Coaching
Offensive play-calling: C-
Tyson Helton is gone now, so maybe we’re being unfair. And he had a lot to deal with. But under his leadership, Tennessee football spent the vast majority of the season trying to keep up Jarrett Guarantano’s passing efficiency rather than make big plays on offense. That was a major problem, and as a result, it warrants significant criticism. He should have gone deep more, and he should have gotten his playmakers the ball more. However, it wasn’t all bad, so the C- is fair.
Defensive play-calling: B+
Jeremy Pruitt was limited with what he could do. There are very few moments you can point to and blame his defensive play-calling for the struggles, specifically on defense. Often times, the secondary just wasn’t able to handle what was thrown at them, literally, or the front seven got tired. We could honestly give Pruitt an A for how he called plays on the year, but he probably could have drawn up a few better coverage schemes at times. Nonetheless, his play-calling on defense was never a reason for a loss.
Overall 2018 coaching grade: B-
Throughout the season, with the exception of the final two games, you saw moments where the Vols would never quit. That resulted in them pulling off a huge upset over the Auburn Tigers. And with Vegas predicting these guys to get to 3-9, going 5-7 against what might have been the toughest schedule in the nation is actually overachieving. In that regard, Jeremy Pruitt did his job getting his guys motivated to play most of the time.
However, Pruitt’s biggest problem was the fact that he ran Tennessee football like it had Alabama Crimson Tide talent. He wanted to simplify the offense and win games in the trenches. But the problem was he didn’t have the players to do that, and too often it cost the Vols. Maybe it’ll bode well for the program long-term, but for this year, it didn’t work out. That’s why we docked his grade to a B-.