Pruitt: “Our football team is 100 times better than it was this time last year. "

He's still a Gump. But he is now our Gump.

 

55% confidence.

Time to win some games against some upper tier teams, compete for the East, and get to the 10 win mark. At this point, I'm not sure he's going to be the guy to win us a championship, but I do know he isn't going to leave us in a complete mess in regards to the roster if he doesn't pan out.

 

I really want Guarantano to leave after the bowl so everyone can start over with a competent QB. I think it's Bailey all the way even with JG here but I don't want him here to even give the coaches that option. The QB play will either be the reason Tennessee wins 8 or 9 games or the reason Tennessee loses 5 or 6 games in 2020.

Long term, I think Pruitt can be fine, but I don't know if he'll be able to recover from another JG induced slow start.

 

75%

 

I'm split on JG. A big part of me wants him as far away from the program as possible. The other part would like to have him on the roster because he seemed to be a solid teammate down the stretch, or at least played the part well. Also, you'd think that one of either Shrout or Maurer will transfer and there is no guarantee that it clicks for Bailey at this level, so he'd at least add depth with SEC experience.

 

He's tough as hell and he's played his ass off, he's just not good. Bailey may flop, but everything in the 2020 class was built around him. Let him have it. I would be okay with Maurer starting at Bailey #2.

 

JG is stunting our growth. He has to go. It's not like he was playing well down the stretch for us, either. The coaches seem incredibly enchanted with the guy, so, no doubt, he's going to be playing a lot more than we need next season if he stays. He just isn't very good.

 

He weathered the storm this year which is impressive for a green HC. Closed on a good recruiting class that he could still add another couple pieces to.

Needs a benchmark win next year out of the big 4 games and has to stay away from the catastrophic loss.

QB is imperative. The best teams have the best QBs. We will have more options there next year.

Recruiting is good but it needs to be better. He needs a good season next year to get that. Bailey needs to be what most think he is.

Still questions unanswered but he has shown he has the grit to push through a bad run.

 

He'll get us back to the 8-9 wins top 25 program range. TBD if he can take the next step after that, and in all honesty was probably unfair to expect him to go from train-wreck to top 10 in the SEC quickly.

 

he is still within the parameters I decided for myself. the win total again improved. the roster continues to improve in terms of talent and development.

At the same time, he isn't setting the world on fire. but he is doing what he is being paid to do, which is all one can really ask for and more than the last two.

 

That's the hardest thing to do. There's a lot of 8 win coaches, not many 12 win guys

 

I believe we added some play makers as far as speed goes. The QB we maybe looking over is the kid from Mississippi. Especially with a rpo. We picked up some valuable linemen on both sides of the ball. I don’t care what’s behind them, the SEC is a linemen’s conference.

if we pick up a surprise or two in the next few weeks, it will be a great class. He’s building from the ground up and IMHO, he’s doing a great job.

 

I do not know how he held the team together. I thought sure he was about to lose the locker room. I give him credit for holding the team together.

I like how he and his staff are able to make halftime adjustments; something we have not seen in awhile.

I like the recruits he is bringing in; and am especially impressed with it given our start.

 

Yeah

 

He pissed me off losing to G State and BYU, I was ready for him to go back to Alabama after the Florida game. I was wrong. He’s an excellent coach. The development of Nigel Warrior is a clear demonstration of his coaching ability.

Wit that said, the jury is still out on his ceiling. He’s not the only quality coach in the conference. He’s recruiting against programs that haven’t been mismanaged for over a decade.

Compared to the eight years of Dooley/Jones, he looks like Vince Lombardi.

 

I trust Pruitt to field a competent defense yearly. And Chaney is a top 5 OC. If he continues to keep Chaney out of the cardiology wing we’ll get where we want to be. It may be a 5 year slog but we will get there.

 

So far so good. I assumed this would be a tough, slow rebuild.

 

Has to beat UF or UGA next year or I’m jumping off again.

 

Good grief...

 

That’s not unreasonable. UF at home. UGA May drop off a bit if Fromm leaves. He has to beat one of the big three at some point. It will be year 3.