KNOXVILLE – While classes began Wednesday at the University of Tennessee, football has been in session for weeks now.
Here’s three more developments from preseason camp with some thoughts on each:
Marcus Tatum and Matthew Butler spoke Wednesday on behalf of Tennessee’s two most beleaguered position groups.
Tatum played in all 12 games last season on UT’s offensive line, starting the final five at left tackle. He’s a different player, having packed on 30 pounds since the end of last season. And he desperately wants to make a difference.
“I don’t want to be that whole excuse for why we are losing, why this university is falling apart,” he said.
Tatum said the O-linemen share the sentiment in the form of a feeling that he compared to anger.
“Because a lot of the negativity around this school and the football program has been on us and it’s time to change it,” he said.
Butler played nine games last season, which makes him a grizzled veteran compared to his defensive line teammates. With fellow lineman Emmit Gooden out for the season with a knee injury, the returnees have zero starts and four solo tackles among them.
“I feel like there’s a little bit of a subconscious awareness that we have something to prove,” Butler said. “But really it’s about just going out day by day and doing what you have to do. If you make a mistake don’t make it again. If you doing something well, do it again.”
Thoughts: What they said suffices – until the first snap.
Jeremy Pruitt chooses his words more carefully regarding Tennessee’s freshmen as the season draws near. The opener is Aug. 31 against Georgia State. On Tuesday, UT’s head coach explained his purpose.
“We have lots of guys on our football team that have a chance to be really good football players one day,” Pruitt said, “and we’ve got to understand as coaches, I say it all the time, ‘don’t place unrealistic expectations on them.’ ”
Pruitt then related a coaching anecdote involving his father, a high school football coach.
“My dad has always had a saying, ‘for every freshman you play is a loss you should have on your record,’ ” Pruitt said. “That’s the way he looks at it in high school and if you look at it along the way, it’s probably about right.”
Thoughts: Reining in expectations is prudent, no matter how precocious a freshman might be.
Pumping the brakes on the latter thought, however, is equally advisable. Several first-year players likely will be playing key positions, from the offensive line to linebacker. Some of them – offensive lineman Wayna Morris for example – could be precocious enough to be something more than a losing proposition.
The transfer portal takes and, in the case of Tennessee’s Kurott Garland, it also gives back. The 304-pound redshirt freshman defensive lineman returned to practice on Tuesday, rewarding Pruitt’s patience in the process.
“You’re talking about a young man that comes here as a freshman and had several obstacles to go through physically,” Pruitt said. “He was thinking about possibly transferring. We supported him all the way through and, in the end, he decided to come back here. We’re excited that he’s here and I think the guy has lots of ability.”
Thoughts: The story provided a nice human-interest interlude from the usual, more urgent narrative.
That said, UT would be better served by the eligibility of fellow lineman Aubrey Solomon. The wait continues for the NCAA to rule on Tennessee’s waiver request for the junior transfer from Michigan.