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Tennessee football: Last four seasons Jeremy Pruitt entered second year in role

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) /
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SEC media days
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4. 2017: Alabama Crimson Tide

Defensive Coordinator

13-1 (7-1); National Champions; No. 1 AP and Coaches

Well, you don’t get much better in your second year than winning a national championship. Jeremy Pruitt did just that in 2017, and he did it even after Tennessee football had already hired him to be its head coach. That’s how impressive his performance was this year.

Pruitt replaced Kirby Smart in 2016, who left to take the head coaching job of the Georgia Bulldogs. It was a smooth transition, as Pruitt had been a stellar coordinator the previous three years at two different schools, one of them at Georgia and one of them under a Saban protege, Jimbo Fisher with the Florida State Seminoles.

Combine that with the fact that he studied under Smart and Saban with the Alabama Crimson Tide for six years before that and was an Alabama graduate, and he was the most obvious hire ever. After an undefeated 2016, though, his team lost in the national championship game to the Clemson Tigers all because his defense could not contain Deshaun Watson.

Still, in 2017, he once again had the best defense in the nation. But a series of injuries cost the Tide on the road against the Auburn Tigers. They still managed to back into the College Football Playoff, and with Pruitt working two jobs at this point, he led Saban to another title. It was capped off with the comeback against the Georgia Bulldogs when Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts.

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