Phil Fulmer’s latest statement has strong indication of Jeremy Pruitt’s status for 2021
One of the biggest questions in the state of Tennessee is whether or not Jeremy Pruitt will return to the Vols in 2021.
After finishing 3-7 in 2020, including a loss Saturday to Texas A&M, Pruitt’s job status has been at the forefront of every Vols fan’s mind.
Combine a losing season with the latest report that emerged Saturday about Tennessee internally investigating some concerns about NCAA rules violations, and concerns are increasing. Running back Eric Gray also did not dress for the game against Texas A&M.
However, the latest statement from Phillip Fulmer about Tennessee’s Liberty Bowl berth against West Virginia may indicate Pruitt’s status.
“I’m thrilled about our football program’s opportunity to compete in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl against a great opponent like West Virginia,” Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer said. “First, it’s an opportunity to connect with our many fans throughout West Tennessee and expand upon the rich historical links between the Memphis area and UT. We have so much Tennessee family in and around Memphis—especially our medical school and fantastic alumni. And secondly, it’s a tremendous development opportunity for our team and should serve as a primer to spring practice for Coach Pruitt and our returners.”
The last part of Fulmer’s statement has Volunteer fans reacting on social media, too, as it appears that the Vols are intent on bringing back Pruitt for spring practice and the 2021 season.
I’ve never been more disappointed in The University of Tennessee than I am right now. #FirePruitt #FireFulmer Hell, just fire everybody. https://t.co/k9vV7N5jQE
— Amanda (@mandyleigh1976) December 21, 2020
I’m done https://t.co/vYxFQ0e63A
— Nate Hodges (@NateHodges) December 21, 2020
Shut it down. https://t.co/JnkyuMy2DW
— Cody Conrad (@ConradVols) December 21, 2020
Ha. Shows how much Tennessee cares about winning football. Dumb and dumber. Another year of misery coming up, #aight. https://t.co/zyNdnr1oJE
— Jeff Howard (@squatchlegend) December 21, 2020
So Fulmer just confirmed that Pruitt will be back in 2021… smh https://t.co/STBPrBGMer
— Dusty Stanfill (@dusty_stanfill) December 21, 2020
Fulmer’s #1 criteria for a head coach: must look like giant pumpkin when dressed in orange.
Jeremy is not that big. That is just cruel.
Yeah, he’s more like a plump squash.
LMAO!
And with that one comment, you win.
He was not when he was hired…but he has plumped-up…that salary buys a lot of Calhoun’s ribs in Knoxville. Pruitt is a two-racks of ribs kind of guy.
Lol!
Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw shoes Truth. Hehehe
You know Tennessee has had athletes to work with, especially this season. Tennessee needs to learn the same lesson that even the winners need to learn or REMEMBER! That being that WINNING IS A HABIT AND LOSING IS A HABIT.
Going into the UGA game. Tennessee was 2-0 and had the longest SEC win streak. Everyone in Tennessee was riding a mental high. Believing that they were a different team. Then when UGA thumped them again after a competitive half. They just fell apart!
That loss to UGA made them revert back to old mindsets! They couldn’t just say we got beat by a better team and move on. They had to completely fall apart! Why? Because that is what modern Tennessee teams have learned to do!!! ITS ALL ABOUT HABITS!!!!
That UGA loss put them back mentally to where they were after the ga state game and the BYU game, last season! Now we see that last year’s Ga State team wasn’t as bad as everyone thought. BYU is considered one of the better teams. Even though I don’t think BYU is that good. Many feel differently.
As it turns out. Tennessee beat a better Indiana team than we all thought, in the bowl. Then it’s possible that the big 10 is JUST THAT BAD!!!! Still my point is that Tennessee had the talent to have a winning season this year. Pruitt is supposed to be a decent coach. Although I do have my doubts.
