The Vols were without their best player, and one of the best players in college football, in Saturday's 27-24 loss to South Carolina. But this situation is more important than football.
Tennessee announced Thursday that star offensive lineman Trey Smith is out indefinitely after doctors found blood clots in his lungs for the second time this year.
Jeremy Pruitt was asked about Smith after Saturday's game.
"For one, we’re very thankful that our doctors done a really good job to diagnose and figure out what was going on with Trey," Pruitt said.
"It’s more important than this football game, if you want to know the truth. Trey is doing great. He’s out of the hospital today. Everyone knew Trey’s circumstance. It wasn’t any secret. Everybody know what was going on. And everyone knew that this could possibly happen at some point in time. We had our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t. It unfortunately did and our doctors did a great job figuring it out. I think our guys, I think they want to play well. They want play well for Trey, they want to play well for themselves, they want to play well for this university."
Smith tweeted a few times during the game, sending encouragement to his teammates.
Whether or not he will be able to play football again is still to be determined.
"I’m not a doctor. I’ve stayed out of that the whole time," Pruitt said. "Whatever Trey and his family wanted to do, we have supported him. Everyone at the university has. That’s not our decision. That’s theirs."