There’s a new sheriff in Knoxville and Marcus Spears has bought into the vision he’s selling on Rocky Top.

Of course, Jeremy Pruitt is that man and after Spears recently toured Tennessee’s facilities and witnessed the new program in Knoxville, the SEC Network host came away very impressed in what he’s seen from the new leader of Tennessee football.

Spears was a recent guest on the Paul Finebaum Show and offered up this comparison when Finebaum asked Spears which coach Pruitt most reminds him of.

“When it comes to working the building, that’s minus the football field, working the building to me (he’s) like Will Muschamp,” Spears said on the show. “Will was very business oriented, always about football… When they enter the building and it’s about their job, they can go as long and as hard as anyone in the country.”

That’s a solid comparison considering both coaches have a history of coaching on defense with Nick Saban and winning in the SEC. Spears also noted Pruitt has some similar characteristics of his former college coach and Pruitt’s former boss.

“Obviously, you would say Nick Saban because of the work ethic that he has and the approach he has to football. You can tell some of those things have rubbed off on Jeremy Pruitt,” Spears added.

When asked what this Tennessee team is capable of achieving in Year One under Pruitt, the SEC Network host appears much more optimistic than most heading into the 2018 season.

“I think this could be a seven or eight win football team. I really do. I’ll tell you why — we’ve gotten so souped up on Georgia, everyone is excited about Florida and Dan Mullen, I think Tennessee is quietly just going about their business,” Spears said. “Usually, those are the teams, if you think about his conference, the ones with the least amount of noise usually end up surprising people, or it goes the other way… Tennessee has a football coach, it’s about football at the University of Tennessee now.”

Spears offered up this final thought on Pruitt’s program, there’s plenty of underdeveloped talent on this roster, but at the same time, the Tennessee coach isn’t messing around with anyone unwilling to buy into the change in culture. If any players are resistant to change, they will be gone.

“They have dudes. I met two linebackers today, Paul, that look like seven-year pros in the NFL (he’s likely referring to Quart’e Sapp and Will Ignont) — the vibe is right and you can tell,” Spears concluded. “It’s almost like this, if you aren’t buying in, you won’t be here — and I think that’s what Tennessee needed at this point.”

(Video courtesy of Tennessee Football)