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Recruits react to Jeremy Pruitt's dismissal at Tennessee

Ty Simpson
Ty Simpson (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Tennessee fired coach Jeremy Pruitt on Monday after he went 16-19 in three seasons and amid a scathing report surrounding recruiting violations as some assistants have also been let go as well. Here is early recruit reaction from the breaking news:

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“I will have to see who they replace coach Pruitt with.”

“I think this is a bad fire because of COVID season and no fans. Tennessee is a good team and he had one of the best quarterbacks coming in that would help solve their only problem. This is a sad day for Tennessee. I think they fired him and Butch Jones too early. Recruits love him just hope he’s not in trouble.”

“When I found out they fired coach Pruitt it was kind of like unbelievable. I didn’t think they would do it. He was the guy to offer me at Tennessee and I liked him a lot. Tennessee has always been Tennessee to me - a home state school with a great football team I could play for. The recruiting picked up with me and coach Tee Martin. Just pretty ready to see who they bring in and who they let go.”

“This does not affect my interest in them. I am still interested in the school and the program.”

“This takes Tennessee out of my top three.”

“I definitely hate to see him fired because of the relationship I built with him, and I’ll have to wait and see who the next head coach is to see where they stand.”

“This is crazy. Coach Pruitt started recruiting me my sophomore year. Now it depends on who they hire and if the new coach will recruit me.”

“I honestly didn’t know he got fired. I just got out of practice. But I’m actually surprised because the program was pretty young, and despite having the season they had I honestly thought they were a good team, they never gave up and they would continue to play. But overall yeah that’s surprising.”

"It doesn’t affect me at all they will still be at the top of my list."

“It’s a little disappointing but nothing really changes in my relationship with Tennessee. They are an elite program who I’m sure will reload with a great new coach. Lots of respect to coach Pruitt and wish him the best. I’m sure plenty of people will miss him as he is a good coach.”

“This does mean something to me with Jeremy Pruitt being fired. Some thinking about Tennessee for me to do now.”

“I am just waiting to see what happens. I want to see what happens with the coaches and AD since they might let (Phillip) Fulmer go, too.”

“About coach Pruitt getting fired, I’m not sure of how it will make a change on the program or the recruitment but it definitely makes a difference and I have to check out if this could affect my recruitment.”

“This does affect my relationship with Tennessee. But my love for them is still the same. Just super heartbroken about them letting him go.”

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