Tennessee football: Jeremy Pruitt on Jimmy Brumbaugh departure
Jeremy Pruitt updated the state of the Tennessee football Volunteers Monday.
As he tried to look ahead to the Alabama Crimson Tide at his weekly Monday press conference, Jeremy Pruitt could not avoid discussing the dismal state of Tennessee football after its 34-7 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. This program is in trouble.
There were multiple elephants in the room to discuss, some of which Pruitt was responsible for making after the loss. Because of that, little mattered when it came to preparing for Nick Saban’s team this Saturday.
Health, personnel and a major coaching move were all the highlights. The questions aren’t gong anywhere. Here are our biggest takeaways from what Pruitt talked about related to Tennessee football Monday. You can see the full press conference by clicking on the video at the top.
Jimmy Brumbaugh gone, Pruitt to coach DL the rest of the way
It was reported earlier in the morning that the Vols had parted ways with defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh, who had only been with the program since February, when he replaced Tracy Rocker. Pruitt said the issue was a philosophical difference between him and Brumbaugh, but the decision is no knock on Brumbaugh as a coach. Here’s a bit of his explanation.
"“If it’s not working out, it’s better just to do it right now. Me and Jimmy had a really good conversation. Unfortunately, probably because of the COVID circumstance, when you’re a new coach and you don’t have a chance to be around your players in March, April, May, then limited in June, it puts you at a disadvantage.”"
QB situation still up in the air
After playing Jarrett Guarantano, J.T. Shrout and Harrison Bailey on Saturday, Tennessee football clearly has a lot of things to work out at quarterback. Pruitt continued to defend Guarantano but did note that he would have to earn his starting spot like everybody else in practice now. That’s a big departure from where he was recently. This is what he said about the situation.
"“When you look at Brian and Harrison, both of these guys were very limited in fall camp, which is one of the reasons that we have continued to have these scrimmages on Sunday night to try and get these guys caught up and to give them an opportunity. There is nothing like live action. We had a scrimmage last night and both of these guys took reps. We will continue to evaluate that position as the week goes.”"
Offensive line banged up
Jerome Carvin has been hurt since the Missouri Tigers game. Wanya Morris got hurt against the Georgia Bulldogs and is still day to day. Jahmir Johnsn and Riley Locklear are hurt. Pruitt discussed having to shorten his rotation up front because of these injuries.
"“That’s a position that the more continuity you have, the better the group plays. If you look at the first game of the year, we probably played more guys.”…“So we’ve had a few guys that got some bumps or bruises. We’ve had to be able to move guys around. That’s some of the reason we’ve done that.”"
dark. Next. Five takeaways from Vols' 34-7 loss to Kentucky
It’s hard to know where Tennessee football goes from here, but what’s clear is that the Alabama game is completely irrelevant. Everybody knows the Vols will head into their bye week with a 2-3 record after that loss. What they do after that matters, but when you lose that bad to a Kentucky team at home, there’s very little encouragement.