Will Muschamp and Jeremy Pruitt won’t go head to head on the gridiron until Oct. 27, but Muschamp says he’s already felt the impact of Pruitt’s arrival in Knoxville.

Following in the footsteps of his Nick Saban Coaching Tree fraternity brothers Jimbo Fisher and Kirby Smart (as well as Saban himself), Muschamp went to bat for Pruitt at SEC Media Days Thursday. While some former Georgia players turned media analysts have publicly questioned Pruitt’s head coaching ability, Muschamp predicted Pruitt will succeed at UT.

“I think Jeremy will do an outstanding job,” Muschamp said from the main podium at SEC Media Days.

Muschamp indicated he’s already seen a change in the Vols’ recruiting under Pruitt.

“He’s got a really good staff in place,” Muschamp continued. “Again, they’ll do a good job recruiting. It all comes back to players. I know one thing, they’re hard on the recruiting trail. They’re doing an outstanding job. I know what quality coach he is and the guys he brought in on his staff. So they’ll do a good job.”

Muschamp said part of what makes Saban assistants popular head coaching candidates is what they learn from the current king of the conference.

“When you work for Coach Saban, it’s a total education in the game of football, recruiting, all of the things that you’ve got to do to be successful.”