I'm so tired of this crap. Making these gigantic blanket statements like you do in your last paragraph is just the emotion talking. None of us, including you and me, have any idea what Pruitt's future holds at TN. I've been off of this board for a week because of repetitive posts like these. Over and over and over again. It's so tiring and so annoying. Let me break this down for you statement by statement.
blah blah blah, Georgia State, blah blah blah. I'm so tired of reading about Georgia state. Yes, it was a terrible loss. But it means nothing about his future at TN unless it keeps him from getting recruits that he needs to build this roster. But his eye for talent is proven, and I trust that he'll be able to develop talent that he brings in. But lets talk about Georgia state. Is it a bad loss? Yes, it's a horrible one. And it is completely this coaching staff's fault. They thought that we could roll out there and beat them because our name is Tennessee. He didn't expect JG and the defense to play as bad as they did. That's his fault. But you know what, he isn't the first nor will he be the last head coach to lose a game like that. Saban has lost a game like that. Dabo has lost games like that. Harbaugh has lost games like that. Orgeron has lost games like that. Mullen has lost games like that. On and on we could go. They happen. They are bad; they are embarrassing; but they don't tell us anything about Pruitt's future just like the coaches that we just mentioned weren't defined by their losses to far inferior programs. All they say is that we weren't prepared game one. End of story.
The roster is garbage. You may not like that because, like me, you want to believe that we are right there behind the top 3 on our schedule. We aren't. Look at our upperclassman and show me the talent. The best players on this team outside of a handful are Pruitt's guys he has recruited and thus they are mostly freshman and sophomores. He has had one, 1, ONE complete recruiting class. To say you're out on him when he inherited a garbage roster and has only had 1 full recruiting class is absurd. The handful that are upperclassmen on this roster, the best of them outside of Trey Smith, are the wide receivers, who can't make plays because we don't have a QB that can get them the dang ball. The majority of the senior and junior classes that were here at TN are either gone now or they aren't good. So stop talking like we have this great roster that should be winning. We don't.
Has the team overachieved or underachieved? It isn't that simple. Against Georgia state, yes, we underachieved. But in the next two losses, it is very clear what the problem is, and his name is Jarrett Guarantano. We would have demolished BYU with average QB play. Average. And the game at Florida would have been competitive with average QB play.
This is so ridiculous its barely worth commenting on. It's never either or. "If Pruitt can't turn horrible players into great ones then he sucks!" is an extremely lazy argument.
Again, this is not as simple as you make it out to be. We are where we are because Jeremy Pruitt made a mistake in hiring Tyson Helton. If he had hired someone else, we would probably have Adrian Martinez and not JT Shrout. To his credit, he learned from this and replaced Helton with a highly regarded OC in Chaney. Chaney did not come here and forget how to coach QB's and offense. So what's the problem? It's JG. "Who's trotting him out there!" come on man, you can't be serious? It isn't that simple. We have 3 options, JG, Shrout, and Maurer. Maurer is a true freshman who isn't quite ready yet but may be forced to play anyway. Shrout is a guy with a strong arm who can't stop throwing the ball to the other team. That's Helton's guy and was a mistake. So really you have two options, JG or Maurer. Why didn't he bring in a grad transfer? Who should he have gotten? I'm sure they tried Jalen Hurts and couldn't land him.
As far as JG, every report we have heard, not only from the coaches, but from former players who have watched practice, have all said how improved he looks. Ainge talked about it. And even though he is a guy who is more of an optimist, Swain is not, and before the season he talked about how much improvement JG had made. Nobody, not the players, not the coaches, not anyone who watched practice, believed JG would play like he has. So stop acting ridiculous and put yourself in Pruitt's shoes where you're watching practice and you're watching a guy perform well in practice. You see tangible improvement. Why would you assume he's going to be terrible? JG has not only not improved, he's regressed. And now he's going to have to play Maurer. Good thing he hired one of the best OC's and QB coaches in college football in Chaney. Again, he didn't forget how to coach. So if Chaney can't get more out of JG or Maurer, it is what it is. And Pruitt has done exactly what you're criticizing him for in preparation for 2020. He has an elite QB committed and he brought in a transfer in Kasim Hill. So he's doing the things you're being critical of him for already. It sucks we didn't land another QB, but I don't even remember the options for grad transfers. But if we had somehow convinced Hurts to come here, and no way that happens, we're probably 4-0 right now, even with the problems. If JG had played like he did last year, we are 3-1. And that's a fact even if you don't like that fact. That tells me, this team is not as bad as the record indicates when QB play would have us at 3-1 and still a great shot at a bowl game even with the other struggles we have on this roster. So you can't just dismiss a fact because you don't like it. "Oh, the QB sucks, that's Pruitt's fault!"
Nobody cares if you hate Pruitt or not. It means nothing. Second, you have no idea if he needs superstar talent to succeed. That's 100% theory on your part. And in fact, there's evidence to the alternative that says that Pruitt can identify talent and develop them as the draft last year would show as multiple 3 stars were recruited and developed by him into high draft picks. And then further, you have no idea if he's recruiting well enough or not then, do you? All you're looking at are the stars. I get it, I like the stars too. But Pruitt has proven before he can identify and develop talent and yet, here you are saying because he isn't signing a bama like class he can't succeed. That is completely ridiculous. We don't know that. And again, he may not be recruiting at a high enough level to compete for a national championship at this point, but he has to start somewhere. Fact is, most players are going to pick winning programs over TN right now. He has to win to land more of the top guys that he's after. And I think last years class gives strong evidence that if he can show improvement here, he'll get the talent to. He beat Clemson, Bama, UGA, Michigan, Washington, USC, and AU head to head for multiple players last year. If he wins, he'll do it even more.
Finally, we may be staring at 2-10. I don't believe we are. I guess we'll see. And if he does that, then yes, recruiting will struggle mightily. Hopefully guys listen to Crouch and others because I truly believe that when his guys are juniors and seniors this will be a roster with some high quality upper class talent.
And you better hope so. Because all I've seen all week is this dreaming about another coach coming here. No established coach is coming here if we fire Pruitt in year 2. Keep dreaming. If we fired Pruitt this year, we'd be hiring another guy with a lesser resume than Pruitt has.
You guys need to stop crying and get over it. Pruitt isn't going anywhere, and if he does, we're really screwed. But to be out on Pruitt 4 games into year 2 is totally unfair to him considering the roster he inherited and the way his QB is performing. Is Frost a good coach? Because he's having the same struggles at Nebraska in year 1 and two, and he plays an easier schedule and has a better QB. Is it all Frost's fault then? Should they fire him? If you were a Nebraska fan would you be out on Frost already?
We better hope Maurer can be ready or that JG gets it together. Because the only way out of this mess this season is improved QB play. If we have a good November, the recruits we are after will still come. That's what we all need to be hoping for.
