Tennessee Vols morning report: Preparations for opener begin
The Tennessee Vols preparing for Week One leads our Sept. 22, 2020 morning report.
SEC football is about to be back! After a longer wait than usual due to the pandemic, the league begins its first set of games this weekend in what should be an amazing ride, and that obviously makes up a ton of our Tennessee Vols news for the day.
Our morning update on Rocky Top is headlined by multiple coaches giving interviews in separate forums on Monday. One of those interviews was the official preview interview for this week’s slate of games, which just adds to the excitement that the season has returned. We have lots of updates to cover from that interview as well.
There’s also just a generic story on what the Tennessee Vols are doing on the field this week as they get ready for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Simply put, football preparations lead the way, so let’s go ahead and dive in with them.
UT football prepares for opener in practice – Ryan Callahan, GoVols247
With fall camp in the books, the Tennessee Vols football team began preparing for its season-opener at the South Carolina Gamecocks when it took the practice field Monday. UT has now reached full in-season mode on the practice field, and that showed Monday.
"All of Tennessee’s practices have remained closed to media in an effort to help players stay healthy through the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Vols are providing video and photos from most practices.Some of Tennessee’s recently sidelined players have started to return from COVID-19 quarantines over the past several days, giving the Vols a roster that’s now at least getting closer to full strength leading up to Saturday’s opener."
Jeremy Pruitt previews South Carolina – UTSports
In his first weekly press conference of the season, Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt previewed his team’s Saturday matchup with USC on Monday. Updates included that Jarrett Guarantano is the starter, there is no set No. 2 quarterback and Carlin Fils-Aime will sit out the season. Here’s a bit of what else he said.
"“I am really proud about how everyone in our organization has really stuck together trying to figure out a way for us to improve daily. Our kids have had a great attitude along with this staff and we are excited about this week. We have a tremendous challenge going on the road playing South Carolina. We are very familiar with their staff. “"
Coordinators speak at Knoxville quarterback club – Vince Ferrara, WNML, YouTube
Ahead of Rocky Top’s season-opener, offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and offensive coordinator Derrick Ansley both spoke at the Knoxville Quarterback Club Monday. Chaney discussed the scenario of the season amidst the pandemic. Here’s a bit of what he said.
"“Heck, I tell you, it has been interesting — the whole scenario we found ourselves in this year, guys. It has been a different climate. A different environment, as you wait on regulations to come down to govern how you are going to coach the kids.”"
Ansley discussed the South Carolina matchup. Here’s a bit of what he said about going up against Mike Bobo.
"“The first thing is the offensive coordinator. Mike Bobo is an SEC veteran, played quarterback at Georgia. Offensive coordinator for a long time at Georgia, too. We’ve seen a lot of things, competed against him a long time at different locations, different spots. So we’re excited for the chance to compete.”"