Lane Kiffin is back in the SEC, and we are all better for it.

Kiffin, however, won’t have spring practice to get acquainted to his Ole Miss team or his assistant coaches due to COVID-19, and that’s a tough thing for any first-year head coach. Kiffin, along with other new head coaches, is looking forward to fall camp to get a good first-look at his new team.

It’s been 11 years (2009) since Kiffin was Tennessee’s head coach, but he still gets asked about UT regularly with the way he left for the USC job. The Rebels head coached joined WNML-FM in Knoxville this week, and he was asked about the job Jeremy Pruitt has done at Tennessee.

“Done a great job. Really glad to see it pay off. He’s one of the hardest working guys in the country,” Kiffin said. “It takes a little time. I know everything wasn’t perfect at first. It was good to see the end of last season end so well and them play so well. I told him when I saw him, we played somebody or I had seen his team play someone we were playing or something in the last 2 years. But, what a difference in just a year in what he had done changing the roster and getting players better. The future is very bright there.”

Pruitt is 13-12 overall in 2 seasons in Knoxville, but the Vols 2019 finish — winners of their last 6 games — has increased optimism in Knoxville for 2020.