Giants’ Joe Judge set to add controversial former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt



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Joe Judge’s coaching staff is becoming the Island Of Misfit College Coaches.

The Giants coach intends to add Jeremy Pruitt to his coaching staff. Pruitt was recently fired by Tennessee following an investigation into possible recruitment violations within the program. Athletic were the first to announce that Pruitt would join the Giants’ staff.

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A recent report suggested that Pruitt staff members put money in McDonalds bags and give them to recruits when they arrive on campus. Pruitt was 16-19 in three seasons at Tennessee, a losing mark tied in recent years at Knoxville only by Derek Dooley … who is already on Judge’s staff as a senior offensive assistant.

It’s unclear what role Pruitt will play on Judge’s staff, but there’s a coaching debut outside of linebackers, a role left vacant when Bret Bielema left for the Illinois head coach position. before the end of the Giants season. Bielema had not been a head coach since 2017, when he was fired after a lost tenure in Arkansas.

Pruitt has had a connection to the judge from when they worked together in Alabama from 2009 to 2011, when the judge was an assistant on special teams and Pruitt coached defensive backs. Pruitt has coached defensive backs for most of his career, but was Alabama’s defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach in 2016-17.

The Giants’ current inside linebacker coach also has ties to Pruitt – Kevin Sherrer was Pruitt’s co-defensive coordinator in 2018, then his special teams coordinator / inside linebacker coach in 2019. They also coached together at the ‘Alabama and Hoover High School (Alabama). ) at the start of their coaching career.

If Pruitt takes Bielema’s old job as outside linebackers coach, it will still leave the Giants an opening to the judge’s staff: the offensive line coach. Dave DeGuglielmo’s contract expired at the end of the season and he is not expected to return.

It’s unclear who Judge is considering for the role, but two potential candidates that make sense include Giants offensive-line assistant coach Ben Wilkerson and former Chargers offensive-line coach James Campen.

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Zack Rosenblatt can be reached at [email protected]. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip Here.

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