Tennessee football: Jeremy Pruitt should stop coaching Vols like they are Alabama

Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt has treated the Volunteers like his previous Alabama Crimson Tide teams. He needs to stop.

Jonathan Allen is not walking through that door! Minkah Fitzpatrick is not walking through that door! Reuben Foster is not walking through that door! This is what Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt has got to accept if the Vols are going to have any sort of chance at turning things around the rest of the way coming off their bye week.

There are lots of reasons for the Vols’ 2-3 record through five games. But one that Pruitt and Tyson Helton could fix now is not treating each game like they’ve got the Alabama Crimson Tide’s defense and offensive line of the last two years.

If you watch the games, you’ll notice that at different times, Tennessee football has tried to establish the run and use Jarrett Guarantano in the intermediate passing game. They have protected him and defended his game management, all the while limiting their deep balls.

This is consistent with the identity Pruitt wants to establish. Coming from the Nick Saban and Kirby Smart way of doing things, he’s clearly going to build a program that overwhelms people with great defense, wears you down on offense, and looks for quarterbacks who just won’t make mistakes. Of course, Saban is doing things differently this year with Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, but you get the picture.

Here’s the thing: the Vols aren’t there yet. Tennessee football is undermanned on defense, they are struggling with the transition to a 3-4, and the offensive line has been horrendous. About the only major advantage UT has in games are their playmakers on the outside.

Guarantano has been hailed for his big arm. Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings have proven themselves as deep ball threats in big games. Josh Palmer is really starting to come along in that regard as well. Dominick Wood-Anderson was a four-star junior college tight end whom everybody wanted specifically because of his receiving abilities.

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So rather than focusing on Guarantano making the right throw, often a bubble screen, or a check down pass, why not call for more shots downfield? Sure, Guarantano has thrown a pick on one of those, but the idea is to keep trying.

Instead, they’re focusing on ball control, safe passes, and a power running game. But even with decent backs, a power running game doesn’t work when your guard play is awful, especially against SEC defense. This is not a team that can out-physical SEC opponents.

Meanwhile, left tackle play has been solid. Trey Smith has been the Vols’ most reliable offensive lineman again, this year protecting Guarantano’s blindside. So, again, when you can’t run it but your left tackle can pass protect, why not spread the ball out and give Guarantano a chance to air it out more? It’s Tennessee’s only chance, and Pruitt and Helton aren’t doing it.

Now, it’s true that Pruitt inherited a mess. In addition to a group of insanely poorly coached talent from previous years, half his team was hurt in the spring and missed numerous reps. Key guys who could make a difference missed half of Fall camp too, and this came with him installing new offensive and defensive systems. So these growing pains are evident.

These problems created numerous built-in depth issues in addition to major issues with the in-game play overall. You can’t blame that on Pruitt. And, to be fair, it’s possible that he could stack his team with the talent to run this program with a defense-first mentality in the future.

However, Tennessee football can’t do that yet. To stack the team, you need to be able to recruit. To be able to recruit, you need to win, or at least avoid getting blown out. And to do that, the Vols are going to have to deviate from what Pruitt and Helton may be comfortable doing. They’re going to have to take more chances and hope they come away with more big plays. Ball control and tough defense won’t do it with this team.