Everything Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said after Vols beat Indiana in Gator Bowl

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22 in the Gator Bowl on Thursday night.

The Vols (8-5) put together a fantastic fourth-quarter comeback to stun the Hoosiers (8-5). 

Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt answered questions from the media after the game.

Here is everything Pruitt said Thursday.

Opening statement:

First off, what a fantastic ballgame. The players on both teams, the way they competed in the game, I can't say enough about Indiana, Coach Allen and his staff and what a great job that they did. You know, and then you look at our guys, it took 60 minutes, but our guys continued to scratch and claw and just kept trying to find a way. You know, we kind of changed some things during the game a little bit on both sides of the ball, just trying to find something that was working.

Offensively we got a drive going there in the fourth quarter. We scored there. We get the onside kick and punch it in in three plays and kind of held on the entire -- the rest of the way there.

But if you look at the way the game went, we probably messed it up about as bad as you can for the middle eight of the game. We get the ball with three minutes and 36 seconds to go in the second quarter, got a 3rd down there, we turned the ball over. Results in three points. Indiana gets the ball to start the second half, they convert several 3rd downs there. We have them in a 2nd-and-20, they make a good call, we don't play the screen play correctly, and it turns into a 2nd-and-1, and they just kept -- whether it was running the football or getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands, lots of empty, lots of adjustments in the game. But they score there. Ty pops a return there. You think we're fixing to get a little momentum, and then we throw a pick six. So there's 17 points that didn't go to the good guys in that stretch there.

But our kids kind of kept on fighting. Our coaches done a really nice job, and our fan base - all the orange was there when the clock struck zero that was there when the game started, and we can't say enough about our fan support and what they mean to everybody associated with this organization.

Jeremy, does this game kind of epitomize this team?

Well, I think you're right. You really don't find out a whole lot about yourself or a team until you face adversity. And we've faced a lot this year. A lot of it was self-inflicting, but still, it is what it is.

You know, I really think the assistant coaches on our staff, because of the men that they are and the character that they have, I really think the team kind of took on their personalities, stayed the course, looked in the mirror and said, how can I improve, how can I be my best. Wasn't looking for excuses. We owned who we were and worked hard to improve, and I think that says a whole lot about our assistant coaches, everybody associated in our program, and the players on our team. You know, no quitters on that team.

Jeremy, why did you decide to do the onside kick in that situation? And then Eric, can you take us through that play from your perspective?

Well, I think there's four minutes and 34 seconds to go. We got three time-outs. It was something that we felt was there when we were breaking them down, and as the game went, we felt like it was there. We've probably repped it 500 or 600 times over the last six months. Had confidence in our players. So just felt like we needed to do it there, and Paxton laid down a great kick. Eric - we got three guys that's going to block the three returners, and we got two guys getting the ball. Eric timed it right, and it was a great kick. Wasn't much they could do based off how they were aligned.

You talked about this game kind of reflecting what the season has been like for your team. What about for Jarrett on a personal level? You yank him in the third quarter and he comes back to lead two touchdown drives in the final seven minutes. What does that say about him to kind of reverse that mojo?

Well, I played for a high school basketball coach. If you shot a shot and you missed it and you wasn't the first one back on defense, he took you out of the game. I learned at an early age if I was going to shoot it I'd better at least get back fast on defense, right. The way I look at quarterbacks, Jarrett didn't play good. You know, I have lots of confidence in him, but he didn't play good, and if you don't play good, we've got other good players behind him. We put Brian in. Brian didn't play good. Probably threw three plays that should have been intercepted and they kicked a field goal, you know. It's part of it. Nobody is entitled to anything around here. We have to earn it, earn every bit of it. Jarrett knows it, Brian knows it, everybody that's associated with our program knows it.

It's a performance-based industry, and we've got to perform. Jarrett performed pretty good when he came back in there, you know, and we needed him to.

Following up on JG, when you decided to put him back into the game, did you have a conversation with him about wiping the clean slate? Take us through that decision and then maybe some of the conversations you had with Jarrett before inserting him back into the game.

Let me tell you, Jarrett, he's got thick skin, OK. He's been through the wars. He knows the expectations that we have, that he has for himself. So sometimes as a quarterback it helps to go over there and watch it from the sideline for a couple of series, you know. Maybe you see a little something that you didn't see before, you kind of gather yourself, get your composure, figure out what I need to do to play better, and that's what we did. It's really no secret.

