Fact or Fiction: Jeremy Pruitt won’t last until signing day
National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
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FACT OR FICTION: DeVonta Smith deserved Heisman | Arik Gilbert will go to Georgia | Tristan Leigh is surprise commit of 2021
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1. Jeremy Pruitt won’t last until National Signing Day.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Now with a freeze on all hires announced at Tennessee due to an NCAA investigation it’s hard to imagine Pruitt surviving much longer. The season was a disaster, the program has gone backward, recruiting is taking a hit and now this public black eye. I say he’s fired by the first Wednesday of February.
Gorney’s take: FACT. It might happen over the next few days or weeks, he might sneak under the wire and stay until after signing day. That's a tried-and-true move by many schools to keep coaches around until prospects are signed and then they make a coaching change.
But this situation does not look good for Pruitt at all. There are investigations into the recruitment of Amarius Mims. Eric Gray sat out the season finale and sources told ESPN it was because of this probe. Lawyers are being brought in. And for what? Pruitt is 16-19 overall and the Vols have finished worse than third in the SEC East in two of his three seasons. Tennessee lost seven of its last eight games by double digits this season. It’s not as if Pruitt is some football savant that the school will go to the mattresses over. It looks like this debacle will end soon.
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2. Don Brown is a good hire at Arizona.
Farrell’s take: FACT. A great hire. When Don Brown arrives someplace, his players buy in and his system is aggressive, new and fresh. Arizona is a massive rebuilding project overall, but you can’t find a better hire on defense and Jedd Fisch knows what he’s doing.
Gorney’s take: FACT. There is no arguing against Brown, but it will be interesting to see how he deals with playing innovative, spread offenses with elite speed across the Pac-12. That might be a little bit of an adjustment for him and he won’t have elite players across the board like he usually had at Michigan.
But Brown is a brilliant defensive coach and should be very good in Tucson. Fisch brought some top players back out of the portal and now with Brown on board, things are looking up for the Wildcats.
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3. The Brady connection will work at LSU.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. LSU has hired Carolina Panthers quarterback coach Jake Peetz to run the offense after Steve Ensminger stepped away and they are hoping the Joe Brady connection will bring back the magic. Peetz worked under the former LSU offensive guru in Carolina this season and Ed Orgeron is hoping he can bring back the firepower of the national title season.
The problem? There aren’t a ton of weapons and Joe Burrow isn’t walking through that door. It’s a nice thought, but it’s going to spin for a bit before anything gets back on track on offense at LSU.
Gorney’s take: FACT. The offense wasn’t great at LSU last season but it was pretty similar in scoring to Georgia and Texas A&M, so really the defensive side of the ball was the issue and needs to be rectified. Peetz has lots of NFL experience that will be a selling point to quarterbacks, he has a young arsenal of receivers waiting to break out and he’s a young, bright mind in the game. Is he Joe Brady? Who knows? But he will be an upgrade and LSU has talent.