At least according to Chip Towers.
Jeremy Pruitt, defensive coordinator for Florida State during its national championship run this past season, is expected to accept the same position at Georgia, multiple sources told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pruitt, 39, was said to be in Athens Tuesday, where he met with Richt and other members of Georgia’s staff.
This is an interesting move on more than one level, starting with my guess that Pruitt’s going to have a bigger contract than Grantham did.
More to come once this is official.
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UPDATE: Sounds like this is pretty much a real thing.
And I may be wrong about the money, which is even more interesting.
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UPDATE #2: A couple more nuggets from Gentry Estes:
It is believed that Pruitt held the lone offer from UGA in the Bulldogs’ quick search to replace Grantham. The deal is believed to be three years in the range of $850,000 per year, per a source…
… In two seasons in Tuscaloosa, Pruitt played alongside current Georgia offensive line coach Will Friend, who remains a close friend.
So much for the Kirby rumors.
Get The Picture 
has red smoke been seen over Butts-Mehre?
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Heh. Well played.
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Fantastic and I stand corrected
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This is an amazing get. Very happy with this news. Just want to hear it become official.
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Third down hasn’t looked this good in years!
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Took ’em long enough.
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Heh.
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The same amount Grantham was making? LOL
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Seriously. Grantham punked the hell out of Louisville.
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The defensive coordinator from the newly minted national champion makes a lateral move to a place that he previously has no connection to. That is, as the Senator puts it, interesting.
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Yeah, but the UGA job isn’t very good.
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Vintage Mark Richt. Asleep at the wheel. AGAIN. RTR, PAWWWWLLL.
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And for no more money than we were set to pay Grantham. Somebody send Bobby Petrino a thank you card.
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Where do I sign?
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HCIW…
Jimbo aint going no where with how crap the ACC is. For Pruitt, you come in work for a few years as DC make bank and when Richt retires you are at top the list for being HC if you are doing good.
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He was making 500k I think, and is now making eight fitty. So the move was lateral everywhere but in his bank account, which certainly helps explain it. What’s interesting is that FSU didn’t match it(or maybe they were not go en the chance). All the details will come out in time I’m sure…
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Reports on the FSU blog said FSU did match it.
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I’m very happy with this hire, but it is completely and utterly baffling as to why Pruitt made the move.
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Who knows? Maybe he wants back in to a bigboy conf. Maybe his family likes the Athens QOL vs that of Tallahassee.
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Prove your bones in the SEC. Jimbo is a jerk. People want to work for Richt. You prove nothing by dominating the ACC. You prove everything by dominating the SEC, especially turning around our dumpster fire D.
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This is what I was thinking.
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Also, Mark Richt is a pretty good guy to work for.
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Cecil Hurt reports, “Jeremy Pruitt made $260K at Alabama in 2012, $540K at FSU in 2013 and is expected to make $850K at Georgia in 2014.”
I think that explains a great deal.
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Bigger question – why would FSU let him walk??
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This is what I wanna know.
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Maybe they’re even cheaper bastards they we think we are.
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THAN we think we are.
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FSU does not have the financial resources of most other top programs. They simply might not have been able to match, much less beat UGA’s offer – especially in light of how much Jimbo is making now.
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Well, shut my mouth. Apparently FSU matched UGA’s offer – and, since Florida has no state income tax, his take-home pay would have been more if he stayed put. Guess he was caught making sexy time with Ann Bowden and had to vamoose pronto.
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Maybe he loves SEC! SEC! SEC! chants
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If Pruitt has big school head-coaching aspirations, it’s probably not going to happen now at FSU.
Jimbo entered Bobby Bowden territory with a national title. Playing in the ACC, he stands a very good chance of being a lifer down there.
Also, Jimbo is younger than Coach Richt.
Who knows, but this may have played into the decision as well.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Pruitt
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We hired Erk Russell?
I am estatic and find it hard to believe we did it without paying more than CTG. I hope he is the recruiter we need. And I am encouraged that he also coaches DBs. And I hope Bobo gets a raise.
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That ring’s going to look real good in living rooms.
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Pour me a big glass of kool aid. I’m as happy as a sissy in a dick factory!
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you mean those FOUR rings (3 at bama 1 at FSU)
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I’m legitimately stunned they got him. Will he be the best DC in the nation? Odds say no, but he’s a certain upgrade and he’s going to recruit his ass off.
