Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Tennessee football players and band members playfully interact before a game last season. The Pride of the Southland Band will not be on the field this year due to COVID-19 guidelines.The Tennessee Volunteers have run out of a "T" formed by the Pride of the Southland Band 365 times in Neyland Stadium since the tradition was launched before an opening win over Army in 1965.
It is among the best pregame rituals in college football, but it has been placed on hold. There will be no giant "T" and no Pride of the Southland Band on the field before Saturday's game between the No. 21 Vols and visiting Missouri due to guidelines implemented out of coronavirus concerns.
"I don't know how strange it will be," Tennessee third-year coach Jeremy Pruitt said this week. "With this pandemic, we've all learned to adjust, and the norm is not the norm anymore. We won't run through the 'T.' We'll run to the sideline."
Running through the "T" was one of two notable traditions to ignite early in Doug Dickey's tenure as coach, an era that yielded a 46-15-4 record from 1964-69 and Southeastern Conference championships in 1967 and 1969. The other transpired in his inaugural season, when the "T" made its debut on Vols helmets.
Saturday will mark the second slate of seven head-to-head matchups in the SEC's 10-game schedule consisting solely of league opposition. The seven conference schools that traveled for their openers will host games this weekend, with Alabama and Georgia among those joining Tennessee by being at home.
There will be no "Vol Walk" in Knoxville, no "Dawg Walk" in Athens and no "Walk of Champions" in Tuscaloosa, and crowds in those three sizable venues are expected to number from 20,000 to 25,000.
"We addressed a lot of this earlier in the year, and it's been the mantra the whole time," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "We've had scrimmages with nobody in there and with parents in there and one time with donors in there. Anything we have in that stadium is more than we've had for any of our scrimmages, and the psyche part of that we've kind of addressed already."
Said Alabama's Nick Saban: "The circumstances and the spirit may not be the same, but it's always great to play at home."
AP photo by Wade Payne / Tennessee mascot Smoky, cheerleaders and the football team enter through the "T" formed by the Pride of the Southland Band before a home game against Florida in September 2018.Tennessee didn't exactly experience robust crowds late in Derek Dooley's final season in 2012 or during the final year of Butch Jones in 2017, but a Neyland Stadium at one-fourth capacity at the opening kickoff? The Vols haven't averaged in the neighborhood of 25,000 fans in a season since 1955, when junior tailback Johnny Majors won the first of his two SEC player of the year honors.
"It will definitely be different without all the traditions and things we are so accustomed to and the things that we love," fifth-year senior receiver Brandon Johnson said. "At the end of the day, it will still be about football, and that's what we'll be focused on. We're going to be focused on getting our second win of the season, and that's the main goal.
"It definitely will be different without all the fans there, but there is still nothing like playing in Neyland."
Given that Tennessee has started 0-2 in SEC play 11 times in the previous 12 seasons, a 2-0 league record is certainly cause for motivation regardless of how many people are witnessing the occasion.
"The fans are sticking with us through all this themselves, and I'm just happy to get back in front of them," senior edge rusher Deandre Johnson said. "It's been a long time coming. I can't wait, and I'm ready to put on a show."
Kennedy recognized
Tennessee senior center Brandon Kennedy was named Thursday as a semifinalist for the 2020 William V. Campbell Trophy, which annually recognizes college football players for their academic success, on-field performance and exemplary leadership. Kennedy is in his sixth season of eligibility and arrived in Knoxville as a graduate transfer from Alabama in 2018.
Current Alabama center Landon Dickerson, a graduate transfer from Florida State, is also a Campbell Trophy semifinalist.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.