Tennessee hit the practice field for its lone open media portion of the week on Wednesday afternoon. It’s the bye week in November, which means it’s a little bit lighter of a workload for UT this week.
In the midst of cold weather, Jeremy Pruitt spent the entire open portion of practice working with the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Tee Martin and Brian Niedermeyer weren’t in attendance for practice and were presumably on the recruiting trail. Pruitt was getting after the wide receivers in Martin’s place.
Fundamentals were the focus of Wednesday’s practice. Pruitt mentioned during his Wednesday press conference that this week was going to be used for each position to really hone in on the fundamentals. At practice, each position group was doing a drill specific to their position to focus on the finer details.
At quarterback, Brian Maurer and JT Shrout were first in line during routes versus air, as has been the case for weeks. Jarrett Guarantano continues to look the way a veteran quarterback should during the open portion of practice.
Along the offensive line, Darnell Wright was dressed out and going through drills. Jahmir Johnson began practice going through drills, but he left drills at one point with Tennessee’s head trainer.
Off on the side riding the bikes with Craig Fitzgerald were wide Jerrod Means, linebacker Henry To’o To’o, and running back Carlin Fils-aime.
With both Niedermeyer and Chris Rumph on the recruiting trail, graduate assistants worked with the tight ends and outside linebackers through drills.
Cornerback Bryce Thompson did not practice. The sophomore suffered an injury during Tennessee’s win over Kentucky on Saturday, but Pruitt didn’t give a specific update on Thompson when asked on Wednesday. The defensive backs worked on tracking the football before high-pointing it, and they focused on open-field tackles as well.