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Gotta love what Richt’s done here. Homerun hire. #2 total defense. #1 scoring defense. Saban disciple. Great, great recruiter. Just won a national title.
People want to work for Mark Richt. Most fans grossly underestimate that. Happy days ahead for UGA!
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I’m relieved and happy. About as good as we could do. Smart was never in the picture (which was good, IMO), and I didn’t like any of the other names floating about.
All good stuff Sugar, but let’s not expect too much, too soon. We don’t have FSU’s talent. We should have, at least very close to it, but we don’t. But better evaluation, especially with DB’s, and recruiting is just down the road, we hope.
~~~
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I didn’t think we’d get this guy, but looks like a great hire. I’m a little giddy with excitement about it. I will say, I’m glad it wasn’t Kirby. I just felt like that would have been a hire for the wrong reasons. Welcome to Georgia Jeremy!
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Agree.
~~~
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DGD. Damn good day.
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I don’t get it but I LOVE it!
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Just sitting here smiling, thinking about what FSU did to Clem this past year and envisioning opening day in Athens.
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I have heard that Jimbo Fisher is a very difficult person to work for. If that is true, it may partially explain why Pruitt made this move. It sure seems to be a good hire for the Dawgs.
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Great news!!!
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I wonder why FSU wouldn’t pony up the money to match UGA?
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Decision to stay in the ACC may still have a little sting. The ACC doesn’t generate near the $$$ as the SEC.
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Maybe they did and he turned it down.
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That would be delicious.
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Who says Will Friend can’t recruit…
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Will Friend is very close to Pruitt from their days in college at Alabama.
As I understand it, that relationship helped seal the deal.
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Yep! LOL!
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Pruitt & Will Friend were old room mates. I hear that CWF helped a lot in this process.
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Looks to me like a great hire. Let’s seal this deal and bust our asses on the recruiting trail the next couple weeks.
He’s a DB coach, too. Wonder if this finally makes room on the staff for a….Special Teams Coach.
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How about this guy? Linebackers and special teams experience would fit well if Pruitt wants to keep our existing staff.
http://www.seminoles.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/charles_kelly_834249.html
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If he takes over as the DB coach as well, who handles the OLB? Is Coach O elevated to taking care of the whole unit? If so, then that would leave an opening to hire a ST Coach after all. I know it may be a pipe dream, but still……it bares eatching.
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*watching
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Well WHY NOT PLAY THIS?
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Here we go!
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Kirby was a real option. From an insider: Kirby was indeed offered the job last night at 1.6 Million for 5 years. UGA agreed to let him hire his staff AND hire Cochran. This morning he apparently called to say yes……BUT wanted a no buyout clause if he got a HC job in the first 2 years and this is the biggie….he wanted to be told he would be the next head coach. That was the deal breaker. UGA was not willing to do that. As soon as Kirby told CMR he wanted the HCIW title he picked up the phone and called Pruitt and a hand shake deal was complete by lunch time.
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Is that you, Mark Bradley? Did you miss the tweet about HCIW being nixed by the NCAA? Anyway, thanks for sharing.
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Not Mark Bradley. But Kirby was in play. He wanted the HCIW
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The HCIW that doesn’t exist anymore? Did he want Richt to throw in a Betamax and a sweet boom box?
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Right, because no one can wink, wink.
Maybe everyone is covering up. Maybe they didn’t want to hurt Bobo’s feelings. Just passing along what I felt were credible sources.
FWIW, I’m happy with the Pruitt hire.
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Under the table deals that violate NCAA rules can happen. But I wouldn’t expect Richt to be a party to one of them.
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If the HCIW provision volates NCAA rules, then it wouldn’t be part of the contract. Any oral promise would be unenforceable due to this pesky thing called the statute of frauds…
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I laughed a lot at this. Thanks.
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According to Bark Madly’s compadre Chip Towers, das NCAA denutted the HCIW fad when it “passed to little fanfare a new bylaw that treats a head-coach-in-waiting like an actual head coach in terms of recruiting contact. A head coach is allowed only a single visit per recruit and cannot leave campus during the the critical spring evaluation period from April 15-May 31. Same now for a head-coach-designate.”
