Tennessee football: 5 takeaways from Vols at 2019 SEC Media Days

3. Recruiting a focus

Jeremy Pruitt was not about to waste a chance to recruit for Tennessee football while at SEC Media Days. Not only did he talk about his recruiting, but he also made the case for why people should choose the Vols.

One of the most notable parts of it was when he was talking about the wide receivers. Pruitt noted that four of the top receivers in the Vols’ rotation are seniors, and it was a clear ploy to sell playing time on Rocky Top. Don’t believe me? Here’s his exact quote.

"“If I was a wide receiver in high school, Tennessee would be a great landing spot in the future.”"

The Vols are currently targeting a five-star receiver in Rakim Jarrett, whom they are trying to get to flip away from the LSU Tigers. You don’t think that Pruitt made his point about receivers to try to sell playing time to Jarrett? Of course he did.

Meanwhile, Pruitt constantly talked about how great his players were at recruiting for him. He touted the dedication of the guys he inherited to buying in and then praised how they were selling the program as a whole.

That may not seem like much, but it is indeed a big deal. Pruitt wants to make the point that the players have a lot of pride in Rocky Top, and he certainly drove that home. And the final part of recruiting was the staff.

Pruitt went through the entire staff in his opening remarks, and he talked about the new guys in Jim Chaney, Derrick Ansley and Tee Martin. One point he made is that the staff combined has been a part of 16 national championship teams, noting that the team has seen greatness and knows what it looks like. The he sold Martin’s past success with the Vols.

"“He’s lived it, he’s seen it, he’s dreamed it, he’s been there, he’s done it.”"

Also, Pruitt sold Chaney’s previous success with a run-heavy offense with the Georgia Bulldogs, balance his last time at UT and his pass-heavy offense with the Purdue Boilermakers to note his versatility. So he touted a lot about the staff, and it was a recruiting move for sure.