Jeremy Pruitt's finest moment as Tennessee's head coach came just before Jauan Jennings' final game with Vols
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings, a former Tennessee Vols standout, was one of the biggest stars of Super Bowl LVIII, despite the fact that the 49ers lost the game to the Kansas City Chiefs. Jennings passed for a touchdown, caught a touchdown, and was open for the go-ahead touchdown in overtime. Suffice it […]
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings, a former Tennessee Vols standout, was one of the biggest stars of Super Bowl LVIII, despite the fact that the 49ers lost the game to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Jennings passed for a touchdown, caught a touchdown, and was open for the go-ahead touchdown in overtime. Suffice it to say, without Jennings, the 49ers lose by more than 3 points.
While watching Jennings dominate on football's biggest stage, I was reminded that if not for former Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt, there's a chance that Jennings never gets a chance in the NFL.
For starters, Pruitt reinstated Jennings to Tennessee's roster in 2018 after former UT athletic director John Currie and former Vols interim head coach Brady Hoke kicked the wide receiver off the team because of an Instagram live video that showed Jennings being critical of the coaching staff (Jennings was attempting to return from injury so he could play against Vanderbilt in 2017).
If Pruitt doesn't reinstate Jennings to the roster, who knows where his football career goes.
It wasn't just reinstating Jennings to the team in 2018 that Pruitt deserves credit for, by the way.
Ahead of the Gator Bowl, at the end of the 2019 season, Jennings was suspended for a half because he accidentally stepped on a Vanderbilt player in the Vols' final regular season game.
Pruitt went out of his way during the press conference before the Gator Bowl to defend Jennings' character in response to the suspension.
"Jauan Jennings has done nothing but do everything exactly the way we wanted him to since I’ve been the head coach at Tennessee," said Pruitt. "The guy’s graduated, he’s competed, he’s been a great leader. In this game, you see it every Saturday, there’s lots of physicality in this game. Jauan plays the right way, but one thing that we do is there’s leaders in every organization, right? I’m the leader in our organization, Greg Sankey’s the leader in the SEC and things kind of go up and down the ladder there. Commissioner Sankey made a decision on that and we’re going to support it. But in no way does that depict who Jauan is, or the circumstances around it."
A month later, there was a report that some teams didn't have Jennings on their draft boards due to character concerns. He ended up getting selected in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the 49ers. Essentially, he barely got a shot in the NFL because of some unfortunate narratives that formed during his time in college (narratives that have since been destroyed).
I think it's fair to suggest that Pruitt's defense of Jennings' character helped ease concerns for a few NFL teams (at least the 49ers).
Pruitt had plenty of shortcomings during his time as Tennessee's head coach, but he seemingly always had his players' backs. And that's something I think everyone can respect.
