Jeremy Pruitt explains old-school approach to dealing with players that he claims ‘quit’ during spring game
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Following the conclusion of his first spring in Knoxville, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt made headlines more for what he had to say after the Orange & White spring game than anything that happened on the field that day in Neyland Stadium.
While some were put off by Pruitt’s comments that questioned why more fans didn’t show up for the spring game — the announced crowd was a generous 65,000 — the more meaningful message the Tennessee coach expressed was his concern following the effort some of his players displayed in the game; or, more appropriately, the lack thereof. The way Pruitt saw it, several players quit during the contest.
Not only was that a disappointing scene following four weeks of practice for his program, but it likely proved to Pruitt just how far the program has to go before it reaches his lofty standard of what he expects from a championship-caliber football program.
During a recent appearance on Nashville-based radio station The Midday 180, Jeremy Pruitt explained how he personally took charge of handling that situation the following Monday when his assistants hit the road to recruit.
“I think that Monday our (assistant coaches) went out on the road for the first time to start traveling (for recruiting purposes). I went back to the way we used to watch film at Plainview High School,” Pruitt explained on the show. “I put the whole team in there and we had one video and I ran the video and I coached the offense and the defense and special teams.
“Everybody got to see it and everybody understands where they are at and understand the expectations; it’s easy, you just have to say, ‘Hey, who wants to play with this guy?’ You know? And there’s nothing like peer pressure.”
That’s certainly an old-school approach many high school players are all too familiar with. Pruitt’s use of peer pressure is an interesting one, as he stated in his post-spring press conference that many players on the team have to be put on notice with the summer additions set to arrive in the coming days. If his threats aren’t enough to motivate, perhaps the peer pressure from the players already in the program will prove to be the difference getting the necessary buy-in from any remaining holdouts that have bought in all the way.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
