Offense Dominates Third Day of Spring Drills For Tennessee

(utsports.com) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee football team resumed practice on Monday afternoon at Haslam Field for the Vols’ third practice of the spring session, and the first in full pads.

UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt made it clear that the offense took charge in practice yet again.

“For the first day of pads, offensively, I thought our guys executed fairly well,” Pruitt said. “We had couple situations in practice as far as third-down and I thought the guys did a really good job. We seemed to finish plays a lot better as far as holding onto the ball with quarterback and center exchanges.”

Pruitt also emphasized the improvements the offense made on day three. Specifically, he stressed how the team has cut down on mental errors while playing with more of an edge.

“We seemed to play to the whistle with more of an attitude,” Pruitt said. “So that was a positive there. It felt like we cut down some on our offensive penalties today, which I’m sure helps.”

Guarantano’s Experience Aiding Younger Players
Rising redshirt junior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who started all 12 games for Tennessee in 2018, enters his first spring season in offensive coordinator Jim Chaney’s offense.

The Lodi, N.J., native passed for 1,902 yards and 12 touchdowns a season ago en route to a Maxwell Award National Player of the Week honor and SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after an upset of No. 21 Auburn. Pruitt says his quarterback is helping guide the younger players in learning Chaney’s playbook.

“(Jarrett) has much more experience than the other guys,” Pruitt said. “I think the game has really slowed down for Jarrett. He’s played a lot of ball. He’s taken a lot of hits. We all understand that that really doesn’t bother him. He knows how to prepare and it’s been really positive. That’s how the quarterback position should be.”

Offense Taking Care of the Ball
Pruitt is impressed at the level the offense has been playing at this spring. Tennessee returns 12 players who made at least five starts last fall on offense, and with the help of returning veteran leadership, he believes it has helped make the adjustment smoother for everybody and limited turnovers on that side of the ball.

“It starts with attitude,” Pruitt said. “They practice with the right attitude. When they made a mistake, they didn’t let it bother them, they played the next play. They played harder, played more physical. Executed at a higher level. When you do those things, you tend to have success.”

Bituli Leading the Charge on Defense
In his second spring in coach Pruitt’s system, rising senior linebacker Daniel Bituli is leading the defense at inside linebacker.

“He’s doing a much better job being a communicator,” Pruitt said. “Which is important because you have to be the quarterback of the defense. The longer you do something that you’re familiar with, obviously you should improve. And I think he will.”

Bituli recorded 79 tackles in 2018, including 6.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a deflected pass. He was also named to the PFF College SEC Defensive Team of the Week three times in 2018.

Flowers Focusing on Football
Rising sophomore Trevon Flowers, who appeared in seven games last season before suffering a collarbone injury, will be focused solely on football this spring. Flowers was a standout baseball player in high school and worked out on the diamond with the Vols this winter, but he will focus solely on football this spring.

“He’s doing football right now,” Pruitt said. “He did baseball early on. He’s going to redshirt in baseball and concentrate on football, but he has a future doing both.”