Genius seems a bit much. Pruitt has been described by many other coaches and players as a Defensive Guru but I want to be careful before we put him in the same pantheon as Belichick. When he was hired, there was little question that he was one of the top 5 (mayyyyyybe top 3) DCs in the country. Is that a football genius? maybe.
What does seem clear is that whether Pruitt is a personal football genius or not, he is hellbent on establishing an elite program here at UT that will do all the genius level work to chase championships. I think his goal is to be Saban 2.0 rather than a Rich Rod kind of guy.