Either way. What I’m saying is this. No matter who the coach is. The players still have to get their mind right and keep it right. SABAN AND KIRBY UNDERSTAND. That overall 90% of the game is won or lost in practice the week before!!! If you can get your team to do it right in practice. Over and over again. Then your chances are high that you will do it right in the game!!!
Of course recruiting matters! Because you need ELITE DEPTH!!! IN ORDER TO PRACTICE AGAINST ELITE PLAYERS. TO BE ABLE TO BETTER SIMULATE THE OPPONENTS FIRST TEAM OFFENSE AND DEFENSE!!! You can have all the tape you need on a team. But if YOUR PLAYERS cannot truly simulate THEIR PLAYERS. Then it’s very hard or impossible to prepare for them!!! Then you must rely on THEM MAKING MISTAKES AND UNDERESTIMATING YOU!!!!
UGA could not prepare for Alabama. Simply because JT Daniels was not getting enough first team snaps when we went good on good. For some stupid reason they thought Stetson Bennett was the man. Pure coaching blunder!!! No other way to say it. UGA seems to have a MENTAL BLOCK with Alabama. Since 2017 it seems to be there!!! Yet now that we have identified our best QBs Carson Beck and JT Daniels. IT WILL BE A LOT EASIER NEXT SEASON!!!
5 STAR QB ADDED……..
It sure didn’t hurt landing 5 STAR QB BROCK VANAGRIFF!!!! He is deadly accurate passing. He put up over 1000 yards rushing from the QB position in just one season. Not sure what he did this year. But over 1000 yards in a season is good even for a running back. Kinda like Justin Fields with a more accurate arm!!!!! That is just as strong. But more accurate!!!! Plays with ATTITUDE!!!! KIND OF A BIGGER STRONGER VERSION OF JOHNNY FOOTBALL! THE BEST GEORGIA QB SINCE TREVOR LAWRENCE!!! GEORGIA PUTS OUT QBS!!!!
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE COCKTAIL PARTY?
The Kentucky game is where UGA got most of their injuries, especially on defense. The reason why is because we were fighting for our lives not to lose that game!!!! THAT GAME FLAT OUT COST US THE FLORIDA GAME!!!!!!
Stetson Bennett helped get a lot of players injured that didn’t need to be!!!!!! BECAUSE UGA SHOULD HAVE BLOWN KENTUCKY OUT IN THE FIRST QUARTER AND RESTED THEIR STARTERS THE REST OF THE WAY, WITH FLORIDA LOOMING!!! WITH JT DANIELS, THEY WOULD HAVE EASILY DONE THAT!!! RESTED HEALTHY STARTERS ON DEFENSE. ALONG WITH EXPERIENCE BEHIND THEM. THAT THEY COULD HAVE GOT AT KENTUCKY. WOULD HAVE MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!!!
If everyone else was healthy. UGA MIGHT have beaten them even with Stetson Bennett! Richard Lecount could handle anyone they had. He dominated Kyle Pitts last season!!! Still seeing how they played Alabama. I wouldn’t guarantee a win with Stetson Bennett at QB! But with JT Daniels and a healthy team. Yea we beat Florida easily then!!! NO DOUBT IN MY MIND!!!! Because Mullen has more trouble beating Kirby and UGA. Than he does playing Alabama to the wire!!!!
Mullen played Alabama to the wire in 2017 with Mississippi state if I’m not mistaken. Yet UGA destroyed an unbeaten Mississippi state that had just blown out an unbeaten LSU! Then another year with Dak Prescott and a pretty good Mississippi state team. Mullen played Saban and Kirby vs Alabama. And got beaten fairly soundly if I remember right!!!
HABITS…
Mullen doesn’t do well against Kirby Smart and wouldn’t have this year. Unless nearly all the best UGA players were hurt! ALL ABOUT HABITS!!!!! UGA IS STILL IN THE HABIT OF WINNING AND WINNING THE EAST. THAT IS WHY UGA FINISHED WITH A BETTER RECORD AND SHOULD BE A BETTER RANKING TO!!!
