Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was the first defensive coordinator for current Alabama standouts such as Da'Ron Payne, Rashaan Evans and Minkah Fitzpatrick.ATLANTA - Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt can take some consolation if his Crimson Tide come up short in Monday night's championship game of the College Football Playoff, and it has little to do with the head-coaching opportunity awaiting him at Tennessee.
Guiding the Volunteers at $3.8 million annually certainly qualifies as Southern comfort, but Pruitt will look across the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and see a lot of players he helped develop during his two seasons as Georgia's defensive coordinator during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Touted Bulldogs defenders such as inside linebacker and Butkus Award winner Roquan Smith, senior outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter and junior defensive tackle Trenton Thompson began their careers at Georgia with Pruitt as coordinator.
"I had a great time there, and it's exciting to me to see these guys have success," Pruitt said. "When we sat in the living rooms of those guys, we actually talked to them about having the opportunity to do this one day, and it's good to see that these guys are having the chance to do that."
Pruitt previously coached nine of Georgia's 11 defensive starters in last Monday's Rose Bowl victory over Oklahoma - sophomore defensive lineman Tyler Clark and sophomore safety transfer J.R. Reed are the exceptions - which would seemingly give Alabama a leg up on intel against the Bulldogs.
Except that Georgia head coach Kirby Smart can sing the same tune.
As Alabama's defensive coordinator, Smart worked with nine of the Crimson Tide's defensive starters from last Monday's Sugar Bowl smothering of Clemson, with sophomore inside linebacker Mack Wilson and junior college transfer defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs the exceptions.
"I would say we know most of the players," Smart said. "They've got one recruiting class that I wasn't a part of and one that I kind of was but left, and it's the same way here. We've got fifth-year seniors playing on defense who (Pruitt) didn't have a hand in recruiting, because he came behind Todd (Grantham), and there are some freshmen playing for us that he had no hand in.
"There is definitely the meat and potatoes that we both know, but there are also some alternative parts that neither one of us know. There are guys on their defense who I have no idea about."
That 18 of 22 potential defensive starters Monday night have been coached both by Pruitt and Smart makes for a unique event and could lead to numerous lengthy embraces afterward. Whether an upper hand can be gained remains to be seen.
"It's somewhat helpful," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said of the familiarity. "Personnel matchups are not as significant in college football compared to pro ball because the style of the game is so different, but I think it is an advantage to know some of the other team's players to some degree. They probably know ours as well as anybody."
Said Bulldogs outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer: "It probably gives you a little more insight than you probably wouldn't get compared to an opponent you don't know personally, but at the end of the day it's about the guys out there playing."
Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who is in his first season after spending the past 17 years in the NFL, isn't putting too much of an emphasis on the fact veteran Tide defenders such as lineman Da'Ron Payne, linebacker Rashaan Evans and defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick started their college careers working under Smart.
"At the end of the day you've got to do your work on the tape and look at the things they've done," Daboll said. "You study their players and study their scheme. It's the next game, and there have been plenty of games I've been part of in the NFL where you play guys that you know."
Second-year Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney sounded far more intrigued by the situation and has been all ears this week when Smart speaks.
"I'm telling him, 'Talk to me. Tell me what you know.' It's been fun," Chaney said, smiling. "Kirby will say, 'Are you thinking about this or that?' Then I'll say, 'Well, tell me about him and him.' It's been a dynamic that is unique and doesn't happen very often.
"I hope we've utilized it to the best of our abilities."
Smart was introduced as Georgia's coach in December 2015 but stayed as Alabama's defensive coordinator through the Crimson Tide's playoff run to the national title. Pruitt was hired as Alabama's defensive coordinator that same month and shared an office with Smart until Smart's departure.
Fitzpatrick described the transition from Smart to Pruitt as "really smooth," and Georgia's Carter believes the switching of those two coaches midway through his career is just a sign of the times.
"It's the world we live in with coaches moving all over the place," Carter said. "We've already faced Todd Grantham a couple of times since he left."
Pruitt, of course, will be on the move again Tuesday when he heads to Knoxville. He will do so having coached a lot of national champs, whether they wore crimson or red and black.
"One team is going to win, so that's a good thing," Pruitt said. "We'll be either happy in Knoxville, or Kirby will be happy in Athens, and Coach will be happy in Tuscaloosa."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.