Tennessee football: Jeremy Pruitt contradicts his QB rant two days later

Quarterbacks were again a topic in Tennessee football Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s Monday press conference.

This is an age-old tradition. Coaches will lash out at a reporter for asking them a perfectly legitimate question and then do something to validate that question. Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt is no different.

In his weekly Monday press conference, which you can see above, Pruitt said that Harrison Bailey and J.T. Shrout would get the majority of reps at quarterback going forward. Brian Maurer could be mixed in there as well.

Bailey played the bulk of the game in Tennessee football’s 31-19 loss to the Florida Gators. Shrout played the final two drives, and Maurer came in for a couple of plays. This obviously leaves Jarrett Guarantano as the odd man out. Here’s what Pruitt said on the situation Monday.

"“Harrison (Bailey) and J.T. (Shrout) will take the majority of the reps moving forward. Brian (Maurer) brings an extra element with his athleticism. We’re trying to keep him with a role. I thought he did a nice job on Saturday with the role that he had. We’ll continue doing that moving forward.”"

That all seems perfectly reasonable, but it flies in the face of what Pruitt said less than 48 hours earlier when he got testy about a question related to the quarterbacks in the Florida postgame. Here’s what he said then.

"“Every week – so you all will never have to ask me this again – every week we see who competes well in practice, who does the best job that we feel like affects the guys around him. And we will do that as long as I’m the head football coach here at every position, so you don’t have to ask me again.”"

So on one hand, media members should never ask about the starting quarterback situation because they just have to wait and see what happens in practice. On the other hand, Pruitt has a specific plan, one that has deviated from his previous plans, to deal with a starter. Which one is it?

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If it was all about who plays better in practice on a week to week basis, why not play all four quarterbacks equally and see who rises to the top? What’s the reasoning for giving Shrout and Bailey the bulk of the reps?

By the way, if Shrout and Bailey were the best options after Guarantano, why did Pruitt and Jim Chaney play Brian Maurer the bulk of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks? Was Maurer the best performer among them in practice leading up to that game?

See the problem here? Pruitt wants to act like Tennessee football’s quarterback situation is no real story when everybody can see that he has no consistent plan. Acting like this question shouldn’t be asked is pathetic and condescending.

Other news from the press conference

Pruitt said that both K’Rojhn Calbert and Cade Mays suffered lower leg injuries against Florida and will likely be out today and maybe tomorrow. However, he said he thinks both will be back later in the week.

Meanwhile, Brent Cimaglia opted out for the remainder of the season. Pruitt confirmed that Paxton Brooks has been the backup and will fill in but added that if Brooks doesn’t then Tennessee football walk-on Toby Wilson will. You can read more about that here.