All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Vols get no Life Championship from Jeremy Pruitt vs. Alabama

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt proved he’s no Butch Jones in the Volunteers’ game against the Alabama Crimson Tide by calling his players out.

Remember when Tennessee football failed to win the SEC East in 2016, and it was a disappointment to everybody but their head coach? Yeah, we all laughed pretty hard at Butch Jones calling his players the ‘Champions of Life’ after that.

Well, Jeremy Pruitt takes a different approach. When his team was down at halftime 42-14 to the Alabama Crimson Tide, possibly the greatest team in the history of the sport, Pruitt went out of his way to call out his players against his former team.

According to Jamie Erdahl of CBS Sports, Pruitt said that his team has “a few guys” who are playing the right way and doing the right things. Then he brought up recruiting.

"“I promise you, I will recruit 25 other guys that will play the right way so we don’t have to play in another game like this.”"

But that wasn’t all he said at halftime. Austin Nivision of GoVols247 said that Pruitt brought up recruiting in a halftime interview with the Vol Network as well.

Remember, this is Pruitt’s first team. And he has very little depth on the defensive side of the ball. Oh, both sides are also learning a brand new system. But that didn’t stop him from still calling out his team and demanding a high standard for them.

This is where he is the exact opposite of Jones. While Jones called his best and most experienced team Life Champions after falling grossly short of expectations, Pruitt is calling out his first team in a rebuilding job for not beating the No. 1 team in the country.

This is what Tennessee football needs. They have it in basketball with Rick Barnes. And now they have it in football. The Vols needed a guy who, no matter what, was going to hold his team and his players to the same standard.

Pruitt is still fighting to get his team to a bowl game. Coaching a rebuilding program like this is something he isn’t used to. But he’s clearly comfortable demanding the most out of the Vols. And Tennessee football is lucky to have somebody like him finally leading the program.

Home/Vols Football