PS. UGA knows the truth of what really happened, thanks to injuries and opt outs! And next season they will be primed for payback!!!! FLORIDA WILL KNOW FIRST HAND. WHAT A REVENGE GAME IS AND WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!!!! MULLEN’S OWN SAYING CAME TRUE.
” EVEN A BLIND SQUIRREL FINDS A NUT EVERY NOW AND THEN!!!! ”
THE
University of Florida aka blind squirrel U!
King Negan
How much time do you have to write this stuff that nobody cares what you think?
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
King you broke my scroll button AGAIN…
Kinda got lost and bored after the first paragraph. Nice manifesto!
At least you acknowledge the toughness of my Cats in all that. And that UT is a paper tiger
I’m with the Tenner fans on this one, why in hades would I want fat Phil to hire the next UT coach?
Changing coaches every 4 years or so, sometimes after just one bad season, is one of the reasons Tennessee is where they are. I want them to get back to where they were so I can hate them again. My family came from the Cumberland Gap, and one of my cousins, fairly distant, was AD there, some time back. What good is hate without rivalry, what good is rivalry without hate. I don’t mean real personal hate, just the college football kind of hate. I also think Pruitt has done the right thing platooning the QBs. He knew the season was a bust and that Jarrett Guarantano was never going to be the answer. So he has given both QBs experience and a chance to show what they can do against competition. If they have a spring it will help. If they do not then what they got this season is better than a spring.
I agree but only if they’re showing progression. Tennessee doesn’t seem to be progressing under Pruitt so I think it’s time to let him go. Also he seems to be losing the team and obviously already lost the fans support for him. On top of all that he has these allegations popping up.
If you look at the recruiting rankings, someone believes in him. UT was such a barren wasteland of talent when Pruitt got there it is beyond belief that Pruitt was expected to change this in 3 years. He is doing pretty well in changing the talent level, so give him 4-5 years. Then judge. As for the fans, they think they are part of the bluebloods now. They are not, they are trying to get back there. There is going to be whining every year that UT does not beat Bama and win the conference at minimum. As for the allegations, the possibility is just being investigated by the SCHOOL. Not the NCAA. This is not time to throw the baby out with the bath water.
“This is not time to throw the baby out with the bath water.” But what if it’s a really super ugly ogre of a baby?
“I want them to get back to where they were so I can hate them again.”
Gator fans felt the same way about UGA for 20years. Now I want them to suck again. lol
Changing coaches every 4 years or so, sometimes after just one bad season, is one of the reasons Tennessee is where they are..says the team who went through 3 or 4 coaches before they hired Saban… BuT tHat’S DiFFerEnT!
He’s saying that not to gloat, you chest-beating dumbass.
UGA fans endorse Pruitt staying.
Ditto from BBN
1-5
1-2 (Pruitt years), but BBN is still good with him staying. Only took until his third year to lose to Kentucky.
That’s your basketball record moron. Or have y’all just blocked it out. Worry about your own school
Hehe, Cal’s finding out that COVID is kryptonite for the one-and-done approach.
34-7 buddy, our school had no worries with the Vols
All SEC East teams want Pruitt to have a lifetime contract…A Forever-Vol.
Same from the Gators
Smokescreen. Support Pruitt publicly. Tear him down privately in the investigation. This way they can deny the investigation is a deliberate attempt to fire with cause.
If true, that would be classic Fulmer.
Yes I remember in Knoxville what was called “The night of the orange-knives” when Phil orquestrated the coup.
Love the above two comments. couldn’t agree more
That’s what you get for stealing a Bama assistant! Oh, and fat Phil being the POS snitch against Bama that ended up getting Saban to Alabama to dominate the orange pumpkins for a couple decades! Hahaha…RTR
I think a coach should be given 4 years. Harrison Bailey didn’t get spring practice and missed a lot of time early in the year because of covid. Practice time for a lot of players was disrupted this year. Makes sense to see what happens in 2021.