When the game was on the line, that's who we wanted in the game. You know what? He came through. He came through, like he has the last six games.

Can you talk about just this senior group that you'll look back on in a couple years from now, talk about their play and especially over the last six to seven weeks, it just seems like y'all hit a switch. Can you talk about that, especially with this group?

You know, I think everybody that's been coming to the games, they see what kind of football players these guys are. These guys all had phenomenal years. You know, what I like to say is what I think about them as people. When you talk about trusting somebody, these guys are easy to trust because they're dependable. You can count on them. They have character. They represent the university and themselves, their family in the right way. They're really, really good football players, and we're going to miss them, you know, and these guys are going to have an opportunity to play some more football, and I hope they get to play for a long time.

But I'll never forget them. I'll never forget them because they hung in there when they didn't have to. They hung in there when it wasn't easy to do, which says a whole lot about them.

Earlier you discussed how your assistants grew throughout the season. How would you say that you grew as a coach during the season that started inauspiciously and finished with a win in January?

Well, one thing, you realize you don't have all the answers. Fortunate enough -- I've been fortunate enough to hire really good staff and using these guys. There's lots of good coaches on our staff. Probably delegating, letting these guys, starting with defensively, letting Coach Ansley and Coach Rumph, Coach Sherrer, Coach Rock kind of doing their thing on defense and kind of just helping them along the way, not butting in, letting Jim and Tee and those guys do it on offense. You know, offensively I've got a lot of really good plays to run after the play is over with. You know, so it's probably not a whole lot of fun to be on that headset, especially the first three quarters tonight.

You've got a freshman MVP here and obviously a bowl game win. How much can a win like this, especially the way it ended, how much momentum does that take you into the off-season and into next season?

You know, it's something for these guys that are coming back, the example that the seniors that are leaving here, that they've set. Most of those guys have graduated, and if they haven't graduated they're going to graduate soon. So first off, doing the right things academically, which is something that's important to everybody in our program.

You know, but we're excited about the future of our program because of guys like Eric Gray. You don't have to spend a whole lot of time with Eric Gray to figure out that he's made the right way. He's got the right stuff inside of him. You see it out there on the field. Just hang around him a little bit off the field; you'll appreciate him that much more.

On that onside kick, were you tempted at times earlier this year to try that same kick? You said you've been working on it for a while. Were there other games where it popped into your head? And Jaylen McCollough, I know you haven't seen film yet, but it looked like he was all over the place today making plays.

Well, I'm kind of a go-for-it guy. I look at myself a little bit as a long shot. It hadn't been that long ago I was coaching high school ball, lining off the field, washing the uniforms and things like that, and now I'm the head coach at the University of Tennessee. If it looks like it's there, you might as well take it is the way I look at it. That's kind of the way we coach, you know, rather get them before they get us.

You said he was all over the field? See, that's the thing about coaching. Right before I walked in here, I said, Jaylen, I don't remember much except them catching that ball on you right there at the end. No, Jaylen is a guy, much like Eric, high character, winner, competitor, tough, smart. You know, these guys have a lot of the same qualities as these seniors that just walked out the door, and that's the type of guys we're looking for in this program.

When you look back - you talked about looking back at the senior class, but this freshman class, did you anticipate them being as ready as they were and kind of the progression Eric, Henry, obviously Roman made a play tonight, got to the quarterback, several guys out there making plays that were freshmen?

You know, when we recruit, there's certain criteria that we look for for critical factors for every position. But probably the most important thing is the makeup. Who are they? What kind of student are they? Are they a leader? Do they got character? Are they dependable? And that's something that we have questions about when it comes to recruiting everybody, and we feel like we've recruited some really good student-athletes in this past class.

We saw you after the game lean over to Jauan and he was grasping that trophy and you asked him for a picture. Looked like he didn't want to give the trophy to anybody else. What has your relationship been like with him throughout his career and your career at Tennessee.

Can I talk about Jauan first? So the first time I ever met Jauan Jennings he comes in my office and we're going to decide and create a plan to see if he's going to be able to get back on the team. I think everybody knows this, pretty well documented. But anyhow, so we lay out a plan, and it's a pretty tough deal. There's lots of things - and Jauan done absolutely every bit of it to do it. But by the time he left my office, he was trying to negotiate what position he was going to play, and I said, dude, you're not even on the team yet, all right, so let's just see if we can make it to this first thing before we start talking that way. But that's the way Jauan is. You know, he's always in there trying to represent.