Midweek Updates

Photo Credit: Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics

This set of Midweek Updates discusses the awards won by Coach Pruitt and Darrell Taylor after Saturday's win over Kentucky. We also take a look at what Pruitt said in his weekly press conference.

Jeremy Pruitt Wins the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week

After Tennessee's 24-7 victory over Kentucky on Saturday, Pruitt was honored with being named the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week. In just 10 games, he has led the Vols to 2 wins over ranked opponents. These came at Auburn and this past weekend against Kentucky. Along with this award, many believe that Pruitt has a decent shot at winning the SEC Coach of the Year award.

Darrell Taylor's Remarkable Performance

I have been excited about Taylor for multiple seasons and he is finally beginning to show consistency in his game. Taylor recorded 7 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the win on Saturday. He was honored with being named the Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week following his stellar performance. He was also named the Chuck Bednarik National Player of the Week by the Maxwell Football Club.

His 4 sacks were very historic, as he becomes only the third player in program history to do so in a single game. Reggie White (1983) and Corey Miller (2013) were the other 2 players. In addition to this, he also earned the SEC Defensive Player of the Week award.

Pruitt's Monday Press Conference

Coach Pruitt began his press conference by reviewing the win over Kentucky. He stated, "I thought for the first time this year that our guys played with good effort throughout the game. We didn't always execute like we would like to, and we definitely didn't finish the game the way you want to. We had two fumbles in the fourth quarter and had a chance to finish the game and we didn't. Luckily, we got some turnovers on defense, but there are lots of positives, but there's a lot of things we can learn from and we need to improve on to get better this week."

He went on to add, "We need to improve this week, eliminate mistakes from Saturday and eliminate negative plays offensively. We need to create explosive plays and hopefully find something in the run game. Defensively, we need to find some way to affect the quarterback. We have to able to stop the run against these guys and get off the field and hopefully we can create something positive on special teams."

Pruitt was asked about how the offensive line can become more consistent. He replied with, "Not having mental errors, to start with. Some of it is being in the right run of looks. If they have four guys and we have three to block them, that's not a good look. We don't need to be running plays into that. There was times Saturday where we got some push and we finished and there was times where we didn't. Some of it has to do with the backs hitting the holes. The thing about offense, one guy can have a breakdown and it affects the other 10 guys. Defensively, 10 guys can have a breakdown and if you have one guy that can erase that, it can make up for it sometimes. There's two different sides of the ball there."

With a win on Saturday, Tennessee will become bowl eligible. Coach Pruitt commented on what the extra practices would do for the team, saying, "The only way you can get better at something is to repeatedly do it over and over, so you get extra practices, you get an extra game. So, I think if you go about your business the right way and work hard during those practices, you have a chance to improve."