Tennessee Vols morning report: Jeremy Pruitt, Rick Barnes interviews
Interviews with Tennessee Vols football coach Jeremy Pruitt and basketball coach Rick Barnes lead our Volunteers news for Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
We’re one day away from the NFL Draft, and that’s all the talk right now when it comes to sports as coronavirus continues to have everything shut down. However, the Tennessee Vols, while they have draft prospects, aren’t making much news since they don’t really have any first-round prospects. That doesn’t mean the program isn’t making news, though.
Our morning update on Rocky Top leads with coaches of two of the three main sports on campus being interviewed by separate media outlets. Both had interesting takes on the future of their programs and dealing with COVID-19 right now.
There is also an interview with a former Vol and his experience with NASA, which will get to, and we have an interesting story about a UT transfer, as he may have a landing spot now. But the coaches are obviously the main points of our coverage today, so let’s get started with that by covering the most recent interview.
Jeremy Pruitt speaks with 247Sports – Patrick Brown, GoVols247
As his program continues to be shut dow, Tennessee Vols football head coach Jeremy Pruitt spoke with 247Sports about social distancing and the future of the program after such a strong finish last year. Here’s a bit of what Pruitt said about this offseason.
"“We’ve stayed in constant contact with our players throughout the last four to five weeks. Had a great offseason. We’ve got a lot of returning players, a lot of experience coming back. We did get to practice two days, so you could tell that it was the third year, it was the third spring. You could tell that by just the awareness with our players and the familiarity with what we want to get done, so we’ve had a really good offseason.”"
Rick Barnes touts 2020-21 team – Aaron Torres Podcast, Kentucky Sports Radio
With rising expectations ahead of next year due to a top five recruiting class and all but one of his top scorers returning, Tennessee Vols men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes has been touting his future talent. In an interview on Kentucky Sports Radio, here’s a bit of what he said about this year’s team coming on the heels of the 2018-2019 transition year.
"“We know we’ve got some good returning players that, this year they got put into the fire. They got to learn a lot in high level, competitive games. What we added, we know this recruiting class is going to make an impact. And like I said we think we have a chance to be as good defensively as maybe any team we’ve had.”"
Joshua Dobbs speaks with NASA – NASA.gov
Former Tennessee football quarterback Josh Dobbs, who is now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been working as an intern at the Kennedy Space Center. As an aerospace engineer major in college, here is a bit of what he said about balancing both interests in an interview with NASA.
"When I was younger, I attribute a lot of my success and habits I created to my parents. I grew up an only child so quickly at an early age, they taught me to, one, obviously excel in the classroom. That comes first. But then they also pushed me to doing different experiences, participate in different activities that I would enjoy outside of school. So, they helped me figure out that I loved football by placing me and just about every single sport you could place your kid in when he’s five years old."
San Diego State offers Joe Doyle – Ken Lay, VolsWire.com
After transferring from Tennessee football due to Paxton Brooks becoming the starter by the end of the season, punter Joe Doyle has received an offer from the San Diego State Aztecs. In 2018, Doyle was named a freshman All-American by USA TODAY.
"During his time at Tennessee, Doyle was on the final candidates list for the Ray Guy Award and was a member of the Southeastern Conference Fall Honor Roll. San Diego State is coached by former Tennessee assistant and interim head coach Brady Hoke."