When the Tennessee Vols hired Jeremy Pruitt to lead the program in late 2017, there were numerous weak points on the roster.

But one of the areas that was the weakest was up front in the trenches — on both sides of the ball.

Pruitt has worked hard during his first two plus years in Knoxville to improve the Vols up front. And legendary UT head coach Phillip Fulmer, now the Vols' athletic director and the man who hired Pruitt, has seen notable improvement up front for Tennessee under Pruitt.

Fulmer recently appeared on The Nation and gave his thoughts on how the Vols looked up front in 2018.

"If you really want to win this conference and win it consistently, you have to be good up front. And he’s (Pruitt) done a tremendous job of getting us to a different place, particularly on the defensive front", said Fulmer to Chris Low and Austin Price.

"During the course of the season you saw them on the defensive front just keep getting better and better and controlling the line scrimmage, stopping the run and making teams do things they didn’t want to do. That’s a great recipe to win."

Fulmer is a straight shooter. This isn't just him talking up the head coach he hired. He tells it like it is.

When discussing Tennessee's offensive line, Fulmer offered some praise, but it wasn't quite as glowing as his praise for the defensive line.

"On the offensive side, we certainly improved. I would say we certainly improved from the beginning of the season to end of the season", said Fulmer.

The legendary hall of fame head coach added "Did we ever actually become a dominating offensive front? No, we still got a ways to do that, but we sure looked different. We look like a good looking offensive front and they’ve been coached well."

Fulmer isn't shy about pointing out where the Vols need to improve. But he's also quick to praise Pruitt and his staff when it's deserved.

The fact that Fulmer sees progress up front is incredibly encouraging for Tennessee.

If anyone knows what it takes to win in the trenches in the SEC, it's Fulmer — a former SEC offensive lineman and offensive line coach.

Vol fans should be extremely excited about the future of the program under Pruitt.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports/