Working with strength coach No. 4 in as many years, perhaps no hire is going to be as crucial to success for Jeremy Pruitt’s Rocky Top tenure than his strength and conditioning director.

When Pruitt was looking to hire his first lead strength and conditioning coach at Tennessee, Craig Fitzgerald was not a name being thrown out as a possibility. While the hire was a surprising one, it was universally praised by those in the profession.

While that seems to be the case with literally every strength hire at the time of their hiring, the true value of Fitzgerald to the Tennessee program won’t be known for several seasons. Turning over the physicality of a roster is not something that can be accomplished in today’s age of workout restrictions and roster limitations. Simply sustaining fewer injuries next season would be a start most Tennessee fans would take — and many would argue injuries are a matter of luck that realistically cannot be avoided, not a result of offseason training.

Spring football is just around the corner in Knoxville but before Pruitt gets his first hands-on view of what he’s inherited, Fitzgerald has had a few weeks to get the Volunteers into his program. While reports from weight training have been limited, Tennessee has released a video sampling just what the team is doing this offseason:

(Video courtesy of Tennessee Football)