Well Muschamp, Malzahn, and Mason didn’t have a chance to do it in 2021.
Champ got 4.5 years. The evidence was on the field.
Truth, Gamecocks gave him enough time
It was a mistake to fire Malzahn.
At Auburn, we think he should be given eight years. ;)
I’m good with the concept of giving a hc 4 yrs, especially considering the obstacles attached to 2020, granted the program truly isn’t a mess. had tn not convincingly beat vandy this year, i’d classify it a mess. since they didn’t, he’s on a make or break year going into his 4th.
even as unqualified as fulmer is to be the AD at a power program, i’m sure he’s at least put pruitt on notice as to the expectations for 2021
How many seasons should a QB be given to get better? Giving JG your confidence never gave JG confidence and that’s the glaring elephant in the room. Tennessee will end up Muschamping this: Everyone knows he should go but you hope that hope will change the day and you end up paying the coach more than you should have. Fulmer never should have given that extension. Hell, Keep Pruitt, fire Fulmer and let the next AD make that decision.
#FIREFULMER
truevol…Are you tuned-in to the reality of Jeremy Pruitt’s being Tennessee’s head coach ? His assistants & coordinators have zero respect for him. It’s gonna end badly at Rocky Top for Pruitt, this year or next…it won’t matter. Plus Hugh Freeze is not waiting forever.
Remember during the summer when all the hillbillies were so in love with Pruitt and his “winning streak” to end the 2019 season?
And they all still thought they got the bette of Georgia by “stealing” Jim Chaney?
Remember?
Pepperridge Farm remembers.
Coach Irvin, you can bet everything you have, by next summer we will hear all the same rah rah and sunshine pumping from Knoxville. Pruitt will beg for more transfers and the media will yet again, tell us how everything is trending upwards.
Someone help me out; is being ranked 15th in recruiting, at Knoxville U, supposed to be a good thing now? I remember back in the spring when all we heard was about Pruitt’s top 5 class. Now they are barely ahead of Arkansas but the talk continues.
Oh well, it will be interesting what the expectations are for next fall. I mean, you know, since the gap between UT and the big three is closing. Pssst, we just can’t see it.
congratulations Mikebbd you joined the ranks of corch and tdow. Youre as big a dumba$$ as they are. Spewing lies and BS. What an idiot. El Cono.
fuzzy…if you’re going to type in Spanish…do it correctly. It is spelled coño. Your understanding of Spanish equates with Jeremy’s understanding of coaching.
Considering where the program was after the ’17 season and how this season played out, i’d consider a 15th ranked class pretty good. a lot of good pieces to work with.
no one really expected the class to remain top 5, barring tn won the division.
For whatever it means, UT had a 4th ranked recruiting class in 2014, a 7th ranked class in 2014, and a 14th ranked class in 2016 all under Butch Jones. Just being reasonable about it, your assessment is spot on and UT is very capable of hovering between 5th and 20th Nationally in recruiting. The bigger key is developing the players and keeping the top talent on the roster, and out of the portal.
That should read 4th ranked in 2015
No one said that we stole Chaney
LOL. You have to be the biggest liar here.
I didnt see even ONE Tennessee fan saying we stole Chaney moron
LOL. You’re not just a liar, you’re like George Costanza.
It’s not a lie if YOU believe it.
Dude, for two years, all we heard from you hillbillies is how Pruitt stole Chaney from Kirby.
It was all over this website. It was all over twitter. It was all over your message boards.
You’re a big fat DieselLiar.
Prove it. You’re making the accusation, you prove it.
You’re like a special kind of stupid, or maybe you are so completely in denial that you believe your own lies.
Also, it makes it kinda hard to “prove it” when you can’t post links here as I’m sure you know. This is my second time trying to post modified links: Copy the posted links and delete the spaces and replace dot com with, you know.
