… stuck in the middle of spring game expectations.
This begs the question: How will Pruitt’s first spring game stand up against the other first-year head coaches?
Even more precisely, how will it stand up against division rival Mullen’s or even Kirby Smart’s from two seasons ago?
Smart made sure to relate to fans right out of the gate when he was hired from Alabama at the end of the 2015 season. As soon as he returned in Athens — where he played defensive back — he made sure fans got the message for the spring game.
They responded in kind, stuffing Sanford Stadium with 93,000 fans to get just a glimpse what was in store for a program that had seen 16 consecutive seasons of Mark Richt.
I’m never going to feel sorry for anyone making close to $4 million a year, but, man, does any SEC coach have a tougher row to hoe in 2018 than Jeremy Pruitt?
Get The Picture 
Not to quibble, ok, ok, to quibble, wasn’t it 15 seasons of Mark Right?
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*Richt.
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You are correct. But every story gets embellished in the re-telling.
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Pruitt is being continuously compared to and measured against Smart on their message boards. If they aren’t in the playoffs in year 2, some urnge-ites will be calling for his head.
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Lol, I guess when they lose to Vandy his first season, they’ll think they’re on the path.
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LOL, only they’ve already lost back to back to Vandy, so I am not sure how that effects things. If they lose to Vandy again next year, the prospect that Vandy may be going for “one for the thumb” against them in Year 3 becomes realistic. I don’t think it’ll get that far though, 2 losses to Vandy and Fulmer will move Pruitt aside, pull a Napoleon and crown himself.
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Haha
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Fulmer may be able to draw better support from the UT admin but I don’t see him out recruiting or out coaching Pruitt. The best thing for their program is to give Pruitt the time he needs. It will take time to wade through their current mess. You know, turning the battle ship…
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I agree. I think Pruitt will do a good job given time. Here’s hoping he is not given time.
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I think Fulmer should give him all the help Fulmer can spare. All the time. Whether or not Pruitt asks for it. Because the best help is the unsolicited kind.
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Agreed.
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Ouch. Harsh, but fair. 😬
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I’m OK with them not realizing that they’re South Carolina.
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Imagine if SOD runs up the score on them the way Heupel did!
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A respected Bama insider recently attended spring practices for UGA, AU, LSU, and UT (with pics as proof), and he basically came away from the UT practice feeling sorry for CJP, as he has an utter mess on his hands. He did say, however, that CJP ran very organized practices.
As for UGA, he was very impressed overall, and said that while Fields looks insanely talented, he would not be unseating Fromm anytime soon.
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The only thing I want to know about UT’s spring game is whether or not Fulmer is on the sideline.
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I pray he is the coach opposite Pruitt and he wins.
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Oh, my. I hope that is the case!
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I could care less about the vawls. I hope they go 0-12 and we beat their assss 65-0.
Can ya tell I don’t like 10-r-c
On a side note; Knoxville is a fairly nice town
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I hate them, more than any other team historically they profit when Georgia is down. Florida is always going to be a problem, because Florida is always going to have a talent base, Auburn and Clemson are always going to get enough players from Georgia to be relevant for significant periods because they are right on the state line. Tennessee on the other hand, other than that 12 year period between Dooley and Richt when Georgia’s program was destroyed by Ray Goff and UT feasted on Georgia talent, is largely a program that made its bones before integration. If we can keep UT down long enough they’ll become like Minnesota and other teams of yesteryear who pretty much have become doormats since more than just white guys started playing the game.
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Very insightful Brandon although I don’t agree with your white guy premise. No question that Minnesota was a powerhouse (3 natties in the 30s–50s as I remember and a bunch of B1G Championships before hitting the skids and becoming a doormat in the B1G. That fall happened before football was integrated so I don’t believe race played a part in it. But I do agree with you that UT is largely dependent on recruiting the state of Georgia, particularly the metro Atlanta area, and if they cant’t get quality players the Big Urange will become the new Kentucky over time. IMHO they are there already.
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Thanks Mayor, and I wasn’t necessarily saying that Minnesota’s demise was tied to integration specifically, I was just saying that I tend to discount “tradition” before that time. This is cool website that I found:
http://football.stassen.com/records/compute-request.html
This website basically let’s you compare the programs over any period of time you want. In the 54 seasons that have elapsed since the Civil Rights Act was passed for example, UGA is #7 all-time in wins. Tennessee over that same period is #14. They are slightly ahead of us overall, from 1869 forward because they ran up some numbers before integration. Tech too. It’s interesting.
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That’s one of my go-to sites Brandon. You can track the years of conference affiliation, head to head records, any specific year results, etc. Great site.
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I struggle to think of a single redeeming quality about Knoxville. It’s near the mountains, I guess. Other than that, it’s a hole.
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it is an easier drive than nashville.
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CJP has top 20 talent in knoxville. Everyone in the east is pretty bad except for UGA. They have a very tough schedule though with Auburn and Bama from the west.
UT should be better than they were last year, which isnt saying much, but they shouldnt be in the hunt for 2nd place in the east this season.
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Talent or not I just looked at UT’s 2018 schedule and I’m predicting only 5 wins.
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And 2 of those 5 won’t come easy…
Most likely wins – ETSU Buccaneers, UTEP Miners, Charolette 49ers
Most likely losses – Bama, UGA, UF, USC, Auburn, West Virginia
Toss ups – UK, Mizzu, Vandy
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I was just thinking about this today. I think Pruitt is good coach, very good recruiter and excellent evaluating talent to fit what he wants to do…if I’m not mistaken he found and signed D. Sanders who wasn’t highly recruited by others. All that aside he’s starting out in a big hole. Not many, if any all sec kids on that roster. The great pumpkin up his ass. Not much in state talent. UT ain’t gonna out recruit Nick, Kirby, Dabo in GA. Fla will have talent always and Mullen is taking over a better situation. The vowels of the 90s were built with GA and Fla talent. I just can’t see that happening in the current climate. It’s just a really big hill to climb.
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There shouldn’t be a comparison between the two…CKS inherited a program that averaged 10 wins/season for 15 years, had a total of 1 losing season and was super talented but just not enough depth…CJP adopted a red-headed stepchild that had 7 losing seasons over that same span, little talent, no depth at any key position and was winless in SEC play…after Booch’s promises of early PT ran dry, recruits became aware of what punchline he was…if CJP wins 6 games this season, it will be a monumental success!
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