Pruitts Monday Presser Highlights

[Tnphil]

C&P from TOS


>The missed field goal, we were lucky it wasn't blocked. It would have been if kicked straight.

>We were very poor on third down. That has to be addressed.

>We didn't turn the ball over and that's why we won the football game.

>Missouri won the second half against Bama. They played hard and were aggressive. They will be a tremendous challenge for us.

>On Shamburger and Middleton... It's not fair to put out exactly why they're out. Neither player was for discipline reasons.

>On playing Thompson at safety... McCollough didn't get to practice. The plan was to play him in the second half if he played. Same with Burrell. Both had been in quarantine. Bryce has been in the system for a couple of years so we felt like that was the best thing to do. Theo Jackson can play all the spots but we went into the game trying to train him at star, even though he's really a safety.

>We focused yesterday on cleaning up the last game, trying to clean up and make corrections. Then we recruited the rest of the night. We're taking today off and we'll focus on the rest of our game plan today.

>The first four practices we had no specialists there. And 10 of the 14 after that we had about 50 players out. And that's with no spring practice.

>I didn't realize at the time how poor we were on third down offensively. We had chances to distance ourselves and end the game but didn't take advantage. We need more turnovers on defense.

>On Deandre Johnson... He's practiced well every day. He's been in our system for three years and has some maturity about him. He has to do it week in and week out.

>It's hard to get good as a team and get chemistry if you don't practice. Hopefully we can create some chemistry in all three phases. You typically improve the most from the first game to the second and we have a lot of areas to improve on.

>On the defensive line... We made a lot of errors up front. I felt like we played hard just not smart. We have to do a better job as a staff to do things they can execute. I love our players attitude when things weren't going well. They're very coachable. The kept trying to find a way and that says a whole lot about them.

>Paxton Brooks, was 157 pounds when he signed. He's 195 now. I'd have liked to see him run over two or three people and get the first down on the fumbled snap. But he's kicked well.

>Pruitt says he hasn't heard anything about the report that SEC presidents are voting to change the rule on transfers within the conference.

>We need a little firmer pocket in the throw game. As a unit we improved, but it's not where we want to be.

>On our receivers... We need to block a little better on the perimeter. We need to be able to line up properly. There were a couple of balls out there that we need to bring in that stalled some drives. Every position we have there were some good things but a whole lot we can improve on.

>Brandon Johnson made a really though catch. He is a guy that hasn't missed any practice. He can play every position and he's a good special teams player. He's a good leader amongst the group. Nothing he does surprises me.

>Jeremy Banks has a chance to be a really good player but he's not going to be unless he can do it without penalties. That can't happen. But I thought he and Crouch both did some good things but they struggled at times in coverage. Q played outside linebacker last year and moved him inside for spring ball. These guys aren't playing a lot of live reps. But these are two guys that play the same position, and we have a package for those two and To'o To'o but we're just not ready for that right now. I think you'll see a lot of improvement out of both of those guys.

>On our freshmen... These guys are going to play more and more as the season goes. Our circumstances the last six weeks, with people not being available has really hurt the freshmen class. We could only practice two groups, and if you're third team you aren't getting out there.