From Pruitt’s press conference on Monday:
On what about this Tennessee team gives him the most confidence…
"They're willingness to work. They're very coachable. They understand that we're not playing at the level that we feel like we're capable of playing. They understand that we've got to go to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to improve. There are lots of things from a technical aspect that we need to really improve on. We need to improve on our effort and finishing."
"We really don't control the schedule. We play whoever the next team is on our schedule. Our team has continued to improve over the last couple of years and we've got to continue to do that. We're nowhere (near) where we want to be. We understand the teams that are in this league and the teams that have had success. When you watch week in and week out, the teams that consistently play the right way, whether it's securing the football or taking the football away, not making mental mistakes and really playing with an edge, with toughness and effort and all of the intangibles, the teams that can do that over and over and over and sustain, they're the ones that have success in this league."
Previewing Georgia’s defense:
"It starts with having good players. They have good players. They're multiple with their schemes. They do a really nice job playing man-to-man. They deny the ball. They mix in a lot of different looks. You have to protect the quarterback. You have to be able to establish a run game a little bit to take pressure off the quarterback. You have to be able to throw and catch the football. There's going be tight windows. There always is against teams that play good defense in this league. I've said it many times that the defensive backs place limitations on the defense. They've got good defensive backs and they place a lot of pressure on them."
Georgia's Defensive Starters for the first 2 games:
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Areas to work on this week:
- One thing I'd like to see: I felt like there were too many times there were too many orange jerseys watching the play finish.
- We got to do a better job of being technical up front.
- We've got to be able to sustain and finish blocks.
- Defensively, disappointed in the lack of turnovers.
- Didn't think we played particularly well in the backend of our defense. We've got to improve there. Still too many mistakes, too many mental errors. We've got to be able to clean that up. We've been very inconsistent, particularly in the backend. If you put stress on your backend, you have to be able to eliminate big plays and I felt like from a technical standpoint we need really to improve there. We need to improve with our eyes. I felt like having our eyes in the wrong spot got us in trouble in several plays on Saturday and that's just goes back to eye discipline – we have to be looking at the right stuff. We need to get more turnovers. I think all of these guys have got to play at a higher level. I believe the more they practice, they'll improve. We've got to do that. Our competition is going to continue to improve every week and we've got to raise our level of play in the backend. There's probably a lot of reasons (for our secondary issues). I'd say the first one probably starts with us, as coaches. We've got to do a better job of coaching them up. Players need to have better discipline and (be) looking at the right stuff. We've got to be more fundamentally sound in the techniques we use. Most of the guys we have that are playing, they've played a lot of ball for us. It's not like it's their first time. So, we've got to create the right habits every day in practice, so it shows up on gameday.
- We missed a field goal. We have to continue to improve there.
- We kicked a kickoff out of bounds. We have to continue to improve there.
- From a physicality standpoint, we need to improve in a lot of areas – that would be one of them. When we talk about sustaining and finishing, I just didn't see us finishing blockers, finishing runners. On the perimeter, it's not to the level we want to be at.
- I feel like we were committed to running the football. That (running backs & offensive line) gave us an opportunity to do that. I also feel like we left a lot of yards out there. We ran one particular play 10 times in the game and we only blocked it correctly four times. We've got to eliminate those mistakes to give us a chance to have more success.
- We need to be more consistent up front (defensive line). We need to play harder. We need to sustain for a longer period of time. I think we need to be tied in together with the linebackers and the outside linebackers. Our football team has a long way to go. We have to continue to work hard a improve. Knowing the players on our team and the people on our staff, we're going to work hard to do that.
- There's not one position on our team that doesn't need to improve. We have to work hard to do that, particularly the offensive line. They understand that they need to work harder. They need to practice better. They need to finish better in practice. The way you practice is the way you play. It's our entire team. We have to work hard this week at practice to create the right habits so we can sustain and do it for long periods of time.
- I didn't feel like we got away from man coverage on Saturday. We need to improve at the wide receiver position. We need to play faster. We need to create some separation at the top of routes. We need to make sure we line up properly to make sure we get success. There were probably two plays in the game that I wish we would have thrown the ball away. Those could have possibly been turnovers, and we can't have those plays. I believe it's a challenge for them (our receivers against Georgia’s defense). They will get man coverage not only this week, but every week in this league. It's the way this league is. The windows are very small and there's very little zone coverage. There are tight windows. You have to be able to separate and you have to be able to make contested catches.
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