From the Erik Ainge show today:
Note: While Erik was at practice a couple days last week he was not at the scrimmage Sunday. Brian Rice is back from his honeymoon in Jamaica.
Ainge opens up by bringing Brian up to speed on what he’s missed so far in fall camp and caps it off by saying Pruitt is controlling the narrative and that narrative is that our guys have the talent and they have the “want-to” and we’re working on the “know-how”. Ainge stresses that he doesn’t think CJP would be saying that about talent if he didn’t think he had players. Ainge also said, based on his observations last week at the practices he saw, we are more talented than people think.
They talk about how some of our guys previously have shown flashes but have been inconsistent. Ainge says a lot of that lack of consistency can be attributed to strength and conditions, lack of confidence, and as Pruitt would say, missing out on the “know-how”.
Ainge said he has no concerns about the ability of our staff to teach the “know-how” over a period of time but if they can pull it off before we go to Charlotte they will deserve accolades. In such a short window that would be very impressive. Ainge says so far he thinks the guys are getting better.
They talked about JJ Peterson and said while the longer it goes the more you wonder but even now the people they talk to on campus are still optimistic that JJ will be here.
They talk about the general nature of the first scrimmage. Ainge says that the first scrimmage is usually to establish yourself up front but you are not going to employ all the tools in your tool box as a lineman because you don’t want to risk injury to your teammates. For example, if Darrell Taylor is coming off of the edge and you are a running back you’re not going to cut block him. Another tool is striking the oncoming rusher with your forearm in his ribs (rib shot). The objective is to slow down the rusher. You don’t do those things in a scrimmage. There’s another technique called the “wrong arm” technique that the defense uses which they would never do in a scrimmage.
Brian asks if Ainge would be concerned if it seemed the defense was ahead of the offense at this point and Ainge said no because of the reasons that the offense is not using its full arsenal of blocking techniques. He said both sides of the ball have techniques to make it uncomfortable and to force you not to play so hard and to slow down a bit. While everyone is playing at 100% without the offense using all of its techniques you’ll end up with a lot more collapsed pockets and collapsed run lanes.
Brian asks if Ainge is concerned about Jeremy Pruitt bringing up turnovers during the scrimmage. Ainge says a little bit because it’s not just about the QBs. It’s about the receivers catching the ball and putting it on the ground, and running backs as well, handoff exchanges, stuff like that. He said based on what he’s seen at practices he has a hard time believing either QB is throwing the ball to the other team. He said based on what he has seen so far and based on what he has heard there’s been pretty good taking care of the football on behalf of the QBs.
Caller calls in asking out about WVU being at a disadvantage when trying to prepare for us.
Ainge talked about this last week and goes on to say that he talked to Pruitt about this a while ago and Pruitt’s comment to him was his first year at Georgia he played 3 true freshmen. There were some guys who didn’t want to buy in or had a harder time buying in, whatever the case was, so they had a sophomore and 3 true freshmen starting as defensive backs. Georgia’s pass defense improved that year and Ainge came away thinking Pruitt believes he can get anyone ready to play, teaching the “know-how”, if the guys have the “want-to”. So with comparable talent to 2014 Georgia you could probably look at the scheme Pruitt used that year to get some idea of what we may do this year in the back end.
Caller calls in to say he thinks JG will be the QB and he really likes our QB coach.
Ainge says he thinks JG will be the starter as well. He thinks everyone else is in an uphill battle to beat out the guy with the most ability, the things you can’t coach. He says it’s possible Pruitt is talking about JG when he talks about having the talent and the “want-to” but needs more “know-how”. Ainge said he knows no one over there has more talent than JG and no one over there has been working harder than he has or wants it more so can you teach him what to do? Ainge said he would be almost critical of the staff if they can’t get JG to play at a high level in his 3rd year on campus after having had some struggles, some highs and lows, and some humbling moments. If you can’t teach him then that means either he’s checked out and doesn’t want to be great and Ainge says he knows that’s not the case or the staff is not able to teach what they want well enough. He doesn’t think that will be the case either. So if all of that is true then he should be a good football player and he should be good this year.
Ainge says the QB battle is set up for JG to lose and it would be so impressive if one of the other guys actually did take the job from JG.
Ainge has been studying WVU film and they’re planning a break down on tomorrow’s show.
Caller asks Ainge to compare this year’s practices to years past,
First, you don’t hear the head coach on the megaphone. You have position coaches and coordinators coaching guys the entire time, challenging guys the entire time. He said he watched Pruitt coaching the corners and he never stop talking for 30 minutes straight. Across the practice field it’s so intense all the time, Ainge said, that if he was still playing he would be reminding his teammates as they left practice that it’s more fun to win and that’s why we grind like this. He said if you throw a ball and a receiver drops it you don’t need to get on the guy because 15 people will. Nothing goes unnoticed. From your teammates a little levity and encouragement can be good because it is that intense out there right now. Ainge said every program that he’s been around that wins, either college or pro, that’s how they ran. It’s not just a good ole time out there. It’s way more intense and it’s way quicker. He talked about tempo and lollygagging. If someone says to someone we need to pick up the tempo it’s basically saying quit lollygagging. The coaching never stops.
Caller asks if there is any concern Pruitt will get frustrated with the guys if things go awry?
Brian says not really. Ainge says he worries especially about Pruitt and how he handles losing. Pruitt has lost 8 games in 6 years. He said it doesn’t matter who you are but when you are that physically and emotionally invested in something and you win, when you start losing, if you start losing, it makes a big difference and how you handle that. Ainge isn’t sure how Pruitt is going to handle losing 3 or 4 games in the last few weeks. He thinks it’s an asset to Pruitt that he has Fulmer as the A.D.
Ainge said in some areas there’s going to be a learning curve for our staff and not just for Pruitt as the head coach. This is, according to Ainge, Helton’s first real solo gig as the offensive play caller. Anyone can call plays at Alabama but here our offense is going to be an extension of Helton. We’re going to have adversity and Ainge doesn’t know how you project how these guys will handle that adversity. He said we watched last year in the face of adversity most of the team quit. He talks about Trey Smith and JG showing up to answer media questions last year on the occasion when their coach didn’t show up. Ainge said it’s hard to lose anywhere; it’s harder to lose in Knoxville.
They talk about the scrimmage yesterday as they address the QB question. Ainge says KC can make all the throws. He doesn’t know if he throws it any more or any less to the other team. He says KC has a slower release and he’s not as athletic but he is big and he’s been there before. There’s definitely merit to him competing. Ainge said he just hasn’t seen him do anything yet that could indicate he could beat out the guy you have to plan your 3 year world domination with.
Ainge reiterated he thinks JG will be the QB at the University of Tennessee. Being the backup QB is hard, Ainge says, if you’ve never done it before. KC has done it before. Ainge says Shrout throws the ball pretty good and all the QBs have been playing well.
He said Pruitt has very high expectations and demands. He said we’re going to see guys on the field this year that know what they are doing and it doesn’t matter if they are a freshman, a JUCO, or whatever. The guys who will play are the ones that get the “know-how”.
Excellent recap. Thanks.
