DiderotsGhost
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I'm as angry as everyone else at this years' performance. I'm not sure Pruitt is "the guy" or not, and I've said that since Day #1, but I also think there's a legit case for why he deserves at least 1-2 more years to figure it out. Here's why:
QB Struggles. I'm not going to mince words: Jarrett Guarantano has been dogs@#$ awful this season. With advanced stats, he's arguably the worst QB in the SEC right now; at the very least, he's in the bottom 3. Vandy's true Freshman QB is arguably better than JG at this point. JG single-handedly lost us that Kentucky game with 3 critical turnovers and in reality, we lost that Auburn game due to JG as well (14 point swing with that pick-6). Even the games JG isn't turning the ball over, he can't move us down the field either. So with a good QB, we're already back to 4-3 against SEC competition. But I'm not even sure we lose to Arkansas with a good QB; we might've even had a shot at Georgia. We're really that close to being a good team.
2018 vs 2020. In 2018, we could've had Peyton Manning behind center and still struggled to hit 6-6 with the terrible O-line play. It's the reverse now. The QB is, by far, the biggest thing holding us back. We are better at almost every other position than QB. The O-line is worlds better. We brought in one of the best WR classes in the country this season; albeit they are young and didn't get the reps in the offseason they needed, but they are going to be good (see Jalin Hyatt!). Our running game is much improved over 2018. The only thing that's worse on offense is the QB.
3-7 vs 7-5. A 3-7 SEC record (our likely result) sucks, but it's also a bit out of context. With our traditional schedule, we're likely 7-5 or 6-6 at the end of the season.
Bailey / Salter. Chaney needs his QB. You might think all of this is hogwash, but to me, this is the biggest point in favor of keeping Pruitt. Chaney hasn't had his QB yet. JG is Butch Jones' QB. Shrout is Helton's QB. Even Maurer was Helton's QB. Kaidon Salter is the first Chaney QB, but Harrison Bailey also probably qualifies as he was recruited at Georgia by Chaney, even if we're not sure if we was their #1 target. I wanna see how Chaney does with Bailey and Salter before throwing in the towel on Pruitt, because right now, I see a reasonably good team with very terrible QB play. If Chaney gets that fixed (and he has a track record of fixing QB play), this might suddenly be a competitive team.
Bailey shows promise. Not much to go on, but Bailey looked very impressive versus Auburn in his one drive. While I'm pissed at Pruitt for not playing Bailey more, I do at least understand the logic. Bailey is a true Freshman who came in during a global pandemic, which basically deprived him of an offseason. Even during the limited offseason, Bailey was quarantined at one point and got very few reps. I don't think Pruitt wants to throw Bailey to the wolves given this and may be playing it very safe as a result (too safe), but I at least understand it. I want to see how Bailey does before jumping to conclusions.
Recruiting has been very good. In spite of the bad, Pruitt brought in one of the best classes in the country last season. He might end up with one of the best this season as well; albeit the lack of progress on the field may be an issue for some recruits. Covid hurt us more than other teams precisely because of this; we were always more dependent upon Freshman talent this year than the rest of the SEC and Covid destroyed our offseason development.
Pruitt has been quick to address problems. I know he has his share of coach-speak (they all do), but Pruitt fired Brumbaugh pretty quickly after seeing problems on the DL. Pruitt has a very Johnny Majors way of handling the staff and I think it may take him more time to get settled than people think.
Like I said, I don't know if Pruitt is "the guy" or not, but at the very least, I want to see another year. I want to see how Chaney does with either Bailey or Salter at QB; see how we do with a full offseason. If Pruitt lets us down at that point, then it's time to look at replacing him, but right now, I see a team that has mostly gotten better, but still sucks because we've been terrible at the most important position on the field. And while Pruitt is partly to blame for some of those issues (including telling Michael Penix to take a hike and taking JT Shrout instead in 2017), we might simply not be seeing the improved results of having Chaney in charge of recruiting QBs yet.
So there it is ... flame away!
