Tennessee will hold a scrimmage on Sunday evening in order to give those missed time during fall camp a chance to play catch up, Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt said following Wednesday’s practice.
“Sunday night we’re going to have a big scrimmage for the guys that aren’t getting to play a huge role on our team right now,” Pruitt told reporters over Zoom. “There’s a lot of these guys that are plenty capable. And based off circumstances, whether they were out for fall camp, maybe they were injured, or maybe they were just in quarantine and we had such small numbers we just didn’t get a chance at that time to practice (third team and fourth team). Maybe it didn’t give them the opportunity. And a lot of these guys are kind of ready.
“We need to get them out there and let them play some ball. We’re going to do that Sunday night when we get back.”
One of the players that will be participating in Sunday’s scrimmage will be utility player Dee Beckwith. The freshman weapon on offense has not played yet this season due to an ankle injury he suffered the week of the South Carolina game.
“Unfortunately he won’t travel with us this week,” Pruitt said at the time. “He suffered an ankle injury this week in practice. He’ll be out and hopefully we can get him back and get him back there again so he can contribute by the time the season is over.”
Beckwith signed with Tennessee this past recruiting cycle as a four-star prospect out of Florence High School in Florence, Alabama. 247Sports ranked Beckwith as the No. 19 overall athlete in the country and the 14th-best player in the state of Alabama.
The 6-foot-5, 220 lbs. athlete worked at multiple positions throughout fall camp. Beckwith started out at wide receiver, and then worked at tight end, before finishing up camp at running back. Beckwith was expected to contribute at multiple positions this fall for the Vols.
“He’s participating on the scout team now, that’s the next step,” Pruitt said Wednesday. “Saw him make a really good run out there today. As we go, that’s kind of the next step with him.”
No. 14 Tennessee travels to Athens this Saturday to take on No. 3 Georgia. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
