. Throughout the game, it appeared that the Vols were disinterested to face the Panthers, who entered the game as 26-point underdogs and had never defeated a Power Five opponent. He said that may have been caused somewhat by the youth on the team, although he didn't use that to excuse anything that transpired.
"This past Saturday, I feel like this team wasn't juiced up on the sideline," he said. "As a leader I take full responsibility for that. I've got to be out there and be in heads and ears 24/7. As a leader I admit I didn't do that, so this week and from here on out that's what I'm going to focus on doing is just making sure this team knows we've got a whole lot of fight left in us and we're not going to give up."
The team held a players-only meeting Sunday to discuss what had happened a day earlier. Will that be the difference? Maybe, maybe not. But if Jennings' message gets through to his teammates, the Vols will put together a much better effort Saturday when they host Brigham Young.
"I didn't sign up for a one-game fight. This is a 12-game fight," Jennings said. "This is what we're going to come in and do each and every week: Prepare and focus on one game at a time. I am the leader so we're going to get this right. I'm not worried about anything else other than this team and what we've got going here, because it's a great program with great people here, and we have a lot of people here with talent ready to go out and execute, and we're going to get that done.
"My message to Tennessee fans is to come out, show out and we're going to come out there and execute for you all. I can't wait to see you there; it's going to be a hell of a game."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.