Midweek Updates

As we continue to bring you up-to-date, quality content, Rocky Top Report is announcing our "Midweek Updates", which will be posted every Wednesday. Through this, we will discuss some major headlines from the past week, including Jeremy Pruitt's weekly Monday press conference.

Paul Bain Receives a Scholarship

On Tuesday, September 4, it was announced that Paul Bain, whose claim to fame was his blocked field goal against Georgia Tech last season, is now on a full scholarship at Tennessee. He described the feeling as "a ton of weight lifted off of my shoulders. It was really emotional for me and my family." Previously, Bain worked at Champs Sports and on a farm, not to mention being a member of the football team and keeping up with his academics. Pruitt spoke about the redshirt senior, saying, "I think Paul is a guy that works really hard," Pruitt said. "We have a lot of walk-ons in our program that work really hard, and they're all over the country, and I think it builds character. I was a walk-on, so he's not the first one that's ever done it. When it comes to playing, he's got to be consistent and really learn what to do. He has some ability, and I think he's a very good representative to the University of Tennessee." Bain's incredible work ethic shows that he is very deserving of a scholarship.

Bryce Thompson Earns SEC Freshman of the Week Award

In just his second career game, Thompson's terrific performance was rewarded by being named the SEC Freshman of the Week. Bryce had 4 tackles (2 TFLs), 1 pass breakup and an interception. The interception was the first of his career and he returned in 21 yards. Thompson is one of the true freshman in which Pruitt trusts the most, as he has given him a starting role early in the season. On Monday, Pruitt said, "Bryce practiced the way you're supposed to practice, and he played well. So that would be a good lesson for everyone involved, if you practice that way, it gives you a chance to have success on Saturday. We're young, we're new, and they're trying to figure it out. Moving forward, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from every week. We have to make sure we continue to educate our guys and how we expect things to be done." The last Vol to win SEC Freshman of the Week was Ty Chandler, who won the award after week 2 of the 2017 season. Bryce shows signs that he can be an elite defensive back for Tennessee this season and in years to come.

Pruitt's Monday Press Conference

Pruitt took the podium on Monday, beginning with this opening statement, "It's probably a lot easier for our guys to come to practice after they have experienced a win, but I am sure there will be something that we will have to coach around and see how we respond. We have so many things that we need to improve on. We improved on a lot of things this past week, but we still had a lot of errors and made some critical mistakes in the game. We are still looking to play a complete game for 60 minutes. I thought we did eliminate some of our errors from the previous week, offensively. Especially after the lightning delay, we were a lot more efficient. We didn't turn the ball over which was a plus, and we scored in the red area. Defensively, we minimized the big plays and got off the field on third downs. We created a score on defense and special teams, so that is always good. We had another turnover to set up an offensive touchdown." It is always encouraging when a coach praises his team, while also acknowledging flaws after a win.

He spoke on the execution of the Vols' offense against ETSU, saying, "I think if you look at the last two games, I don't think we've started very fast offensively. We've not been very efficient. After a couple of series, whether it was the end of the first quarter two weeks ago or it was after the delay this past week, which was really the first quarter, we've been much more productive after that. I think we've got to find a way to start a little faster and be a little more efficient. Some of that has to do with execution and some of it is how you just start the game with a little bit more fire." Tennessee does need to start games with more offensive firepower. Against ETSU, the defense really helped the offense get going. As SEC play begins, the offense can not afford to be mediocre in the first quarter.

Additionally, in a practice prior to the ETSU game, Tennessee's starting center, Brandon Kennedy suffered a season-ending injury. Ryan Johnson filled in as the starting center against the Buccaneers. Pruitt had good things to say about Johnson, stating, "Ryan's a guy that the University of Tennessee is very important to him. He takes a lot of pride in being a Tennessee Volunteer. He works really hard at practice. He tries to play with the right toughness that you should play with. He's still a young guy that's played lots of positions. He's moved to center now and is probably still learning exactly everything that he needs to know. He competes hard. Was he perfect? No. It was nowhere close to perfect, but I think he'll continue to improve there." 

Tennessee Without a Turnover After 2 Games

An interesting stat found by Tennessee Stats & Info (@Vol_Stats) on Twitter is that Clemson, LSU and Tennessee are the only 3 teams in the nation that have played 2 games and not committed a single turnover. This stat is one of many that show how Pruitt has the program headed in the right direction. Unlike previous head coaches who focused on slogans, Pruitt and his staff are all about business and winning. Vol fans appreciate this breath of fresh air.