On the eve of the Kentucky-Tennessee football rivalry renewal in Knoxville, five things to know about the Tennessee Volunteers:
1. Tennessee’s defensive coordinator worked for Mark Stoops
Actually two of the coaches on Jeremy Pruitt’s staff are Stoops proteges. Tennessee defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley and defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh were both on Stoops’ first staff at Kentucky in 2013.
Ansley left in 2016 to rejoin Nick Saban at Alabama, where Ansley had worked as a graduate assistant in 2010 and 2011. After two years in Tuscaloosa, Ansley was hired by Jon Gruden to be the defensive backs coach for the Oakland Raiders. Ansley left the NFL after one season to join Pruitt as defensive coordinator.
After coaching Za’Darius Smith at East Mississippi Community College, Brumbaugh was on Stoops’ staff for four seasons. The former Auburn defensive lineman was then hired by D.J. Durkin to be co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach a Maryland. After two seasons there, Brumbaugh was the defensive line coach under Mel Tucker at Colorado. He was hired as co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Tennessee in February.
Tennessee jumped from 49th in 2018 to 23rd in total defense last season. The Vols are currently 31st out of 76 teams in that category this pandemic season. The Vols went from 77th in 2018 to 29th in scoring defense last season.
2. Tennessee is No. 7 in the recruiting rankings
The Vols are ranked seventh in Rivals’ team recruiting rankings for 2021, trailing only No. 1 Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, Florida and Michigan.
The Vols have not received commitments from any five-star prospects, but have landed pledges from 12 four-star prospects and 13 three-stars. Tennessee has 26 commitments overall, including a commitment from four-star inside linebacker Terrence Lewis from Miami, ranked No. 38 overall by Rivals; four-star tight end Hudson Wolfe from Savannah, Tenn., ranked No. 42 by Rivals; four-star defensive end Dylan Brooks of Roanoke, Ala., ranked No. 56; and four-star inside linebacker Aaron Willis from Chester, Va., ranked No. 73 by Rivals, among others.
Pruitt on the Vols’ recruiting success: “I’ve been a part of the best there can possibly be out there. We know what great looks like as a staff. We’ve hired a (handful) of guys who understand that. … I feel like we have one of the best coaching staffs in the entire country. The players see that. They believe that. There’s no better recruiters than the players in our program.”
3. It’s easy to poke fun at Jeremy Pruitt
The 46-year-old coach from Gainesville, Ala., talks like an old-school football coach, and it was difficult to figure out just exactly what Pruitt was doing with his upside-down mask last week at Georgia as the Vols were losing 44-21 to the Bulldogs.
But after going 5-7 his first season as the Tennessee head coach in 2018, and losing to Georgia State and BYU in the first games of 2019, the Vols got hot down the stretch to win their final six games last season, including a come-from-behind 23-22 win over Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. The Vols started 2020 with wins over South Carolina and Missouri, before surrendering a 21-17 halftime lead in the 44-21 loss at Georgia.
Pruitt was a high school coach in Alabama before being hired by Saban as the Crimson Tide’s director of player development in 2007. He was promoted to defensive backs coach in 2010. He left Tuscaloosa to become Florida State’s defensive coordinator in 2013 after Mark Stoops became Kentucky’s head coach. Mark Richt then hired Pruitt to be Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2014 after Todd Grantham left for Louisville. After two years in Athens, Pruitt was hired as Alabama’s defensive coordinator after Kirby Smart became the head coach at Georgia. He was hired by Tennessee after a long and tumultuous coaching search.
Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano will be playing against the Wildcats for the fourth time on Saturday. In three previous games, the senior has completed 37 of 51 passes for 554 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Alex Slitz Lexington Herald-Leader
4. Jarrett Guarantano has played well against Kentucky
As part of his roller-coaster career in Knoxville, UT quarterback Jarrett Guarantano has experienced many of his highs against Kentucky.
The senior from Lodi, N.J., was 18-of-23 for 242 yards passing in the Vols’ 29-26 loss in Lexington in 2017. He was 12-of-20 for 197 yards and two touchdowns in Tennessee’s 24-7 victory over Kentucky at Neyland Stadium in 2018. With Tennessee trailing 13-3 at halftime last year at Kroger Field, Guarantano took over at quarterback in the second half and led the Vols on a pair of touchdown drives.
On the first, Guarantano threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Callaway to cap a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive. On the second, Guarantano found receiver Josh Palmer for a 12-yard score to finish a seven-play, 68-yard drive and put the Vols in front 17-13. That turned out to be the final score.
Through three games this season, Guarantano has completed 56 of 90 passes (62.9 percent) for 664 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. Last week at Georgia, he was 23-of-36 for 215 yards with two scores, but threw an interception and lost two fumbles.
5. Kentucky hasn’t won at Tennessee since 1984
The Cats will be trying to snap a 17-game losing streak at Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Jerry Claiborne was the coach the last time Kentucky won on Rocky Top, beating the Johnny Majors team 17-12 in 1984 in Knoxville.
Majors was 7-1 against Kentucky at Neyland. Phil Fulmer was a perfect 8-0. Derek Dooley went 1-0 against UK in Neyland, while an interim coach led the Vols to the 2012 victory after Dooley had been fired. Butch Jones was 2-0 against Mark Stoops in Knoxville. Pruitt is 1-0 vs. Stoops in Big Orange Country.
Most of the losses in the streak have been by blowout. Only three have been one-score games — Tennessee’s 28-24 victory in 1988; the Vols’ 37-31 win in 2004; UT’s 17-12 victory in 2006. Tennessee’s last five home wins over Kentucky have come by an average of 22.4 points.
UK’s last trip to Neyland saw the Cats come out flat and lose 24-7. Stoops said this week he was going to change up the team’s routine going to Knoxville, but declined to give specifics about the changes.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 2:35 PM.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys.Support my work with a digital subscription
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