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Jeremy Pruitt says his background will help if Tennessee faces quarantine depth issues
By SDS Staff
Published:
Multiple SEC programs have seen their fall camp practices disrupted by COVID-19. LSU was reportedly down to just 4 offensive linemen earlier this month. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn recently noted that the Tigers were too thin to practice at multiple position groups. Many have wondered what might happen if a team has a position group quarantined during the season. Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt thinks his coaching background could give the Volunteers an advantage over some of their opponents in that situation.
“My high school background will probably create an advantage for us. Do we need an emergency guy at certain positions?” Pruitt said during his Tuesday press conference, per David Ubben of The Athletic.
After beginning his coaching career as an Alabama grad assistant in 1997, Pruitt’s second gig was with Plainview High School in 1998 coaching defensive backs. After a quick stop at West Alabama in 1999, Pruitt returned to coaching at the high school level in 2000 and remained at that level through the 2006 season. As high school football fans are well-aware, starting on both offense and defense is much more common.
Hopefully, Pruitt doesn’t have to figure out which of his defenders could play offense and vice versa. If it comes to it though, the third-year UT coach certainly has experience working with a roster of two-way players.
Jeremy Pruitt on the prospect of entire position units being wiped out by infections/quarantines: “My high school background will probably create an advantage for us. Do we need an emergency guy at certain positions?”
Said he’d just mentioned the concept to the team today.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) September 1, 2020
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.