Rush Propst saw this coming 10 years ago, the meteoric rise of Jeremy Pruitt.
In 2004, Propst was an ultra-successful head coach at Hoover High in Alabama and didn’t know Pruitt from Adam. But that quickly changed.
“He basically bugged me to death, calling and calling and calling, and finally he just showed up one night at my house,” said Propst, who is now head coach at Colquitt County High. “He said he wanted to work for me at Hoover. We were rolling pretty good at the time. He was at Fort Payne (Ala.) High School working for his dad. I had somebody else in mind, to be quite honest with you. But he was just persistent about calling and coming to see me. So we interviewed him and decided to hire him. The rest is history, so to speak.”
The Georgia Bulldogs apparently encountered the same type of intense courtship with Pruitt, and they hired him Tuesday as their defensive coordinator. The decision came two days after Georgia accepted the resignation of its previous defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, who left for more money and a longer contract at Louisville.
Pruitt comes to UGA from Florida State, where the Seminoles won the BCS championship in his only season there as defensive coordinator.
“I’m ecstatic,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a statement released by UGA on Tuesday afternoon.
Said Pruitt: “This is an outstanding professional and personal opportunity. I’m looking forward to meeting the current players and getting on the road to visit with recruits.”
A lot of people were surprised to see Pruitt leave the reigning national champions to join the Bulldogs, who finished 8-5 this past season.
Not Propst.
“I’m not surprised at all,” he said. “Jeremy’s 100 miles an hour now. He’s climbing the ladder fast. I’m sure he saw it as a good opportunity, and it was hard to turn it down. Georgia has struggled defensively, and you’re always as a coach looking for a spot you can shine. He’ll bring some new energy, now, I’m here to tell you.”
Neither Pruitt nor Richt returned phone messages, and UGA athletic director Greg McGarity declined comment. But multiple sources told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Pruitt was in Athens on Tuesday, at which time he accepted the Bulldogs’ offer.
Pruitt, 39, reportedly will receive a three-year contract that will pay him $850,000 per year, which is the same that Grantham was paid.
As defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at FSU, the Seminoles ended the season ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (12.1 ppg), second in team passing-efficiency defense (93.77), third in total defense (281.4 ypg), and 18th in rushing defense (124.8 ypg). He was a finalist this year for the Broyles Award, which goes annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.
Pruitt’s career has been on a fast track since Propst took a chance on him 10 years ago. After joining the staff as defensive backs coach, Pruitt was defensive coordinator at Hoover by the time he left after the 2006 season. His next stop was Alabama, where he joined the staff in 2007 as director of player development.
By 2010, Pruitt had made his way onto the field for the Crimson Tide. In each of his three seasons as the secondary coach, Alabama ranked in the top 10 nationally in pass-efficiency defense, the top 15 in pass defense and the top five in total defense and scoring defense.
Pruitt developed a reputation as an outstanding recruiter at Alabama, and that continued at FSU. He was named “National Recruiter of the Year” by the recruiting website 247Sports.com in 2012.
“When he was at Alabama, I personally thought he was the best recruiter on that staff,” Propst said. “I think that’s the biggest attribute he brings to Georgia.”
Pruitt played defensive back at Middle Tennessee and Alabama. He transferred to Alabama after his sophomore season. He began his coaching career as an assistant under his father, Dale Pruitt, at Fort Payne High and Plainview (Ala.) High. He spent one season, 1999, as defensive backs coach at West Alabama.
Pruitt inherits a promising situation at Georgia. The Bulldogs struggled mightily this past season as they broke in eight first-year defensive starters, including four in the secondary. Georgia finished 11th in the SEC in pass defense, eighth in total defense and 10th in scoring.
But 10 of the 11 starters on defense return next season. And Pruitt runs the same 3-4 system the Bulldogs employed under Grantham. Other than some terminology differences, the concepts are expected to be the same.
Propst, for one, is confident Pruitt will get the job done.
“He’s a go-getter; that’s what he is,” Propst said. “And as good as he is on the field, he genuinely cares about his players. He could get on their tail pretty good, as good as anyone you’ll see. But he had that way of being able to talk to them and make them feel like a million dollars later on. His relationships on and off the field was always extremely good.
“Kids he coaches like him and trust him and want to play hard for him.”
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