Phil Fulmer: Tennessee was in a ‘mess’ before Jeremy Pruitt was hired

Phil Fulmer knows the state of the Tennessee Volunteers’ football program was not strong prior to Jeremy Pruitt taking over.

Tennessee had an event at Sycamore Farm in Franklin, Tenn. for a recruiting class celebration on Thursday, according to 247’s Wes Rucker. Rucker spoke with Fulmer, who said the program was “in quite a mess” before Pruitt took over.

Phillip Fulmer on whether Jeremy Pruitt knew just how bad the state of the roster was when Pruitt took the #Vols job: "Heck, I don’t even know that I knew how far back we were, truthfully, because I wasn’t around much. … We were in quite a mess."

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) February 6, 2020

Tennessee went 4-8 the season Butch Jones was fired. They had a bungled coaching search that saw the Greg Schiano hire scuttled by fans; leaks about multiple candidates turning them down; and Fulmer taking over the process. He hired Pruitt, who went 5-7 in 2018 and improved to 8-5 last season.

Are the Vols back on track to return the program to the level it was at under Fulmer? Based on how things go next season, we’ll have an idea.