I keep reading on here about Jones players not being good enough to play SEC ball. That Pruitt needs time to get “his” players. I contend they are all his players. Today I have seen 2 posts about former Jones recruits in the NFL.
While I-will agree Jones struggled with game day coaching, he may not have developed his players enough, and his S&C program was lax, why are several of his players in the league? Many are playing and some are even starting. If they can make a roster they aren’t bad players. Surely if the NFL can turn them into league players right out of college, why can’t Pruitt turn them into serviceable players on this team?
My opinion is his doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to spend a year or two to develop Jones players. He has decided to go with his recruits win or lose this year and maybe next year. Or maybe he cannot develop players who are not top level to begin with.
Mizou and Miss St are 2 examples of losing early to develop good upperclassmen that can play and build a program that way. They depend on maturity. Pruitt seems to be building on getting high rated guys. Either could work but with the signing limit I’m not sold he can sign enough high rated players each year.
Pruitt doesn’t want to develop the older (Butch’s players) players on his roster? What?
In addition to stating more than once that he’s been pleasantly surprised and even excited by the response/commitment he’s gotten from those players, he’s actually committed to and played a ton of them.
For example....
QB- Played Guarantano, a Butch recruit, over his grad transfer recruit Chryst last year and named Guarantano his starter in the spring over his QB recruits Maurer and Shrout
RB- Ty Chandler, a Butch recruit , is his starting running back over his RB commit, Eric Gray
WR- Jennings and Callaway and Palmer, all 3 Butch recruits, are his starting WRs over the WRs he has brought in, Tillman, Keyton and Means
TE- took a Butch recruit Eli Wolf to Sec media days in 2018 and plays Austin Pope, a Butch recruit, over his 2 widely acclaimed TEs Brown and Lowe.
OL- Tatum at OT has been given every opportunity in the world to lock down that spot but has been taken over by younger, more talented OLs Wright and Morris. Pruitt certainly seems eager to work with and develop Trey Smith, a Butch recruit. Also, Riley Locklear is in the OL rotation and he too is a Butch Jones recruit. He’s playing over Pruitt recruits Akporoghene and Lampley.
On defense.....
OLB- Darrell Taylor and DeAndre Johnson have been starters most of not all season, both Butch recruits.
ILB- Bituli is the mainstay there, certainly has played ahead of JJ Peterson, a Pruitt recruit. The other Jones ILBs have left the program, they were awful.
CBs- Taylor and Thompson are obviously the best we have, along with Pruitt guy Burrell. But Jones recruit Shamburger plays at star/nickel and Buchanan would surely be playing if not for his injury after playing a ton last year.
Safeties- Warrior is horrible, but continues to be “developed” and play as a Butch recruit. Alongside him is Butch recruit Theo Jackson who currently leads the team in tackles....sure looks like he’s being “developed”. Pruitt has brought in a lot of talent at both safety and CB, yet it’s 50/50 in our defensive backfield between who’s playing right now....50% Pruitts guys, 50% Butch’s guys.
Obviously, I don’t agree with your premise that Pruitt isn’t interested i developing guys who were left over from the Jones era, because, OBVIOUSLY, he’s playing them.
Truth is, the younger guys he’s brought have higher ceilings/more potential than the Jones era holdovers.....however, he’s using good discretion not playing they younger guys until they’re ready to start and take the majority of the snaps. Players develop at different rates, so we’ve seen some that have already displaced the older guys and some that surely will before the end of the season.