Mar 30, 2018
GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down the latest as the second week of Tennessee football's first spring camp under coach Jeremy Pruitt approaches its conclusion.
Pruitt has been the only person in the Tennessee football program to speak on the record with reporters since the head coach took the job in December, and that trend has continued through at least the first five practices this spring. Pruitt also has done his best to avoid mentioning any individual players to this point in camp, but he said there's been a simple reason for that: He doesn't know how his players will react to public compliments (or criticism) from their new coach.
Don't be fooled, though. We've learned plenty about this team the past two weeks.
We've learned who's healthy, who's not healthy and who's somewhere in between. We've learned what guys have changed their bodies in new strength coach Craig Fitzgerald's winter-workouts program. We've learned that several players are lining up in different spots from last season, and we've learned that at least some of those changes look likely to stick. We've learned what Pruitt thinks about the way his players are adjusting to his complex, aggressive, 3-4-base defense. We've learned how well players are — or aren't — adjusting to meetings with Pruitt and Co. on a daily basis. Those meetings are longer and more detailed than they were under predecessor Butch Jones, and some are handling it better than others. We've learned that and much more.
And those topics — along with Vols star forward Admiral Schofield declaring for the NBA Draft (but not signing with an agent), and a decent start to SEC play for new Tennessee coach Tony Vitello's baseball program — will be discussed in this episode.