Fact or Fiction: Pruitt facemask grab a big concern
National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
TAKE TWO: As visits loom, does Clemson lead for Justin Flowe?
1. Jeremy Pruitt grabbing Jarrett Guarantano’s facemask is a big deal.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Let’s grow up, people. Pruitt barely touched the quarterback’s facemask and people are making this out to be like Woody Hayes hitting an opposing player. We live in a mamby-pamby world where everyone loves to overreact to things and fake outrage runs rampant. Let’s just stop it.
Much worse has been done on every football level and a coach showing his frustration is natural. What’s next, complaining about a coach yelling at a player? Oh yeah we saw that last week with Dabo Swinney and his kicker. This is getting out of hand.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Pruitt should never touch any of his players, no questions, no excuses, but let’s not blow this out of proportion. What he did was wrong but it wasn’t in any way a fireable offense or something that should really be discussed any further.
Pruitt’s sideline antics are embarrassing enough, always screaming like a madman, and what he did was regrettable and a mistake, but let’s move on. Pruitt needs to learn he’s not a high school coach anymore and every action is under a massive microscope but we've talked about it and it should be over.
2. Lovie Smith saved his job with a win over Wisconsin.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Many feel Lovie Smith would have survived after this season anyhow, but this assured that and could give him more time to turn things around. I still don’t think he’s the solution at all - Wisconsin was looking ahead and Paul Chryst called a bad game - but it’s still an important win for Smith.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Illinois is showing a decent amount of improvement this season but I still don’t think Lovie Smith is definitely coming back next year just because the Illini upset Wisconsin. The coming weeks will be important and if Illinois collapses then I could still see AD Josh Whitman making a change.
Beating Wisconsin was huge and the Illini battled Michigan late, battled Nebraska late and have used the transfer market to land some quality players. I don’t think Illinois is becoming a Big Ten threat, but it might be slowly going in a better direction. I'm still not sure that’s enough for Smith to keep his job, though.
3. Malik Hornsby cancelling his FSU visit is a bad sign.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Florida State needs quarterbacks, but the play on the field has been so bad that Malik Hornsby is choosing to visit Purdue instead of the Seminoles. When is the last time that happened? Willie Taggart is on thin ice at FSU and this is just a sign that things are getting worse.
Gorney’s take: FACT. Florida State has a lot of problems and Hornsby is one of many recruits who don’t want to be a part of this situation. Taggart seems to already be on the hot seat because the team just doesn’t look good, the offensive line remains a mess, the team scored 20 points against Wake Forest, which gave up 62 to Louisville the week before, and so on. Florida State still has a lot of name recognition but when top prospects look at this team that is 14-17 the last three seasons, do they see anything really all that positive? Probably not.