If this bylaw is stil in place (and I don’t want to check because reading bylaws tires me), why would any school hamstring itself by taking away available recruiting opportunities. Why would any applicant (even Agent Smart) ever make such a demand. It not only shows lack of team spirit but also attacks the integrity which is the core of the relentless repetitive recruiting process.
http://blogs.ajc.com/recruiting/2010/02/15/new-ncaa-recruiting-rule-aims-at-head-coaches-in-waiting/
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Per Seth…
I’m not sure what the complete story is, but the idea that Richt called Pruitt in the morning and struck a deal in a couple of hours time strikes me as a bit far-fetched.
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I imagine no one will ever no the story. But there were a lot of various sources bandying similar ideas about.
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A ‘Bama site posted a similar story yesterday. (Minus the years and dollars.)
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I will never believe McGarity signed off on that amount or length of contract.
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I wouldn’t imagine so either. Perhaps it was a smoke screen to the “insiders” to play for Pruitt.
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KSLD?
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This is blogger material for DAYS.
Secondary Coach/Special Teams Coach angle.
Recruits currently committed to FSU who were recruited by Pruitt. Other defensive recruits FSU has who may reconsider/follow coach. New UGA recruit leans. New last minute official visits.
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Certainly shouldn’t hurt with Lorenzo Carter.
(Now if only Pruitt were recruiting a top-shelf OT prospect that could flip too…)
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Dawgrade that!
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He won the NC at FSU with somebody else’s players.
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Not sure if serious.
Eitherway, UGA can get the players. The front 7 looked promising, the secondary looked out of place and the DC could not teach the scheme at a pace the players could learn. On paper this looks to be a great fit.
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He asked me to dawgrade. 😉
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You did well TOD. Did well indeed.
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Good news: he’ll be at UGA coaching somebody else’s players now!
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This guy. Right here.
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🙂
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Yes, UGA cannot recruit NFL caliber players, just crap reserves like Ogletree, Geno, Justin huston, etc..oh wait they all start on NFL D’s nm.
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AllstarNole wants his idea back from The other Doug:
“ChimpNole:
We’ll see if any recruits follow. Buck and Kincad here in Atlanta are acting like a couple of giggling school girls after reporting this. ________________________________________
AllstarNole:
Well, they’re forgetting one thing….FSU’s talent level is much higher than uga. I think pruitt is a good coach but lets be honest, he had A LOT to work with at FSU.”
http://floridastate.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1079&tid=170310799&mid=170310799&sid=1061&style=2
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thats good. now he’ll be coaching somebody else’s players here. mark richt won the sec in 2002 with someboday else’s players and it was fine with me.
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DoucheyDawgs (h/t Ben Dukes) just experienced coitus interruptus.lol. I know what I know Hijo.
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‘Preciate the Shoutout! And I’m soooo incredibly happy we’re not hiring Kirby. I can’t even explain how happy. … S&G might still want to sell those rights…
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If this is true, it’s big for a # of reasons, the biggest that Pruitt probably has good relationships with South Georgia HS coaches. I know Richt has done well in recent years in Valdosta and Thomasville, but this can’t hurt.
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Bald white guy running the defense? I’d say that worked out pretty good for us last time. If he starts head-butting players on the field half the stadium will draw wood, the other half will start throwing panties at the field.
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Willie was bald, too.
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But he didn’t head-butt.
His head butting consisted of fans banging heads against the wall.
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Obvious last name is obvious…
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Willie had side fuzz
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OMFG!! I just about pooped myself! Great post!
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I’m sure everything is going to work out fine, but… he kinda’ reminds me of Willie.
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If he was the best man at Will Friend’s wedding, that would seal the dawgrade deal.
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There it is.
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Southwest Georgia HS D players should love this. At least 4 out of 1 6A on FSU roster who played. Hopefully, not only did Pruitt get a “deal deal”, but let’s start paying these coaches. Every position coach should be at $400,000 min, a red pickup truck w/a black tool box, their own apparel line, and etc. . Get him signed and moved.
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Pruitt’s Wikipedia page has already been updated. That’s official enough for me.
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Amazing! Best get since Herschel.
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Todd Gurley appreciates that.
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Like I said earlier, “best to look down the road and the schedule”. CMR did. This DC is 3-0 against teams on the ’14 schedule! Kirby the freaking who all this Dawgphans lap over.
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The new hire and the timing are impressive as Hell. Wouldn’t have thought he was a realistic candidate. Perhaps money, the SEC and good ol’ Athens town talked!
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Please keep the purse open a little longer and get Warren Belin to come back to coach the STs and OLBs.
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Wow that would be the icing on the cake!
