Vols Coach Jeremy Pruitt Sizes Up National Signing Day on Rocky Top

(utsports.com) On how he changed during the early signing period from being assistant coach to head coach and how difficult the change was:

“I think I was hired on a Thursday and we went out on the road on a Friday, so the first weekend that we had guys in we had no relationships with them. Luckily, they were some of our mid-year guys so we could start building relationships with them and their families. If you kind of look at our signing class, I think out of our 20 guys we signed, there’s somewhere between 10 to 12 of them that have never been on campus here at Tennessee. We get the guys on campus and a lot of the guys that we recruited in the process have never been here. And one thing that goes with that in recruiting is that there’s a part where there’s relationships with the coach, then there’s a part where there’s relationships with the other guys on the team and some of that is the relationships they’ve built with the coaches on the staff. Obviously, of the guys that are on the team right now, some guys know us and we’re getting to know each other more every day in the meetings that we’re having with our position coaches. Just kind of informal meetings just so they can introduce themselves to each other and just kind of get to know each other. Moving forward, there is gonna be a relationship with the guys on the team and our guys will really get involved with the process of recruiting.”
On how it feels to settle into a class:

“First off, I’m not sure we’re done with this class. There’s some guys that we will possibly add later on and we’re still looking for guys. The one thing that we want to do with this class is make sure that the guys we brought in fit the criteria that we were looking for in each position. If we felt like they didn’t fit that we weren’t in a hurry just to make sure we filled up spots. Of course guys will become available as the spring goes.”
On how signing day went for him:

“First of all, we signed six guys that will play on our defensive front and we needed some big men. When you talk about being good on defense it starts up front, it starts in the middle, and we needed to have size and depth and we did that. We added two linebackers, Jordan Allen in the early signing period and JJ Peterson today, we got a guy that can rush off the edge and a guy that probably plays inside. When you’re talking about what offensive lineman we’ve added, three of them are here right now so they’re going to get an opportunity to contribute in the spring. We only have eleven offensive lineman on scholarship that are healthy so from a practice standpoint that’s only two deep. We’d like to have 16 to 18 offensive lineman on scholarship. We’ve added a couple of guys that play in the secondary, a couple of guys at wide receiver and running backs. One thing about signing athletes that play multiple spots, for the program it creates value for them and it helps us because there’s injuries in this game and sometimes you have to move guys back and forth on each side of the ball.
On being in a place that’s rebuilding:

“I think the biggest thing in recruiting is that it’s a relationship business. Probably everybody in here has children and that’s what these parents are doing in the next three to five years, they’re going to drop their kid off with you and they’ve got to trust you and understand what’s going to happen once they’re there. There’s got to be some familiarity with the program and 85% of the guys we recruited have never been on campus here. You get one shot to get them on campus and you’ve got to make the most of it. I think our guys on our staff and our players and everybody associated with the program down here did a pretty good job.”
On how much easier it will be down the road when he has the full recruiting cycle rather than just a few months:

“For one, when you look at the guys on our staff, we kind of came from all over. So we had built relationships with guys to recruit them to other schools. A lot of the guys, even though they just announced today, had already decided on where they wanted to go so we were probably way behind to begin with. It’s going to be a lot easier than it was this time because we’re going to start as soon as possible, and we’ve already started hosting underclassmen on campus. The way to keep moving up the process in recruiting – it starts earlier and earlier – and that’s something we’re going to have to do. And we’ll do it all spring, so I hope this time next year the guys we’re talking about have been to campus more than one time.”
On whether team successfully addressed need at cornerback:

“To me, I know some of the guys on our team, and we got guys to me that can play cornerback. I think all those guys can play multiple spots, so I feel like we addressed our needs at that position.”
On getting to know coaching staff on the recruiting trail:

“Our entire staff, they’ve really done a good job. These guys are great in the homes. They gave us an opportunity to get folks on campus that otherwise did not even have Tennessee on their radar. One thing about it, if you don’t get them on campus, you don’t have a shot.”
On landing a physical running back in Jeremy Banks:
“It’s kind of why they have weight classes. The heavyweights don’t fight the lightweights. I know from a defensive standpoint, those bigger guys on the other side of the ball, when it gets to the third and fourth quarter, those guys can pound the defense a little bit, so we needed a guy like that.”
On the importance of having linebackers that can play all four positions:

“The guys that are 4-for-4 to me, the first thing is injuries. You got guys that maybe their best position is outside linebacker but you lose four inside linebackers. If you have guys that can do both, you got a chance to move him inside and you can kind of keep rolling a bit. When we have guys like that, we want to cross-train them and we’ll do that in the spring and fall camp. I think that’s important to sign guys like that every once in a while. You’ll get guys that are unique that maybe they’re only edge rush guys or you got guys that are only inside stack backers.”
On recruiting process for linebacker JJ Peterson:

“We had kind of targeted him a long time ago. I had a really good relationship with him. I was a primary recruiter for him in the past. In recruiting, it’s about relationships, and the longer you’ve been recruiting them, probably the better opportunity you have to sign them.”
On team’s remaining needs:

“I think if you looked at our roster, probably from a pure scholarship standpoint, we’ll probably be operating off of 77 to 75 in the fall. We’re definitely gonna be under, so if you looked at our entire team, there’s probably needs at every position when it comes to depth. We’re going to look at the possibility of recruiting guys on through the spring and we’ll look at grad transfers and see where that goes.”
On experiencing National Signing Day as a head coach for the first time:

“In this business, if you’re not talking to him, somebody else is. From a head coach’s perspective, one thing that was different for me, usually you’re recruiting the guys in your area as an assistant coach, so they might be a tailback or a wide receiver, defensive tackle or whatever position they are. But you recruit the guys in your area. As a defensive coordinator, you got to recruit and build relationships with all the defensive players. As a head coach’s standpoint, it’s everybody. You got to be involved in everything and understand that you better have the family, you better have the high school coach, you better have his best friend, his favorite teacher, the whole deal. So, a little more dynamics.”
On if he has thought about moving players to different positions:

“We got guys on our team that probably will change positions this spring. There might be several of them once we get out there and start running around a little bit and we get a chance to evaluate folks. At the end of the day, you got to find a way to get your best 22 on the field. There might be some guys that play wide receiver that might go corner, that might go vice versa. There might be a running back that plays defensive back. It could be a defensive lineman that goes to tight end or an offensive lineman that goes to defensive tackle. We’ll see when we get out here and run around a little bit in winter conditioning, and we’ll probably find out more about it in spring ball.”