Dodge ball: 5 tough questions Jeremy Pruitt might get but won’t answer at SEC Media Days
By Dave Hooker
Published:
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt is about to address the largest throng of media he has ever faced — by far.
The first-year head coach will address the media at SEC Media Days on Wednesday in front of hundreds of reporters. That’s a daunting task for a person who has never been a head coach and has only spoken to a few dozen reporters as an assistant. Whether it’s written on paper or bullet points in his head, there will be a message Pruitt wants to convey. It won’t be controversial nor very revealing and likely not very entertaining. Pruitt doesn’t need to crow given UT’s current situation and it doesn’t seem his style anyway.
However, let’s daydream for a moment and imagine Pruitt is given some truth serum and has to answer some pertinent questions and, most importantly, has to answer them honestly, which no coach likes to do.
Here are the five questions I’d most want to have answered with no filter:
1. Who do you expect to start at quarterback?
This is a question many coaches will be asked throughout the country but it will be phrased like, “Can you describe your quarterback situation?” In case you’re wondering, the query is posed like that because reporters know that a coach isn’t going to pick just one quarterback as the starter and share it with the world before preseason camp. That would just undermine the motivation for all of the participants in the race.
Pruitt probably isn’t 100-percent sure who will be his starting quarterback, but I bet he has a pretty strong inkling. He’s seen video of sophomore Jarrett Guarantano and Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst. He’s seen Guarantano in spring practice and I imagine he’s peeked onto the practice field as Chryst has been participating in summer workouts. Pruitt might not know, but I’m sure he has an idea who his starting quarterback will be.
2. Was UT’s roster worse than he thought it was when he accepted the job?
Pruitt studied the Vols’ offense as the defensive coordinator for Alabama last season, but he likely didn’t know much about UT’s defense. He also wouldn’t know much about the Vols’ overall roster depth on either side of the ball. So what did Pruitt think after studying film and heading up spring practice? I’m guessing he wasn’t that excited. Former coach Butch Jones was a master of manipulating recruiting services and overhyping his players. Despite respectable recruiting rankings, Tennessee’s roster needs a total rebuild — again. Did Pruitt know that before he showed up in Knoxville?
3. How many wins would he be satisfied with this season?
There’s not a coach in the country who would ever answer this question honestly, but there’s always a number in mind. Coaches have lofty goals and realistic goals. I’d like to know what Pruitt’s realistic goal is for this season. I’m guessing it would be 6-6 and a bowl bid, but he’s never going to say that. He wants to win ’em all!
4. Is he concerned that UT athletic director Phillip Fulmer might be too involved?
It’s a natural question that Pruitt will never answer. His boss is a beloved, long-time Volunteer with two SEC championships and a national title on his resume. If asked, Pruitt would say that Fulmer is a valuable resource and leave it at that. However, if Fulmer ever questions instead of suggests what Pruitt is doing, that’s a problem.
5. Is Tennessee a destination job?
Pruitt’s desire to be a head coach would lead him to take plenty of Power 5 jobs that would hire him. He happened to land at a school with fantastic facilities and rich tradition. But what happens if Pruitt has success at UT and another school comes calling. That would be a good problem to have for Tennessee, but it’s hard not to wonder if there’s another school that Pruitt would prefer. Call it the Lane Kiffin insecurity complex.
Dave Hooker started covering Tennessee in 1998. He hosts an SEC radio show out of Chattanooga and covers the SEC for Saturday Down South.
