Before every home game, as tradition dictates, the Vols walk through a sea of orange-clad fans outside Neyland Stadium from the bus to locker room. Saturday afternoon before the game against Missouri, first-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt introduced a little something different.
Pruitt stopped the Vol Walk at the intersection of Peyton Manning Pass and Phillip Fulmer Way and gathered his team around him.
"I want you to look around at what you're playing for today," Pruitt told his team. "You look around and see what you're playing for."
Pruitt continued his pep talk for about 15 seconds before continuing the Vol Walk along it's normal path.
"I wanted them to see who they represent, the people who come to support this university that have pride in the Tennessee football program and in the university itself, that it’s bigger than these guys," Pruitt said in his postgame press conference after the loss.
"I wanted to make sure that they looked around, because it’s a pretty huge site to see - all these people with orange on standing out there to watch these guys walk. I just wanted to make sure they understood who they represent. It’s not about them; it’s not about me. But we need to make sure we leave it better than we found it, and I just wanted them to see it and understand it. It didn’t work, but I wanted them to see it and understand it."
Tennessee lost to Missouri, 50-17 and will have to beat Vanderbilt on the road in the regular season finale to earn a bowl bid.