But I'll be calling for Pruitt's head just like many of you if I see similar results in 2021. For now, I'm willing to give Pruitt a pass, but if JG is the starter in 2021, I'll probably be screaming "FAHR PRUITT!" with all the other miserables.
QB Struggles. I'm not going to mince words: Jarrett Guarantano has been dogs@#$ awful this season. With advanced stats, he's arguably the worst QB in the SEC right now; at the very least, he's in the bottom 3. Vandy's true Freshman QB is arguably better than JG at this point. JG single-handedly lost us that Kentucky game with 3 critical turnovers and in reality, we lost that Auburn game due to JG as well (14 point swing with that pick-6). Even the games JG isn't turning the ball over, he can't move us down the field either. So with a good QB, we're already back to 4-3 against SEC competition. But I'm not even sure we lose to Arkansas with a good QB; we might've even had a shot at Georgia. We're really that close to being a good team.
2018 vs 2020. In 2018, we could've had Peyton Manning behind center and still struggled to hit 6-6 with the terrible O-line play. It's the reverse now. The QB is, by far, the biggest thing holding us back. We are better at almost every other position than QB. The O-line is worlds better. We brought in one of the best WR classes in the country this season; albeit they are young and didn't get the reps in the offseason they needed, but they are going to be good (see Jalin Hyatt!). Our running game is much improved over 2018. The only thing that's worse on offense is the QB.
3-7 vs 7-5. A 3-7 SEC record (our likely result) sucks, but it's also a bit out of context. With our traditional schedule, we're likely 7-5 or 6-6 at the end of the season.
Bailey / Salter. Chaney needs his QB. You might think all of this is hogwash, but to me, this is the biggest point in favor of keeping Pruitt. Chaney hasn't had his QB yet. JG is Butch Jones' QB. Shrout is Helton's QB. Even Maurer was Helton's QB. Kaidon Salter is the first Chaney QB, but Harrison Bailey also probably qualifies as he was recruited at Georgia by Chaney, even if we're not sure if we was their #1 target. I wanna see how Chaney does with Bailey and Salter before throwing in the towel on Pruitt, because right now, I see a reasonably good team with very terrible QB play. If Chaney gets that fixed (and he has a track record of fixing QB play), this might suddenly be a competitive team.
Bailey shows promise. Not much to go on, but Bailey looked very impressive versus Auburn in his one drive. While I'm pissed at Pruitt for not playing Bailey more, I do at least understand the logic. Bailey is a true Freshman who came in during a global pandemic, which basically deprived him of an offseason. Even during the limited offseason, Bailey was quarantined at one point and got very few reps. I don't think Pruitt wants to throw Bailey to the wolves given this and may be playing it very safe as a result (too safe), but I at least understand it. I want to see how Bailey does before jumping to conclusions.
Recruiting has been very good. In spite of the bad, Pruitt brought in one of the best classes in the country last season. He might end up with one of the best this season as well; albeit the lack of progress on the field may be an issue for some recruits. Covid hurt us more than other teams precisely because of this; we were always more dependent upon Freshman talent this year than the rest of the SEC and Covid destroyed our offseason development.
Pruitt has been quick to address problems. I know he has his share of coach-speak (they all do), but Pruitt fired Brumbaugh pretty quickly after seeing problems on the DL. Pruitt has a very Johnny Majors way of handling the staff and I think it may take him more time to get settled than people think.
Like I said, I don't know if Pruitt is "the guy" or not, but at the very least, I want to see another year. I want to see how Chaney does with either Bailey or Salter at QB; see how we do with a full offseason. If Pruitt lets us down at that point, then it's time to look at replacing him, but right now, I see a team that has mostly gotten better, but still sucks because we've been terrible at the most important position on the field. And while Pruitt is partly to blame for some of those issues (including telling Michael Penix to take a hike and taking JT Shrout instead in 2017), we might simply not be seeing the improved results of having Chaney in charge of recruiting QBs yet.
So there it is ... flame away!
But I'll be calling for Pruitt's head just like many of you if I see similar results in 2021. For now, I'm willing to give Pruitt a pass, but if JG is the starter in 2021, I'll probably be screaming "FAHR PRUITT!" with all the other miserables.