Tennessee Football: Can Pruitt change Tennessee like he did Georgia

Former Georgia player Kelin Johnson talked about Jeremy Pruitt’s time in Athens, and it makes me think Pruitt can turn things around at Tennessee.

Through the first two and a half weeks or so of the season, I was just about out on Jeremy Pruitt. Since then, I’ve had a change of heart, and regardless of what has happened this year, I think we should give Pruitt a legitimate chance.

Former Georgia defensive back Kelin Johnson reassured my newfound thoughts on Pruitt when he discussed Pruitt’s time at Georgia under Mark Richt.

"“Pruitt brought a lot of changes to Georgia that really put us at the top in recruiting,” former Georgia defensive back Kelin Johnson told Vols Wire. “I would have to say Georgia is a top 5 school the past few years because of the changes he brought under Mark Richt.”"

This quote here shows that Pruitt is an elite recruiter and can bring in the best talent in the country. We already had a pretty good idea he could achieve this from his short time at Tennessee, but this backs up those thoughts.

"“I worked closely with him,” Johnson said of Pruitt. “Pruitt has a unique way of coaching. It’s a constant focus to make sure his team is prepared. If it’s not right, he will continue until it’s done the right way.“He’s a great teacher of details and it really showed his years at Georgia on the defensive side of the ball. High energy and super smart.”"

If there was one thing, the Vols need to focus on its details. Doing the little things and getting the details right. Pruitt’s emphasis on that could be a significant factor in changing how this program functions.

Pruitt set the Bulldogs up for success in his brief stint at Georgia. They’ve clearly capitalized off of it and rode the wave even with transitioning from Richt to Kirby Smart.

Georgia was also decently set up before Pruitt got there, too. That’s not quite the case for Tennessee. The previous staff’s last season was a terrible one in recruiting as they probably knew they’d be gone after 2017.

They never developed the good players they did have to their full potential, so that led to having players with great potential be only average or in only a few cases good.

So Pruitt was left with a much worse situation than he had at Georgia, but if he could do it there, he can do it here. It may take a couple more years to complete the job, but Pruitt is a man of great detail according to Johnson so if he keeps that up and he’s given the time he’ll be successful.