Tennessee football vs. ETSU: Keys to the game for Vols and Bucs

7. Randy Sanders’s and Jeremy Pruitt’s knowledge of each other

Phillip Fulmer hired Randy Sanders to be his offensive coordinator when he was Tennessee football’s head coach back in 1999 and then hired Jeremy Pruitt to be Tennessee football’s head coach when he became the Vols’ athletic director in 2017. In 2013, Jeremy Pruitt and Randy Sanders together worked on Jimbo Fisher’s staff.

As the defensive and offensive coordinators respectively, the two coaches helped the Florida States Seminoles win the national championship that year. Now, they are both coaching in East Tennessee, albeit Pruitt on a much larger scale than Sanders.

Anyway, as the two go head to head against each other, it’s clear they have a knowledge of how each other operates. Although Fisher was the one calling the plays on that 2013 team, Sanders and Pruitt were the ones going against each other every practice.

Because of this, Sanders has a greater insight into Pruitt’s tendency than most coaches. He’s also very familiar with Neyland Stadium and will have no problem dealing with the things that comes with coaching on Rocky Top. So don’t be surprised if he pulls off a few things with his balanced offensive attack..

Again, Sanders was able to rack up over 500 yards last week. Don’t think that his knowledge of Pruitt’s defensive tendencies won’t work to his favor in this game. It could give ETSU a great chance to catch the Vols off-guard. And if that happens, it will just be another way that Sanders frustrated UT fans.