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1st-year coach Pruitt trashes Tennessee's spring showing

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First-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt ripped into his program Saturday after Tennessee's annual spring scrimmage, going so far as to say some players "flat-out quit."

"Some guys went out there and competed and tried to do it to the best of their ability, and then we had some guys ... that ain't what they did," Pruitt told reporters, according to ESPN's Chris Low. "You can look at it all the way down - total yardage, third-down conversions. After 15 days, to me, with some of the guys, that's very disappointing, but it's probably a good indication of who they are. ... It doesn't say much for them."

Pruitt, who last season coordinated Alabama's defense, is looking to help Tennessee bounce back from a tumultuous 4-8 campaign, which included an 0-8 mark in SEC action last year.

By the sounds of it, though, he knows the Volunteers have a long way to go before realizing that vision.

"We'd be about a D," Pruitt responded when asked to grade his team's grasp of the new offensive and defensive systems put in place by his staff. He did, however, cut the players a bit of slack on that front.

"There are lots of things we're coaching. Not only are we installing an offense and a defense, but we're teaching them how to practice, teaching them how to compete, teaching them how to lift (weights)," he said. "I could fill up a wall with things we're teaching them here. There's lots of things to learn. I think our guys have learned enough this spring that they will do a good job this summer when the other guys get in here."

Consistent with the sour theme of his post-scrimmage press conference, Pruitt also compared some of the empty seats in Neyland Stadium to the aloofness of some players.

"To me, it's kind of like our football team for the fans. The ones who were here, I'm proud they were here. They're fired up. They're ready to get going," he began. "Then there were some people who weren't here that had legitimate reasons. They couldn't be here. And then there were some people that (weren't) here ... why (weren't) they here? It's kind of like our football team. I think we all need to look in the mirror and see who we want to be."

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