Former Alabama QB John Parker Wilson created a buzz last week with his comments on The RoundTable on JOXFM.

The former Tide signal caller said — speaking from an Alabama perspective — that Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee is ultimately a bigger threat than Kirby Smart at Georgia. Obviously, with the turnaround Georgia has had in the last two seasons under Smart compared to Pruitt taking his first head coaching job, those comments echoed around the SEC.

“He (Jeremy Pruitt) scares me more at Tennessee than Kirby does at Georgia,” Wilson said last week. “Georgia is going to be good, but down the road, Jeremy scares me more than Kirby at Georgia.”

Wilson also added more context and explained his reasoning.

“The way he connects with people is unlike I’ve ever seen,” Wilson said. “He’s a great recruiter, that’s how he got his start and how he rose so fast through Alabama then at Florida State. I think what he’s going to do at Tennessee, at a place like that, being the only show in town with Tennessee being the only big school in the state, he’s going to do well.”

Paul Finebaum hopped on JOXFM Monday morning, and he was asked about Wilson’s comments. The SEC’s biggest voice had a different opinion.

“I understand his connection,” Finebaum said. “But I do not buy that, per say. I think Jeremy Pruitt is unproven as a head football coach, because he’s never been a head football coach. Kirby Smart was unproven three years ago, and he surprised a lot of people by doing what he’s done. There’s not really legitimate way to look at what Jeremy Pruitt has done being at a number of jobs and make that statement. Again, it’s a prediction … I think Jeremy Pruitt has a chance to be successful at Tennessee, but that is an uphill climb in terms of turning that program around with the same speed that Kirby Smart did. Remember, Kirby Smart inherited a program that won 10 games under Mark Richt. It had a backfield that’s now going to make a lot of noise in the NFL. He had defensive players that went in the first round. Tell me guys what’s on that Tennessee roster that says this is going to be easy. I’m not saying that he won’t be successful, but you can’t make that claim.”

Wilson’s claim will take several years to play out, but nonetheless, Pruitt will be compared to Smart because of their coaching history and pedigree. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how this debate ultimately ends.