Vols notes: Jeremy Pruitt says defender was 'playing hard' on quarterback hit

Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano braces as he is hit by Florida defensive back Jeawon Taylor (29) and defensive lineman Tedarrell Slaton, obscured, during Saturday night's SEC East game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano braces as he is hit by Florida defensive back Jeawon Taylor (29) and defensive lineman Tedarrell Slaton, obscured, during Saturday night's SEC East game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt diffused controversy Monday about the hit that ended his starting quarterback's night in the Volunteers' 47-21 loss to Florida on Saturday.

Florida buck linebacker CeCe Jefferson barreled into Jarrett Guarantano's knee after Guarantano released a pass in the third quarter. He never re-entered.

"I saw a guy playing hard," Pruitt said of Jefferson. "It's unfortunate that Jarrett got hit the way he did. But you know what? Guys play hard. I can tell you this. It wasn't intentional by no means. The guy's just stumbling around."

Pruitt suggested Tennessee would not file a complaint about the play with the league office.

"We didn't send it in," he said. "I've got confidence in the officiating crew. They're there to help the players."

Guarantano is expected to be available Saturday when Tennessee (2-2, 0-1 SEC) plays at second-ranked Georgia (4-0, 2-0) at 3:30 p.m.

"Jarrett got banged up a little bit," Pruitt said. "But I said when I first took the job that Jarrett's a tough guy. So he's back at it. I saw him yesterday throwing balls and dropping in to the indoor (facility)."

The redshirt sophomore quarterback entered the Florida game with no turnovers through Tennessee's first three games but fumbled and threw an interception on the Vols' first two series against the Gators. The fumble appeared to be the result of a missed assignment by the offensive line.

"It was not our best performance," sophomore offensive lineman Trey Smith said. "We hold ourselves to a higher standard. JG got hit way too much. He was on the ground way too much. That's our job, to protect JG. It's our job to get a surge on the line for our running backs to get a hole. We've just got to do a better job doing our job."

Sapp situation

Pruitt said after Saturday's loss that he asked redshirt junior linebacker Quart'e Sapp to leave the sideline at Neyland Stadium "because he wouldn't go into the game when he was asked to go in."

Sapp refuted that version of events in a Sunday message posted to Twitter.

Pruitt did not offer specifics Monday when asked if Sapp would be suspended.

"It's like I told ya'll after the game, that once me and him sat down and talked it would be between us and keep it in-house," Pruitt said. "But I will say this, I said it the other night and I've said it to our players. Since I have been here, he has been a really good ambassador to our football program, to our team and a leader on our team. One mistake, everybody makes mistakes. So we're going to move on and we'll go from there."

Hurt before game

Tennessee freshman defensive lineman John Mincey "hurt his elbow a little bit" during Saturday's warmups, Pruitt said.

"Nothing was broken," the coach said. "We held him out of the game, but I think he could've tolerated the pain. He wanted to play, but we had to hold him out. I saw him yesterday, and he had a big smile on his face, so hopefully we can get him back out here soon."

Mincey has appeared in two games and made two tackles.

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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