Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt could soon be returning to a college football sideline.

There seems to be some serious momentum building toward a Pruitt/Alabama reunion.

Pruitt served as Alabama's defensive coordinator for two seasons before landing the Tennessee job. He was also an assistant at Alabama under Nick Saban from 2007 to 2012.

ESPN's Cole Cubelic suggested on Wednesday during an appearance on Paul Finebaum's show that Pruitt is Saban's top choice to replace Pete Golding as the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator.

"I think that’s the reason (Pruitt's history with Saban at Alabama) that Nick Saban, probably it’s his No. 1 choice," said Cubelic. "He knows what he’s going to do, he knows that they can work off one another. I also think, Paul, that there’s a part of Jeremy Pruitt that understands how and can go toe-to-toe with Nick Saban. And when I say that, I don’t mean they’re having a boxing match in the facility. But he can challenge Nick Saban on ‘Why are we calling this here? We need to be running this. We don’t need to be in this alignment. We don’t need to be in this personnel grouping here. This is what we’re probably going to get.’ And Nick Saban has enough respect and understands that Jeremy Pruitt is not doing that just to prove that he has some sort of authority or puff his chest out at the head coach."

“He’s doing that because it would be what’s best for his defense," added Cubelic. "And I think Nick Saban probably feels like he needs a little bit of that. He needs a little bit of counter to what he thinks on a daily basis defensively inside that facility.”

The one roadblock here is that Pruitt still doesn't know what sort of punishment he's going to receive from the NCAA for his role in the recruiting violations that got him fired at Tennessee.

Considering the new landscape of NIL, those violations don't seem that bad in retrospect (it was reportedly around $60,000 in benefits and it was mostly used to help families of recruits/players with medical expenses, rent, etc).

We should know soon what kind of punishment Tennessee and Pruitt will face.

If Pruitt isn't hit with a show-cause penalty, I think we'll see him back at Alabama in some capacity.

And that's not great news for the Vols or the rest of the SEC.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Pruitt as a head coach, he possesses a great defensive mind and he was one of the top defensive coordinators in the nation during his time at Florida State, Georgia, and Alabama.

Cubelic, for example, noted on Wednesday that he's seen Pruitt screaming out the other team's plays before they run them.

"I’ve been on record saying Jeremy is one of the best in-game coaches on that side of the football that I’ve ever seen," said Cubelic. "I’ve called games, been on the sideline, Paul, and seen him screaming out the other team's plays, that they’re about to run. And it’s that play."

We'll see where this goes, but it sounds like Pruitt to Alabama is a real possibility.

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services