“Stealing Jim Chaney from Georgia was a Major Coup for Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee”
h t t p s: // www dot saturdaydownsouth dot com / tennessee-football / landing-jim-chaney-was-a-major-coup-for-tennessee /
That’s from… gasp… right here.
Here’s a good twitter thread started by your official account that branches off into many places with TN fans crowing how they “stole” Jim Chaney:
h t t p s: // twitter dot com / Vol_Sports / status / 1083041532033331200
Here’s one from a Tennessee fan board:
h t t p s: // www dot volnation dot com / forum / threads / pruitt-announces-jim-chaney-hired-as-oc.300721 / page-1
Where you at, DieselLiar?
Go back to your hole, chump. Aka kirby’s bit*h.
Hillbillies? From a Georgia fan? From any SEC fan, be careful or you’ll see a hillbilly in the mirror. And with PC taking over, I dont mind the label.
I was going to say the same thing. As a guy that has lived outside the south, SEC schools should at the very least not call each other names. The rest of the country already does it to all of us.
Yeah and we’ll still kick their ass*s
When, liar? 2016 when you barely won on a hail mary?
He, Tennessee hasn’t had a winning decade against Georgia since the 90’s. That’s two decades of futility and ownage.
Barely won is so juvenile. You either lost or won the game. Does barely make it sound more like you won?
The liar said they keep “kicking our ass*s.
So corrected him, and stating that they barely won, is a fact.
In this case, who is the juvenile? The one who offers the correction, or the one so deep in denial he believes his on fabricated reality?
#lesswithmore coach aka kirby’s bit*h.
Its laughable that anyone who lives in that third world state of Alabama would denigrate fans from any other state. Except maybe Mississippi. Bama is #1 in football but #49 out of 50 states by any other measure.
I recall that UGA does less with more on annual basis.
Tenn does less with less. Not a good combo
I think Fulmer is taking the high road knowing in his heart that UT will save 18 million or so if they can dump Pruitt with some NCAA violations.
This secret investigation to get rid of a coach and not pay him will really help in that coaching search. There’s a reason that the only coach who would coach at Arkansas was Sam Pittman. And that’s not a slight at Sam, it’s a slight at the Arkansas administration.
Actually, I think you have a valid point, hoping somebody inserted some “for cause” clauses
Fulmer take the high road? Bahaha. Where have you been in last 30 years?
So much hate in the comments. Hahaha
Les Myles scenario, Pruitt loses two games in early ’21, he’s toast.
Phil’s making millions for running this disaster – why change?
Good point!
I need the good lord to intervene here.
#FirePruitt
#FIREFULMER
Poach an AD who has successful hires and have him poach a successful coach. Fulmer is just going to create more drama attempting to keep his image and make it more painfu.
the good Lord called. He doesn’t want Pruitt either.
I am trying, and failing to decide which way I want UT to go. Pruitt inherited a dumpster fire, and you don’t fix that in three years. On the other hand, I would have expected better progress in year three. The investigation is concerning – that had to come from the inside, and if the staff is at the point of narcing on each other, then it will not end well. I am leaning toward giving Pruitt next year, but 8-9 wins is the minimum.
One good QB away from better times. And it may be that time has passed your OC by.
I’m curious. you refer to tn being a dumpster fire when pruitt inherited it after the ’17 season, of which an 0-8 conf record certainly falls under the classification.
that said, what were your thoughts of the team in ’16? 9-4 record with wins over two of your big rivals. do you agree that ’16 was merely a mirage, or had the team completely fallen apart in just one year?
