Tennessee football recruiting is the story of the spring

Jeremy Pruitt and his staff have done a fantastic job rebuilding Tennessee football by killing it on the recruiting trails this spring. Good for the Vols.

Jeremy Pruitt will bring Tennessee football back to its glory days.

After a rough start to his tenure on Rocky Top, Pruitt has the Tennessee Volunteers football program trending in the right direction. An upset win over the Auburn Tigers in 2018 was something to build on, as was the thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Indiana Hoosiers in this past holiday season’s Gator Bowl.

The momentum in Knoxville is very real. Though the Vols are slated to finish third in the SEC East behind rivals Georgia and Florida, Pruitt and his staff are absolutely crushing it on the recruiting trail. Their dominance in assembling a great 2021 class is the most underrated story of the offseason in college football.

According to 247Sports, Tennessee has the No. 2 recruiting class thus far for 2021. The Vols only trail the Ohio State Buckeyes at this point of the spring. Tennessee has 20 commits, including two five-stars in outside linebacker Terrence Lewis from Hollywood, Florida and defensive end Dylan Brooks from Roanoke, Alabama.

Though the bulk of Tennessee’s class are three-stars in the eyes of 247Sports, it is being established that Pruitt’s well-known recruiting prowess is translating to the Volunteer State. The former SEC defensive coordinator at Georgia and his alma mater Alabama is taking what he learned under Mark Richt and Nick Saban and bringing a blue-blood like Tennessee back to life.

Not since Tennessee canned former head coach Phillip Fulmer have the Volunteers had this much positive hype. Lane Kiffin skipped out of town after a year. Derek Dooley was in so over his head it was ridiculous. The Butch Jones era was filled of nothing but redundant cliches and empty promises. Fate would have it the new athletic director Fulmer would get it right with his guy Pruitt.

Because Tennessee does not have as much in-state talent as the states of nearby rivals Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the head coach of the Vols has to take a more regional or national approach to recruiting. Sure, you can dominate Memphis, but you have to fend off three other strong programs for talent in the Ole Miss Rebels, the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Memphis Tigers.

No, it will not be an overnight transformation for Rocky Top in the SEC East hierarchy. Georgia’s Kirby Smart is every bit as good of a recruiter as Pruitt. While recruiting is not exactly Dan Mullen of Florida’s strong suit, he is at the flagship university in the Sunshine State where he can do what he does best in cultivating three-star talents into first-round NFL Draft prospects.

With Tennessee’s 2020 schedule, the Vols are poised to be either an 8-4 team again or slightly better at 9-3 if they pull off an upset. They’re not on Georgia’s level yet, as few Power 5 programs are. However, signing a top quarterback prospect out of the Peach State in Harrison Bailey gives the Vols hope to flip the script in the SEC East in the coming years.

Though we won’t see the fruits of Pruitt’s labor until later, one could think this positive offseason momentum for the Vols will translate into a quality upset win. Even if beating Georgia in Athens isn’t happening, the Vols have a shot when Florida comes to Neyland. Maybe if they win the turnover battle, they could hand Saban his first loss to Tennessee since arriving in Tuscaloosa?

Ultimately, little becomes big over time. How Pruitt and the Vols do on the recruiting trail will go a long way in Rocky Top eventually getting back to Atlanta. The last coach to get them there was Fulmer back in 2007. Maybe Pruitt ends the skid in the early 2020s? He’s certainly winning it right now on the recruiting trail.

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