The hot seat talk surrounding Jeremy Pruitt started as soon as the Tennessee Vols lost to Georgia State in the 2019 season opener.

A week later, the chatter intensified after a late defensive mishap cost Tennessee a win against BYU.

Starting the season 0-2, with two losses against teams the Vols were expected to beat, was enough for some fans, and some media analysts, to be completely out on Pruitt.

Hasty judgements, however, are never a good idea. And closing the book on Pruitt after 14 games was silly — especially when Tennessee was dealing with a large youth movement and an extreme lack of depth.

A little over a month later, though, the perception of Pruitt has totally changed. The Vols' record still isn't very good (2-5), but the program has looked like a team on the verge of something special in recent weeks. A win over Mississippi State gave Tennessee a win over a SEC West opponent for the second straight season (the last time that happened was under Phillip Fulmer in 2007-08). The Vols also looked like they belonged against Georgia and Alabama (Tennessee had a chance to make it a one score game against Alabama in the fourth quarter, before Jarrett Guarantano's questionable QB sneak).

The improved play on the field is encouraging. But the most important thing the Vols can do right now is use this momentum to add some key recruits.

And that's exactly what Pruitt and his staff are doing.

On Tuesday night, in the span of an hour, Tennessee added three four-star recruits to their 2020 recruiting class. The three high school teammates, who attend Whitehaven High School in Memphis, give the Vols 17 commits to their 2020 recruiting class. It also brought the ranking of the class to No. 20 in the nation.

In a span of an hour, Vols added 12 stars to 2020 class from the same school, as 4-stars Bryson Eason, Martavius French and Tamarion McDonald all committed.

"Man, I’m so happy right now," TMac said. "We’re going to the same school, the place we always really wanted to be at."

— Jesse Simonton (@JesseReSimonton) October 23, 2019

Not too bad a for a team that's 2-5 with a coach who some wanted fired a month ago.

I don't think anyone, maybe not even Pruitt, knew just much work it was going to take to drag Tennessee football out of the cellar. UT was a complete mess when Pruitt took over in late 2017. Add in some more attrition and it's easy to see why it's been such an uphill battle for the former Alabama defensive coordinator.

The Vols' 2-5 record this season is a bit deceptive. Some folks like to compare Pruitt's second year to Butch Jones' second year in 2014 (when Tennessee finished the regular season 6-6), but that's a foolish idea. Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina are all much better teams now then they were in 2014. And let's not forget that Jones had quarterback Josh Dobbs on the roster, which helped a lot during the final stretch of the season.

Tennessee is making steady progress. They looked like a team that could compete against Alabama on Saturday. Recruits are taking notice, too. And as long as recruiting is going well, then Pruitt's tenure at Tennessee will go well.

This is a marathon, it's not a sprint. Pruitt's slow start to the season should be a lesson to fans and analysts to take a step back and let things play out before making harsh judgements that aren't fair.

Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports