After a tumultuous season for Tennessee football, head coach Jeremy Pruitt will move to the recruiting process to turn around the program.
The recently-completed college football season for Tennessee was controversial, to say the least. Butch Jones, who was fired before the campaign ended, faced a wrath of criticism for his struggles in the SEC. Before receiving his pink slip, Jones didn’t win a conference game in 2017, highlighting a 14-24 record against teams like Alabama, Florida, Georgia and others.
After possibly the most controversial coaching search in college football history, Tennessee hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt to become its head coach. He’ll be tasked to put together the Volunteers’ latest recruiting class, with a short turnaround to speak to players, convince them to look past the headlines and be part of the program’s future.
This starts with the early signings of the 2018 recruiting class. Who will Pruitt get to commit to Knoxville? Let’s take a look at who they sign throughout the day:
Three four-star commitments remain, with defensive linemen Greg Emerson and Brant Lawless and Alontae Taylor, who doesn’t have a listed position. Unless Pruitt already spoke to other highly ranked players, these three recruits will be key toward the recruiting class. Otherwise, it’s a could be a full group of three-star players.
Will there be a surprise addition or two to the recruiting class? Pruitt has obvious ties to Alabama, along with the state of Georgia and Florida, so he could travel southeast to find the latest Volunteers. That may come in handy for the 2019 class, however, with such little time between the early signing date and National Signing Day in February 2018.
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Let’s see how successful Wednesday, Dec. 20 will be for Tennessee. It could be the start of newfound momentum for a program that’s fallen apart.