In the midst of the Tennessee Vols' third consecutive loss to the Florida Gators, I saw a lot of "fire Jeremy Pruitt", "fire Phillip Fulmer" and "burn it down" tweets.

That's absolutely the last thing the Vols should do. It would almost certainly end any hope Tennessee has of ever being relevant again.

The Vols, despite the 34-3 loss to the Gators, are going to be relevant again under Pruitt. I don't know the extent of how relevant they'll be, but they'll be better than what we've seen so far this season.

Tennessee isn't good right now. And they probably won't be good by the end of the season. But they'll be better. And they'll continue to get better.

I don't think folks truly realize how big of a mess Pruitt and Fulmer inherited. I don't think I understood it until after the loss to BYU.

The Vols have a broken culture that is going to take several years to fix. Programs like Alabama and Clemson have upperclassmen that mentor young players and lead by example. The coaches are in charge, but the older players are the ones who instill the culture in younger players.

Right now, the older players at UT have no culture to instill. They're learning it just like the younger players are. And that's a big problem.

Eventually, the younger players will be older players. They'll know how to mentor younger players. They'll know what to do on the field in tough situations.

But that's going to be a few years down the road. Until then, there's going to be a lot of growing pains and learning moments for Tennessee.

And look, maybe another coach could lead Tennessee back faster. If the Vols had landed Dan Mullen in 2017, maybe the football program looks a lot different today. But they didn't land Mullen. They landed a first time head coach who is still very much learning how to be a head coach. And he's doing under the microscope of a rabid fan base that's been hungry for a SEC East division championship for over a decade. I think we can all understand why Vol fans have no desire to be patient right now.

But they have to be. If the Vols fire Pruitt, Tennessee will just have to go through another embarrassing coaching search that will likely conclude with the hiring of another unproven coach.

Why go down that road?

Pruitt knows football. I don't think anyone can argue that. And he's surrounded by a staff that knows football. It's one of the best staffs in the country.

It's all about the quarterback

Right now, the Vols are some experience and a good quarterback away from being a 3-1 team (maybe even 4-0, because maybe the Florida game plays out different if the Vols score some points in the first half).

Tennessee's defense certainly had some rough moments on Saturday. I'm not sure defensive back Nigel Warrior should be on the field at all for the Vols. But they played well enough, especially until the fourth quarter, to give the Vols' offense a chance to make some things happen. The offense, however, did nothing with those opportunities.

And it's all because Tennessee doesn't have a capable quarterback right now. Jarrett Guarantano is too indecisive and plays with little to no fire. True freshman Brian Maurer got into the game in the third quarter on Saturday, and while I thought he provided a spark, it's clear that he's not accurate enough at this point to play significant time in the SEC (though if the game is already decided, I don't see the harm in playing him).

A great quarterback changes everything. The Vols have a quarterback on the way (2020 UT commit Harrison Bailey) that could change the trajectory of Tennessee football. When a team believes in their quarterback, they play better. When the team doesn't believe in their quarterback, play on both sides of the ball suffers.

I know it seems hopeless right now. And fans don't want to wait. But give Pruitt some time. He'll learn from his mistakes and the program, once they're not playing a ton of freshman, will improve vastly.

Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports