The only things we can base a analysis on right now are the FACTS of what Pruitt has accomplished so far.
After the PR show where AD Fulmer introduced Pruitt as our new HC and where Pruitt made his 1st PR talk and after all the handshaking and back patting was over you can bet that CJP was very happy to start getting to work.
Pruitt knew he only had 12 days to try to get some kind of a 1st signing day put together and he had zero coaches hired to help him recruit, watch film or do anything else so here's what probably happened next.
1...Pruitt had to get to know all the right people in the AD first so he got Fulmer to introduce him to the most important people that he needed help from instantly to get the ball rolling.
2...Pruitt had to get his UT credit card, his car, phone, tablet, laptop assigned to him.
3...He also had to know the right people to coordinate with to make plane reservations, book hotel rooms, ect to get his new coaches on the way to the hill as he hired them.
4...He also had to know who his new coaches had to coordinate with to get their car, phone, tablet and laptops and credit card assigned to them as they arrived on the hill.
5...He had to learn who to contact in the AD's IT department to get the right films setup for him and his staff to study because there was going to be LOTS of film to watch really fast, our players for every position as well as recruits films for every position because top priority was recruiting and only 12 days to try to make positive progress.
6...Interview our old coaches to see if he wanted to keep any of them and he made a brilliant 1st coaching hire by keeping coach G because he's a great coach, a really good recruiter and he's been at UT long enough that he already knows everyone and his way around everywhere, Coach G became a instant helper and coordinator for Pruitt and the new coaches as they arrived on the hill and that helped make things go faster and much smoother.
7...Pruitt then had to go through every recruit that we'd already offered, watch film and read Bios on all of them to decide which kid fit our new systems and which kids he had to unfortunately let go and he did withdraw schollys from some of them.
8...Then he called all the recruits he wanted to keep to make sure they were still going to sign with UT and to let them know he was on top of things and that they were still wanted at Tennessee so he would know for certain how his recruiting class was shaping up and which positions he still needed to recruit for.
9...While trying to do all of this he had a Team meeting with all our current players to introduce himself to them, let them know what would be taking place for the next 2 or 3 weeks, let them know what he expected from them during that time and to motivate and encourage them to finish strong on their academics and exams.
10...CJP also got real busy real fast talking to and interviewing coaches that he wanted to try to hire away from their current schools to come work for him as he set out to totally rebuild his new Tennessee football program and, so far, we see he's doing a great job of hiring good coaches that are also good recruiters and have good experience at good schools and experience in the SEC.
I respect the courage of our new coaches because they know they're in a total rebuild, play Bama every year and have tough SEC competition to recruit and play against and none of them feared this huge challenge and came to the hill to help out as fast as they could get there.
Only 12 days to make lots of calls, hire a staff, make in home visits, get recruits to the hill for the last 2 weekend visits before the 1st signing days, watch film to make certain of which kids he wanted to recruit and on and on.
How did we do so far?
Our recruiting class was ranked 55th when CJP started and we moved up 33 spots to being ranked 22nd after the 1st signing period and we got some good players in spots where we needed them and he brought in several 4* kids including some of the top ranked JUCO players.
Now CJP is off coaching Bama, keeping his word to the school and the players he helped recruit and train as they work to try to Win another National Championship.
You can also bet that CJP is on the phone constantly with his coaching staff at Tennessee keeping them organized getting other important work done during this dead time when recruits can not be contacted in any ways.
Our D coaches are watching film together to see what players can and can't do and which plays work and which don't work as they slowly put a D playbook together.
Our O coaches are doing the same things on their side of the ball.
We may not see it or hear about it but our new footVol coaching staff is hard at work getting lots of work done as fast as they can because they know our players need their new playbooks to get busy studying.
Spring practice will be here before we know it and we're all looking forward to that but there's still loads of work to be done before that happens.
I look forward to seeing what new players we recruit on NSD and I think we just might be surprised and happy with our new recruiting class even though it had to be put together on such a short timeline.
I'm happy with what I've seen CJP put together...so far, I now have a little optimism and spirit back because of him too and that's always a good thing.
Happy New Year my fine Vol friends!
VFL...GBO!!!
