“When you look on a map I guess it matters where they come from…”

From the GTP Lexicon:

• Dooley-hour (n.) – a unit of distance, measured by how far a member of the University of Tennessee’s coaching staff can travel in a car in one hour.
• Dooleyland (n.) – an area mapped and claimed by the noted cartographer and football head coach Derek Dooley.  Also known as the State of New Tennessee (n.), it consists of a circle having a radius of three Dooley-hours, centered on its capital, Knoxville.  It is not to be confused with a larger region, Aaron Douglas’ Home (n.), with which it overlaps and shares certain defining characteristics.

It seems Jeremy Pruitt’s been taking some geography lessons from SOD.

With the Big Orange Caravan stopping in Atlanta tonight it was inevitable that much of the talk would center around recruiting. Not just how crucial this area specifically is to Tennessee’s football fortunes, but the state of Georgia as a whole.

Having made coaching stops at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State in his career, no one has to prep Jeremy Pruitt on how much talent exists in the Peach State on an annual basis, nor how that talent has impacted the fortunes of Tennessee football over the years.

“I think it’s a good advantage for the University of Tennessee with the proximity. You take out Georgia and Georgia Tech and probably Clemson and Auburn and we’re as close anybody else is and there’s more players than all those guys can take,” Pruitt said of how Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia figure into his recruiting strategy.

Hey, if he wants Kirby’s leftovers, I’m cool with that.  Of course, if this take is accurate, it’s still likely to be a step up for the Vols roster.

One coach who faced Tennessee during Butch Jones’ time as the Volunteers’ football coach thinks Jones did a “complete horse (bleep) job.”

The comment was revealed in the annual Southeastern Conference football preview magazine produced by Lindy’s that hit newsstands Tuesday.

The shortcomings that derailed Jones’ tenure as Tennessee’s football coach have been well-documented and dissected, but the remarks from the anonymous coach published in the magazine are particularly scathing toward Jones, who is now an intern at Alabama.

The anonymous coach was also harsh on Tennessee’s roster.

” And I don’t think they have very good players,” the anonymous coach said, according to Lindy’s. “Tennessee is supposed to have talent. I think South Carolina has better talent than Tennessee, and that should never happen.”

Jones was fired last November after Tennessee lost at Missouri and fell to 4-6. The Volunteers finished the year 4-8 for the first eight-loss season in program history, despite having done well in recruiting rankings during Jones’ tenure.

“To say Tennessee has had top 15 classes under Butch Jones, that’s fake news,” the anonymous opposing coach told Lindy’s. “I think it was a combination of the classes being overrated and the coaches not developing the talent.”

Ummm… wasn’t Pruitt an opposing coach during Jones’ time at UT?  Just sayin’…