16 was a really weird year. Jones had the best chance in years to lock up the east and a berth in the sec CG but after beating uga and florida to get into the catbirds seat they fell apart. Call it a mirage or whatever you want but the team did fall apart in just one year. Plus all the D’s seemed to learn overnight how to handle jones offense and everybody elses that ran it, which is why nobody runs it anymore. Sure there are versions and some inclusion of bits and pieces but nobody runs that offense anymore. Want to bet if jones runs it at arky state.
i can see your perspective in calling it a “weird” year, but even with that said, i think there’s more to it than simply saying that opposing DCs figured out his scheme. i think there’s more to it, but maybe no more simply put than to just state that dobbs made up for his ineptitudes, as well that he no longer had debord. dobbs and debord certainly haven’t lit it up elsewhere, but what else was really different on offense from ’16 to ’17, other than typical departures of players due to graduation, etc.?
remember, jones had some solid recruiting classes, so he should have had some depth to replace players lost like dobbs, kamara, jennings (suspended) etc. concerning kamara, i’m hoping we can agree that he’s def had a better nfl career than college career, so it’s not like tn lost an all-sec player with his departure.
Yeah I think dobbs made up for his mistakes. Also, we lost two games that year that with a more suitable coach, probably would have won and it would have been a two loss season, but then we go into the uga game as well saying that could have been a loss. Even then would be a 3 loss season. One dobbs left and we only had dormady and G, then it went sideways. It blows my mind we could not recruit a more capable qb than G in the 4 years he was given the starting qb position. After that first year we should have been really pushing for a qb to come in and compete, but instead we continued with the train wreck of watching him fail game in game out.
DV unless pruitt is implicated in the investigation he isnt going anywhere. I agree with most everything you say. 3 years isnt enough if you show a pulse starting after halftime of the georgia game. They havent against anybody but vandy which just doesnt count. There is no way this team will come close to 8 wins next season without jesus coming in to coach.
#FIREFULMER
Let a new AD with a clear head make that decision. Fulmer is all in on Pruitt. He’s to vested in this turning out.
Jesus would prob take the Auburn job anyway
The only thing less like than Tennessee giving Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky or West Virginia a good game is Phil Fulmer admitting that he made a mistake in the Pruitt hire. He’s way too proud to proud to admit he was wrong. Pruitt will land on his feet no matter what happens. Those two concepts are a deadly combination. Fulmer is still trying to maintain the narrarative where people say, “We shouldn’t have fired Fulmer back then.” The rest of the powers that be have zero interest in doing anything about the current state. They remember the last coaching search and are happy to just let things be and blame it all on COVId19 even though every other school dealt with it and some schools were affected far worse.
Spot on brother.
I suppose that this will also be a tremendous development opportunity for our AD.
Fulmer’s chief gap as a head coach were these;
He didn’t develop his assistants or hold them accountable.
He didn’t make good hires for his staff.
I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he’s improved in those areas as an Athletic Director.
Crank…so David Cutcliffe as OC was not a good hire ? He coached Peyton Manning & Eli Mnning.
And John Chavis as DC was not a good hire ? They both were on the team when Phil’s team won that Natty in 1998. You must be a johnny-come-lately Vol fan.
Agreed. Fulmer assistants always made him look better than he was imo
Cutcliffe was an excellent OC. He’s not a bad head coach either.
Nice try, AFan, but check your facts;
Cutcliffe and Chavis were BOTH on Majors staff. Which means that Fulmer INHERITED them.
I’m waiting on Pruitt and company to try and move Salter to a defensive position next year. We cannot have a mobile QB! We want a QB who stands there as the pocket collapses and goes down without a fight.
Lol! I can’t wait to see it.
UT’s president and big boosters need to get peyton involved to start throwing his weight around to clean up the disaster in knoxville. Big changes are needed starting at the top.
Yes, and quit sending the free years supply of Papa Johns pizza to Pruitts house. He looks bloated.
Done. Rerouted to Illinois. And some extras to the wife up there for having to “climb that mountain”.
I hear they have cauliflower crusts now, just sayin
Basketball moron. Or have y’all just blocked it out Worry about your own school
I didn’t see Gruden on I 40 but I did see the Gus Bus.
I still say the weather is calling for a Freeze warning.
And Den?!
Gus is free.