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Tennessee football: Five reasons Vols should stick with Jeremy Pruitt past 2019

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers shouts to his players from the sideline during the second quarter of their game against the Chattanooga Mockingbirds at Neyland Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers shouts to his players from the sideline during the second quarter of their game against the Chattanooga Mockingbirds at Neyland Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /
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1. Play-calling has not been the problem.

We stressed this earlier in the week, but it’s hard to call out the coaching for what has happened when play-calling has not been the problem for Tennessee football’s 1-3 start to the season. It’s been all about execution.

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Jim Chaney is not at fault for Ty Chandler fumbling on the opening drive against the Georgia State Panthers. Derrick Ansley is not at fault for the defensive line getting no push in that game and the linebackers being too inexperienced to be able to contain Dan Ellington. All the coaches did what they could in that game.

Against the BYU Cougars, Chaney isn’t at fault for Jarrett Guarantano throwing into triple-coverage on the one interception that set up the BYU touchdown in regulation. He also isn’t at fault for Guarantano missing a touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings by throwing it too late. And Ansley isn’t responsible for the secondary being out of position on the right call at the end of regulation.

Those three things alone would have resulted in the score being 23-6 in favor of the Vols instead of 16-16 in regulation. What about the Florida Gators? Well, Chaney called two touchdown passes on one drive, and one was deflected due to a missed block while the second was intercepted after it bounced off Jauan Jennings’s hands.

The very next drive, Chaney dialed up a touchdown pass to Dominick Wood-Anderson. Guarantano missed him and then threw a pick on the next play. So the Vols easily could have been tied at 14 at halftime instead of trailing 17-0 in that game.

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Simply put, execution has mattered way more than play-calling. Now you can call the coaches out for not developing the players in practice to execute better. But when you factor in the youth, it makes sense. So Tennessee football needs to give Jeremy Pruitt and his staff time to make this right, and that goes beyond this year.

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