Tennessee Spring Practice: Four key points from Jeremy Pruitt’s media availability on Tuesday

Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt faced the media once again following his team’s 7th practice of the spring. Here were the top four topics that stood out.

What he wants to see during Saturday’s scrimmage

“On offense I’d like to see ball security,” Pruitt said. “First off, just sideline organization. Getting the calls, getting lined up, ID’ing the front, making sure we’re in the right play and in the right splits. Just the details, because that’s where it starts.”

Pruitt continued, but you get the picture. He wants to see his team do the little things right first, then grow from there.

Huddle or No-Huddle?

Butch Jones didn’t have his teams do much huddling during his time in Knoxville. That’s expected to change under Jeremy Pruitt and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton, but don’t just assume that it’s going to be a slower-paced attack.

“We’re huddling up, we’re no-huddle — we’re mixing up tempos. I don’t think there’s much to it. I think every offense does both. I don’t thinks it’s that big of a deal, but it all starts with communication.”

Pruitt pleased with offensive “juice”

In what’s been somewhat of a surprise, Pruitt has talked positively of his offense to this point of spring practice. It’s surprising when you consider the question marks up front on the line and at the quarterback position. Pruitt was again positive of that group yesterday, praising their effort.

“I’ve been pleased with the offense. Every day there are lots of positives. To me, in the last couple of practices, our offense — whether they’re doing it right or not — there’s a little bit more juice on that side. It’s gotten a little contagious, which is good to see.”

Cornerbacks, exposed

Probably the weakest position on the roster is the cornerback spot, where Tennessee just doesn’t have the numbers after losing four contributors at the position last year. Pruitt still won’t name names, but he did explain what he’s doing with that group to get them ready for the fall.

“We’re exposing them to a lot. It’s not always perfect and they don’t always exactly know. But you’ve got to expose them to it. You’re going to see it in the fall. You can always pull back. But right now we’re exposing them to everything we do. I’m sure a lot of their heads are swimming a little bit, but when we go scrimmage, we’ll make it simple. If we have to just go with one call, that’s what we’ll do. That way the best players show up.”