KNOXVILLE – Ever since he was hired as football coach at the University of Tennessee two years ago, Jeremy Pruitt has been asking recruits to, in a sense, put blind faith in him and his staff being able to turn things around.
It hasn’t always been easy. The Volunteers were coming off a 4-8 season when he arrived, went 5-7 in his debut campaign and were just 6-11 in his first 17 games in charge.
Pruitt implored recruits to stick with the program and be a part of the turnaround, though, and the result was a 2019 recruiting class that wound up No. 13 in the 247Sports.com composite rankings. A few of those prospects played early this season and even more played late, helping the Vols rebound from a 1-4 start by going 6-1 to finish the schedule and take a five-game winning streak into the Jan. 2 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Indiana (8-4).
Wednesday wasn’t about the bowl game, though. It was about another group of players buying into Pruitt’s vision – and 21 did as another early signing period for college football got started.
(Read more: Get to know the newest Tennessee Volunteers)