As I waded through Wes Rucker’s cringey “The Vols will be back at some point, but I don’t know how they’ll do it” piece — well, okay, he says they’ll just have to outwork Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, which certainly seems like a realistic formula — I came across this:
Pruitt told former Vols wide receiver and current Knoxville radio personality Jayson Swain that most of his team stayed in town rather than go home during the brief mini-term period that separates the spring semester and the first summer semester.
“I think the number’s 55, I think there’s 55 guys that are here for mini-term,” Pruitt said on ‘The Swain Event’ on Tuesday morning. “Then we’ve got several guys that are here doing rehab. I think our guys are excited about getting going this summer.
“I mean, me personally, when I look at it, I don’t know why you’d want to go home. Nothing against going home, but heck, we went home during the bowl season. We went home during spring break. We’ve had enough breaks. We need to go to work.”
“We need to go to work” is admirable for a guy making millions a year. For a supposedly amateur college student expected to sacrifice his free time, it’s something different.
If it walks like a job and quacks like a job, it’s a job, no matter how much you want to insist it’s merely an educational experience. It’s certainly not your typical college student experience.
Get The Picture 
Well they didn’t go there to paint? Or something? Ill see myself out.
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“Nothing against going home”
These overpaid PE teachers need to shut their mouths about this kind of stuff.
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That article was poor.
“They will be back.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Wonderful journalism there.
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Jesus Christ…it is a job. It’s their job. Instead of working at steverinos or a golf course like I did, they play football. They get to d what they have dreamed about doing their entire life. You get to tell them how they should want more. Good for them for having some heart.
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I agree with you. The NCAA’s official position doesn’t, though.
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The only way the NCAA could get to true amateurism is if they enforced higher academic standards for “student-athletes” at all their member schools across the board, and cut the number of hours that students are allowed to engage in sports-related activities by half (and actually enforced it). Maybe then you’d get to a point where student-athletes more closely resemble the average student. But it will never happen, because it might hurt the product on the field.
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That’s the ticket – Pruitt plans to “outwork” 2 head coaches that refuse to be outworked by anyone.
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Two dudes are whipping my ass…i don’t take them both on again… i work on the weaker one pretty good, then, i’m more apt to whip/go toe to toe with the stronger one down the road…since ut plays both universities every year…good luck with that thought
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Oh that article was painful to read… We are a ‘blue blood’ and therefore we will eventually be a ‘blue blood’ again, because we are UT and hard work will get us there…
UT fans point to the UGA game as the beginning of their ‘turn around’… This game is beginning to feel a lot like South Carolina last year.
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At this point, it has been so long since they were a top team I don’t know if they are a “blue blood.” Pruitt will recruit, recruit and recruit some more but it is hard to see them surpassing UGA or Bama. It has been 20 years since they beat UGA with any consistency and they haven’t beat Bama since 2006. I know that Richt gets a lot of heat from UGA fans but he will always have my respect and admiration for changing the momentum against Tennessee and Auburn, in the case of Tennessee potentially altering it permanently.
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Work hard
Get butter
Tutors get hours
Get eligible
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Tennessee’s failure isn’t just self inflicted. Imo, time and demographics have altered their reality for the long term. I was a HS coach in Tennessee and that state produces minimal D1 football talent in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga & Knoxville. Memphis might as well be in Mississippi or Alabama as far as recruiting is concerned. The HS talent gap between Tenn & “others” has expanded dramatically over the last 20 years. UT has always had to recruit out of state. I see them as slightly better than Kentucky moving forward. I’m not sure they’ll ever return to their 1990’s self.
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