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Tennessee football: Vols open spring in much better shape than last year

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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As Tennessee football begins spring practice for 2019, the Volunteers are already in much better shape than they were when Jeremy Pruitt first took over.

The 5-7 season has ended, early enrollees arrived, and new staff members and recruits were made official in February. So on Thursday, Tennessee football opened spring practice with a focus on Jeremy Pruitt’s second season as head coach.

What is clear is obvious: The Vols are in much better shape than they were last year. All you need to know is what Jeremy Pruitt said about the injury situation to determine that. Everything he said Thursday was as good of news as it could get.

The only players set to miss the spring are Trey Smith, who is sidelined indefinitely, and Darrin Kirkland Jr., who is battling a knee injury. Outside of that, newcomers Eric Gray, Tyus Fields and Chris Akporoghene along with redshirt freshman defensive lineman Kurott Garland are the only other players who come into spring injured, and they are all set to see some action. Offensive lineman Brandon Kennedy is even back but will be limited as well.

So if you’re tracking what we said, Tennessee football has two guys set to miss the spring due to injury and five to practice during the spring but be limited. That’s an insane improvement over last year that can’t be understated.

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In 2018, Pruitt had seven guys miss all of spring practice and numerous others be limited throughout that time. Up to 20 players were working on just getting back into football shape in some form or another.

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On top of that, he was trying to install the pro-style offense and the 3-4 defense and had to spend time teaching players how to practice. Now, many people may say that last part was just coach speak. But when you look at the numerous injuries suffered under different strength coaches in back to back years under Butch Jones, it’s fair to say practice habits were clearly a problem.

Now, though, Tennessee football doesn’t have to worry about those things as much. Even with a new offensive and defensive coordinator, they are acclimated to the pro-style and 3-4 systems. So there is not as much time needed to teach those. Meanwhile, the practice habits are likely much improved. And most importantly, Pruitt has more players to work with this spring.

After all the on-the-job training that so many players for the Vols had last year, you can’t understate how big of a deal all of this is. All of those issues last year make it pretty easy to see how a team could go 5-7 and lose six games by 25 points or more. It was just a horrendous situation all the way around.

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Of course things aren’t perfect this year, especially when you look at the departures on the defensive line and the fact that Smith is still out. But the addition of 10 early enrollees who all have the potential to contribute along with all the healthy players on Rocky Top now make for the chance to have a much more productive spring. Pruitt has got to be relieved about that.

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