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Tennessee Football: Did Nick Saban hint at Jeremy Pruitt’s success?

By Colton Pickard

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts during the press conference after his teams 44-16 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts during the press conference after his teams 44-16 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Nick Saban has had dozens of assistants move on for head coaching jobs. Tennessee’s coach Jeremy Pruitt could be the first to bring Saban down.

Ever since Nick Saban has taken over as the head coach of Alabama, he’s been so successful his assistants have left almost every year for a head coaching job. Tennessee’s head coach Jeremy Pruitt is in that very position and could be the first to bring Saban down.

Pruitt isn’t the first choice of coaches to bring Saban down, but he very well could be the one to do it. Some thought maybe Lane Kiffin or Kirby Smart could be that guy, but Pruitt may be the best Saban prodigy to do it at the moment.

Saban’s record against his former assistants is currently a perfect 16-0. Pruitt is currently 0-1 against his former boss after a 58-21 loss in Knoxville last season.

Although it is unlikely that any of Saban’s former assistant will ultimately bring him down Saban is accepting the fact that the competition is getting tougher. At SEC Media Days, Saban made it clear the competition is going to keep getting tougher.

"“All of the former assistants that we have, they get jobs,” Nick Saban said. “They don’t take a program over that has the established, you know, talent, culture, and all that we have at Alabama. So when they get the opportunity to establish those things in their program, they’re going to be able to beat Alabama and compete with Alabama.”"

Usually, when a successful coach like Saban says something like this, it’s him being humble and trying to prop up his former assistants. This could be the case again with this quote, but when you think about it, he’s right.

Saban knows what the programs have in terms of talent and culture when his assistants leave so he is watching these guys craft their own program, and that has to be pretty cool.

But when you see how successful Smart has been recently and how well Pruitt is doing so far, he has to be a bit worried they could be gunning for him.

Now when it comes down to who he’s talking about if he even has anyone specifically in mind. Pruitt is one of the most recent assistants to get a head coaching job so he could be one of the guys on Saban’s mind.

There aren’t many Saban disciples to move on to become great head coaches so there could only be a handful of guys Saban is talking about.

Smart is the closest right now, but I think Pruitt is right behind him. Pruitt is building a solid foundation at Tennessee and could be on Kirby’s heels very soon.

Tennessee is already a popular upset pick to take down Georgia in 2019 and Pruitt could soon be taking over as the best Saban disciple taking down Smart and Georgia this fall.

Next. Who’s in the right in the great transfer debate?. dark

It’s only a matter of time before one of Saban’s former assistants takes him down I’m just hoping it’s Pruitt that can get it done.

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