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Oh, and get that kicking coach who was at Minnesota – ya’know, the one who taught Walsh to kick nearly 100% and get his KO’s through the endzone. Get him as a consultant – he’d be worth every penny.
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He was the single best hire by Grantham, just too bad he got grabbed up be the NFL from us.
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I said a while back during the discussions of whether to keep TG or not that we needed to go find another Jeremy Pruitt. I never expected we could actually get THE Jeremy Pruitt, I figured FSU would match anything offered, and surely Pruitt would stay if they matched. Glad I was wrong!
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This. Is. Huge.
Great hire. Will be a national story in all the preseason mags. Can Pruitt help turn UGA into the Beast of the East…and so forth. I’m not sure any school in the SEC has a better set of Coordinators that UGA does now. Maybe LSU?
Funny that Mark Richt can convince Jeremy Pruitt he can coach in about 24 hours but can’t seem to convince half of the commenters on this page of that.
It’s a great day to be a Disney Dawg…why would he leave Tallahassee? Because it is GEORGIA. GEORGIA is a great program, with a great coach, great resources, and great potential. It’s a great day to be a Dawg.
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Tumultuous week and its only Tuesday. It’s been a weird year.
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“It’s a great day to be a Disney Dawg…why would he leave Tallahassee?”
Irwin, all good points but your question conclusively demonstrates that you have never had an extended tour of duty in Tallahassee. Why does anyone leave Tallahassee? Why not, because there is always a better place.
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He’s under 40 and not married. Yes, Athens is far better than Tallahassee.
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FSU fans are already trying to spin this by claiming that Pruitt was really a Co-DC with Sunseri.
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Nice.
Pay no attention to what happened the last time Sunseri was a DC. 😉
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In Sunseri’s defense (see what I did there? 😉 ), he didn’t exactly have a lot of talent to work with at UT.
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Agree. Sunseri’s defensive talent vs. The SEC, in graphic form:
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I was there and I loved that play (the final score not so much). Sunseri had been talking in the paper all week about he was dreaming about hitting Herschel. Herschel turned those dreams into a nightmare.
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A recent report shows the top 25 schools with players in the NFL. USC [west coast version sits atop]. 2 SEC schools and 2 ACC schools in top 10. FSU and Miami are the ACC. LSU in one of the SEC. Other, UGA. Where was that talent used at UGA? Indicates we have the players. Coache? Dawgs in top 5.
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I don’t know how to put this but Jeremy Pruitt is kind of a big deal.
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It is amusing reading the FSU boards: In a nutshell, here is the reaction from the FSU boards: the UGA job is a huge step down. FSU has double the talent of UGA.. Hard to say how good Pruitt really is given the incredible talent at FSU. And Pruitt has no loyalty leaving after 1 year and dissing the man who gave him a job 3 years out of coaching high school. But not to worry, Jimbo proven to be brilliant at hiring assistants.
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And – guess what – Orgeron and Randy Shannon are in the mix.
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FSU fans sure have an inflated view of their program. They seem to forget the have stunk most of the last decade. from reading their boards, you would think Pruitt was leaving for Samford,
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Well, after all, they do have a t-shirt
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/shirt-florida-state-title-tee-auburn-won-article-1.1569435
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Ha hA. I ge the same impression.
I also did not realize that so many FSU fans hated CMR.
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I am happy, I suppose…everybody seems to say I should be.
I suspect Mark Richt made a great hire.
But…if it is ok with youse guys, I will wait to pass judgement till the end of the South Carolina game in 2014.
At that point we will really know something.
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Dammit man, this is no time for reason! Now drink your koolade!
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LOL @ Russ.
That’s right. We’ll really know something then. And we’ll know even more after Florida, Auburn & Tech.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about Pruitt, and there are a multitude of issues that must be addressed successfully before the season starts, just to have a chance to be happy this fall. But at least now, there’s a chance that’ll happen, where there was none last week.
So for now, relief, and even a little happiness can be ours. 🙂
~~~
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OK, OK, OK….Yahoooooo!!!!
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You nailed it. Last week I had little hope the defense would improve other than just experience. At least now I can dream all off season about having a NC caliber defense.
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Have you tweeted Petrino a thanks for all the blogging material and vacating a spot on our staff yet Senator?
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If this works out, we’ll need to need to clear a spot for the Bobby Petrino statue, perhaps next to the Iron Horse.
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