Tennessee Vols: Funny Jeremy Pruitt/Nick Saban Anecdote
By Zach Ragan
Recently hired Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt is currently pulling double duty as Alabama’s defensive coordinator.
Just because Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt is currently working to help Alabama win a national championship, doesn’t mean he isn’t the enemy in the eyes of Nick Saban.
Pruitt met with the media on Friday, ahead of Alabama’s rematch with Clemson, and told a funny story about a recent recruiting conversation in Tuscaloosa.
Saban was apparently going over a recruiting list with linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi and hesitated when he realized Pruitt was in the room.
Jeremy Pruitt relayed a funny moment when Alabama was going over its recruiting list recently. "Coach Saban kind of looked at Tosh (Lupoi) and didn’t say anything. I said, ‘Tosh, do you need me to leave the room?’ Everybody kind of got a kick out of it."
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 29, 2017
Obviously it’s no big secret who Alabama is recruiting and targeting, which is something Pruitt was quick to point out.
More from Jeremy Pruitt on recruiting: "There’s not going to be any recruit that gets into the middle of our friendship. But if we’re not recruiting the same guys that Alabama and Florida State and Ohio State does, then we’re probably recruiting the wrong guys."
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 29, 2017
Let’s be honest here, it doesn’t matter if every coach in college football knows who Alabama is recruiting. If Nick Saban offers a three-star player, everyone else is going to follow suit. And that three-star player will likely turn into a four-star player by the time his recruiting process is over.
By the way, Pruitt might have been taking a jab at the former staff with his “If we’re not recruiting the same guys that Alabama and Florida State and Ohio State does, then we’re probably recruiting the wrong guys” comment.
It’s been obvious in the last couple of weeks that Pruitt and his staff are recruiting more talented players than Butch Jones and his staff recruited.
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That doesn’t mean the Vols are suddenly going to start landing a plethora of five-star recruits, but if you don’t heavily recruit them, you’ll never land any of them.