Tennessee Football: Jeremy Pruitt’s last 673 days have been a tough start to a long rebuild

As of Friday, October 11, 2019, Jeremy Pruitt has been Tennessee’s head football coach for 673 days and has begun the difficult rebuild on Rocky Top.

Jeremy Pruitt was hired as the Tennessee Volunteers head football coach 673 days ago, and it’s been a long, painful process for Pruitt to get Tennessee back to the top of the mountain.

The Vols aren’t there quite yet, but Pruitt reflected on the nearly two years he’s been in Knoxville and his first 17 games as a head coach leading into the Mississippi State game.

"“Going back and looking at our football program from the first day I walked into the building, we are a lot closer today then we were then,” Pruitt said. “I see a bunch of guys that are hungry to have success and are willing to do what it takes to have success. Also, I see a lot of young guys. So, when you have a lot of young guys you are looking for somebody to figure out how to do something.”"

That’s something I can agree with. I think the team that played West Virginia last year and the team that just played Georgia are total opposites. Heck, the team that played Georgia State and the team that played Georgia are complete opposites.

Pruitt was tasked with coming into a situation where the previous coach let the players do whatever they wanted and lacked in the weight room. That left Pruitt with some players who didn’t want to buy into his type of coaching and playing style.

Another big focus has been improving in the weight room, and Pruitt has done a great job with that so far. Craig Fitzgerald has been a phenomenal weight coach for the football program, and Tennessee finally has a few big boys on the roster.

There’s still a lot of work to do on that end, though. It was evident in the Georgia game that those Georgia boys were much bigger than the Tennessee players, and if Pruitt wants to be successful, then getting guys the size of the Georgia players is a must.

"“I know for me, when I have tough situations that happen in my life, who do I call,” Pruitt continued. “I talk to my mom, I talk to my dad, I talk to people who have wisdom. People who have kind of been down that road before. So, you kind of do that as a football player, too. You want to seek out somebody who has been there, done that before."

Pruitt’s dad was a great high school football coach, so getting some wisdom from him might be beneficial for the Vols, but who really knows.

One thing I’ve noticed is Pruitt is still learning, and his players are, too. So who can they reach out to as they continue their journey? Well, it seems like, after the Jeremy Banks incident, Pruitt is a coach that is open to a lot of players, and they trust him enough to reach out to him.

A lot of times, you’ll see position coaches fit in that role rather than the head coach, but I think if Pruitt has the trust of his players to that extent, it can only mean good things for the future of his program.

"“Our team is really a young group of guys, so they are kind of searching and trying to figure it out as we go and trying to kind of find their way,” Pruitt siad. “So, we are getting there, it’s pretty simple when you look at our record. I’ve said it before, turning the football over, not getting enough turnovers, and being clean as we play. So, that’s where we are at. Is it because we lack effort and toughness? No, but we lack a little bit of execution, so we have to find a way to get there.”"

The team is still very young, which could be a good thing for the next couple of years, but it’s a stressful time right now as Pruitt works on developing his young players.

A lot of these guys were successful at the high school level to where they didn’t have to face too many major consequences to their actions. So turning the ball over wasn’t as big of an issue for them in high school because they’d just get the ball back and score on the next drive.

Right now, that’s not the case at Tennessee. If you make a mistake, then that could be amplified to multiple missed opportunities. A turnover in the red zone will forfeit possible points, and against a good team, it will likely lead to the opponent scoring.

Everyone is still learning, and that’s ok with a head coach with no head coaching experience and a bunch of young guys that are trying to give their all for Tennessee.

We still have a long road ahead of us if we want to reach the top of the mountain once again. The good thing is, I think Pruitt is the right guy for the job.