Tennessee Football: Jeremy Pruitt is painting a masterpiece

Jeremy Pruitt is entering his second season at Tennessee, and he’s changing the culture and painting a beautiful picture of the football program.

Jeremy Pruitt is changing what it means to be a Tennessee Volunteer football player. He’s changing how a Vol should act both on and off the field, and it’s something the football program has needed for a long time.

Tennessee hasn’t been respected as a football team since Fulmer was let go. Since then, the program has been in shambles, but it looks like Pruitt is the right guy for this job and he’s giving his all to change the program, the culture.

Tennessee was at the very bottom when Pruitt got on campus. His job was to recover from a 4-8 season which was the first time the football program has lost eight games in a season.

That’s not easy on top of Tennessee fans forcing Pruitt to prove to them he’s the guy before they get behind him. He has one of the hardest jobs in college football in front of one of the most impatient fanbases at the moment.

If Pruitt would’ve gotten here when Lyle Jones did, then I think the fanbase would’ve 100% been behind him, but the fans are tired of losing and will holdout until their guy is the coach.

Luckily for them, I think Pruitt is that guy, and it looks like he’s not only improving the product on the field but also how the program operates off the field.

Vols wide receiver Jauan Jennings came out and made headlines when he spoke to the media by claiming he’s an alpha male, but that’s not the quote to focus on.

"“Not just me, but the whole team,” Jennings said. “Getting better every day and just playing your role. All you have to do is your job.”"

Ah yes, there it is. When asked if he matured since his incident last year he said not only he has, but the rest of the team has too.

There are multiple ways you can take this quote. The team has matured as in growing up, matured as a team, or matured on the field and in the weight room. Hopefully, it’s all three, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t expect that to be the case.

It seems like Pruitt is coaching these young men up in multiple different ways. The best coaches set their players for life after football. I can’t guarantee that’s what Pruitt is doing, but he’s at least preparing his players for life after college football.

A year ago Jennings wouldn’t have made those comments to the media. He likely would’ve talked about his play on the practice field, but now he’s bragging about his teammates.

That’s nice to see; it’ll put a smile on your face. I don’t expect Jennings to stop being the player he is on the field because that’s what makes him a great receiver but it seems like Pruitt is coaching him and probably the rest of the team on how to be a man.

When pitching your program and university to parents if you can show you can take their son and transform them from a boy to a man that’s a huge selling point.

The culture is changing at Tennessee to something we haven’t seen in a long, long time, and I’m here for it.