Tennessee football: Harrison Bailey’s dad defending Jeremy Pruitt isn’t shocking

Nobody should be surprised by what Tennessee football Volunteers quarterback Harrison Bailey’s dad did.

On Monday, an unexpected source decided to get involved in Vol Twitter. While Tennessee football fans debate the future of the program under Jeremy Pruitt, the family member of a player has come to Pruitt’s defense.

Harrison Bailey’s father jumped in and said that Bailey committed to play for Pruitt specifically. Once a five-star recruit, Bailey started the final three games for the Vols as a true freshman and appears to be the future of the program.

Next year, Tennessee football’s quarterback race will come down to Bailey and incoming commitment Kaidon Salter. Both generate a lot of hype. Bailey’s father, Orvel Bailey, made the statement defending Pruitt on Twitter.

There is a legitimate debate on whether or not the parents of players should leverage their kids to tip the scales in favor of a coach. However, nothing Bailey said should be shocking to anybody. In fact, it’s what people should expect.

Newsflash: Players commit to coaches, not programs. Yes, the program in certain ways can help, but if you’re a quarterback, particularly one with Bailey’s ratings, you’re looking at the coaching staff that will do its best to turn you into an NFL prospect.

Is there any doubt that Bailey committed to UT so he could be developed by Jim Chaney, Chris Weinke and Tee Martin while playing for Pruitt’s program? Of course not. All of those guys, by the way, would likely be gone if Pruitt were gone.

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Simply put, Bailey’s father said the obvious part. If Tennessee football were to ever fire Pruitt, they would have to do their part to bring in the right coaching staff in order to maintain Bailey. Losing players comes with the territory when you move on from a coach, especially quarterbacks, and that’s a risk everybody accepts when firing a coach.

We should also note that Bailey’s father retweeted a reply to another tweet denying that he said his son would leave if Pruitt were fired. Although that was implied in the initial tweet, it’s important that he clarified that part.

Of course, the more obvious part is that Pruitt isn’t going anywhere. We have no idea how 2021 will play out, but there was no way Phillip Fulmer was going to cut bait with his handpicked hire based on the results in a season marred by a pandemic. He had the perfect excuse to give Pruitt another year regardless of what happened.

If the Vols do have to cut bait with Pruitt in the future, though, and if Bailey is still in the program, nobody should be shocked that it would take some convincing for him or anybody else to stay. Bailey’s dad didn’t say anything any delusional fan doesn’t know.

This past year, the 6’5″ 225-pound freshman showed plenty of promise, completing 70.6 percent of his passes for 578 yards, averaging eight and a half yards an attempt. He also threw for four touchdowns and two interceptions.

However, Bailey did have an issue with pocket presence and holding onto the ball too long. If he can fix that, he could turn into a superstar quarterback. In his final three games, he split time with quarterback J.T. Shrout, who has now transferred. Pruitt needs Bailey to sell Tennessee football’s future under him, but Bailey was obviously committed to Pruitt as well.