Tennessee football: Vols legends give Jeremy Pruitt stamp of approval

Tennessee football legends Johnny Majors and Robert Neyland Jr. spoke about Jeremy Pruitt. The Volunteers gave him a stamp of approval.

Jeremy Pruitt was hired by the second best coach in Tennessee football history. One of the four greatest coaches in school history, who is also one of the greatest players, is now also speaking highly of him. The son of the greatest coach in school history is doing so as well.

Yes, Phillip Fulmer may have hired Pruitt, but Johny Majors gave his stamp of approval on Friday. Majors didn’t say much about Pruitt. But according to Al Lesar of the Knoxville News Sentinel, he said that he thinks Pruitt would do fine and that he will be there to help whenever he’s needed.

Meanwhile, Robert Neyland Jr., the son of Tennessee football legend Robert Neyland and a player for his father on the 1951 national championship team, also gave his approval. He noted he was very happy with the hire of Fulmer, according to Dan Harralson of Volswire. Neyland described Pruitt as “hard-nosed” like his father.

Now, you can take what Majors says with a grain of salt. He’s voiced approval of the previous coaches and even defended the attempt to hire Greg Schiano. Simply put, the guy is just a heck of a lot more diplomatic than he used to be.

But to get the approval of Neyland Jr. as well is great news for Pruitt. That makes three of maybe the five biggest Tennessee football legends who clearly support Pruitt and believe in him. A tough-minded SEC guy is somebody the Vols haven’t had as head coach since Fulmer. So it makes sense that so many major UT figures would come out and endorse him.

After three misses, though, there is reason for Vols fans to be jaded. And there’s no way to see how good Pruitt actually will be when he takes the field as head coach. But the stamp of approval from such major figures is definitely good news for Rocky Top.