We’ll see. At no point in time last season, from the first play of the season when the WVa DT shot through a wide open gap and nearly decapitated JG, to the last game of the season when they got pushed around by mighty Vandy, did the OL show any toughness, any idea of the blocking schemes, any competence whatsoever.
Perhaps Friend is a great OL coach and it was, for some reason, an anomaly that he had no positive influence on the players he was directly responsible for from week 1 thru week 13. We should surely have a much better idea during and after this season. If he turns it around and the OL suddenly looks like a real SEC OL, then last year is forgotten and forgiven as a one off. If not, which is what I’m guessing we’ll see, then Pruitt will need to look at making a change before Friend’s poor performance begins to hurt his future as Tennessee’s head coach.