Don’t look at the recruiting rankings right now.
No, I mean it. Don’t. Please.
A Tennessee recruiting class that once climbed as high as third nationally before coach Butch Jones’ fiefdom came crashing down, the lull in leadership broke down relationships and the administration botched the coaching search [though may have landed the hire] is currently in shambles.
If you’ve patronized the message boards lately or read Twitter, you’d think Tennessee’s class has collapsed around new head coach Jeremy Pruitt. That’s not so. At all. Local writer Mike Griffith even went as far today as to say Pruitt is “struggling.” That’s laughable.
It’s not a great look yet again for UT that it had favorite son and recruiting organizer extraordinaire Austin Thomas stole from LSU before a deal fell through. It was unfortunate for the Vols that Chris Weinke was set to leave Alabama with Pruitt to come to UT before his alma mater Florida State came calling.
But don’t look at this incomplete recruiting class and judge Pruitt’s body of work. It’s very much a work in progress. He couldn’t develop relationships before this early signing period where players can sign tomorrow, and he couldn’t help that some of the elite players who were once committed have a frontrunner mentality and dropped the Vols.
It’s been a perfect storm that’s caused the Vols to plummet out of the recruiting rankings.
When Tennessee was recruiting under Jones, the Vols enjoyed highly ranked classes yet failed to develop that talent. It’s not uncommon to look at UT players as seniors who didn’t progress much from their freshman seasons. We all know now Jones struggled to elevate players’ talent once they arrived on campus.
Did you ever think part of that was the type of player Jones recruited, though?
I’m not knocking any of the current kids on Tennessee’s roster, but it’s clear that Jones recruited to a certain system — a system he called “infallible” — and that system failed famously, especially once Joshua Dobbs left for Pittsburgh. When Pruitt came in [finally] to coach the Vols, he took one look at UT’s class and basically gave a metaphorical shrug and a “meh.”
Then, the culling ensued.
Yes, Tennessee absolutely would have loved to land 5-star offensive lineman Cade Mays, a Knoxville Catholic player whose father was a standout. But he decided to go in a different direction, no matter how much Pruitt and UT coach Phillip Fulmer tried to sway him otherwise. It’s going to hurt seeing him playing for Clemson or Georgia next year, but nothing Pruitt could have done would sway him.
Absolutely, the Vols were happy with 4-star quarterback and Cali prospect Adrian Martinez coming to Knoxville, even though he didn’t play at all last year and isn’t an ideal fit for the pro-style offense coordinator Tyson Helton wants to run. But when Scott Frost arrived at Nebraska and made Martinez a priority, he fell in love with that new system in Lincoln. Honestly, he’s a better fit for what they want to do, even though he would have been a heck of a quarterback at UT potentially.
The rest of the players were guys Pruitt just didn’t think fit the system. Florida quarterback Michael Penix will land at a quality program, but he is more of a dual-threat kid, and Tennessee didn’t prefer him. Better to be up front and honest with guys than have them take up a scholarship spot that can be used elsewhere, have them unhappy and quit. Who wants that?
Do I understand Pruitt cutting a guy loose like Jamarcus Chatman and then getting a commitment from Kingston Harris, a defensive lineman who struggled to find the field as a senior at prestigious IMG Academy? Nope. But I know he’s a big body with a bunch of potential, and if anybody knows the kind of players he needs to run the type of 3-4 defense Pruitt employed at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia that won championships, it’s the man who shaped those units.
Why are we grinding our teeth that Pruitt saw a Jones class and disassembled it? Last I checked, Pruitt is coaching in the College Football Playoffs; Jones is sitting at home after his team went 4-8. And Mays [as well as Jaycee Horn, who just committed to South Carolina] are guys who decommitted on Jones’ watch, long before Pruitt came into the picture.
The Vols already went after another quarterback — California commitment JT Shrout — who will choose between UT and the Golden Bears tomorrow. If you look at his senior season stats, you will cringe. He threw 27 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. Yikes. But he is 6’3″, a traditional dropback passer with pristine mechanics that have NFL scouts already excited, according to Yahoo.com’s Pete Thamel.
Tennessee will be watching instate offensive lineman Jerome Carvin, his teammate 4-star running back Jeremy Banks and Shrout, among others, tomorrow. If a couple of those guys pull the trigger, it could set the stage for a big finish for Pruitt and the Vols.
Pruitt had exactly one recruiting weekend to prepare for [remember, he was announced mere days before getting Alontae Taylor back on campus, and he recommitted]. With a week to prepare for that day, Pruitt went JUCO-heavy on the visits, and we’ll see if any of them pay off with pledges tomorrow. UT certainly needs immediate help, especially on both lines and in the secondary.
Pruitt’s staff believes it can get in on some big names after the early signing period. The nation’s second-ranked outside linebacker J.J. Petersen has had Alabama at the top of his list forever, but Pruitt is his lead recruiter with the Crimson Tide. He told SEC Country this week that UT now leads. If Pruitt can convince some of those guys he’s already built relationships with when he was with the Tide to follow him to Tennessee, the Vols could land a few.
Also, it remains to be seen who Pruitt will hire in his last three assistant spots. Will one of them be South Carolina wide receivers coach and elite recruiter Bryan McClendon, as rumored? Pruitt knows recruiting is the name of the game in the SEC, and he’ll get somebody who can be relentless on the trail. Whoever that is could bring with him targets, too.
And [hold your nose, Vols fans] if Alabama looks good in the playoffs and Pruitt’s defense shines, it will be good publicity for UT, and some positive vibes could come the way of Tennessee’s recruiting class still. There’s still a month-plus for Pruitt to build relationships once he gets on campus for good. That’s not a ton of time, but it is enough with some preexisting relationships to get some guys on campus and signed.
This class isn’t going to wind up a high-riser in the least, but the Vols could fill some needs, and if it gets in the top 20 with all the turmoil that’s transpired, it’ll be OK. Pruitt is going to build things his way. We don’t know if that’s a winning way because he’s never led a program, but he has won a lot of championships as an assistant.
So, tomorrow, when all the excitement is happening and Mays makes his choice to go somewhere other than Knoxville and the Vols wind up with some guys who weren’t even on the radar a week ago, don’t get down. This is only the beginning of the Pruitt era, and with what Jones left UT, it isn’t an overnight fix.
Pruitt is going to do it his way. And as he said in his press conference, Vols fans shouldn’t worry about the guys they don’t get but the ones they do.
Aight?
