Tennessee announced on Monday afternoon that the Vols’ bowl trip to the Liberty Bowl to play West Virginia on Dec. 31 was off because of rising COVID-19 cases within the program. But a report shortly after added more details.
Speaking on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” John Talty of AL.com reported that coach Jeremy Pruitt has tested positive for COVID.
“There’s some COVID issues there now, I think including Jeremy Pruitt, testing positive for COVID-19 so I think that’s probably going to take the precedence there now,” Talty said, as he answered a question from Finebaum about Pruitt’s job security and future at Tennessee.
It’s been a difficult season all around for Tennessee, as the Vols lost to Texas A&M on Saturday to fall to a 3-7 record. There’s also reports of an internal investigation around recruiting. An ESPN report earlier Monday about the bowl being off also reported that assistant coaches Derrick Ansley and Jay Graham both missed Saturday’s game with COVID-19 related issues.
The bowl trip was called off because the combination of positive tests and subsequent contact tracing on Monday after Tennessee accepted the bowl invitation left the Vols without enough players or coaches to participate in the bowl game next week.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
