{"id":21289,"date":"2025-10-26T15:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T15:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21289\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T15:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T15:41:16","slug":"why-charles-kelly-wants-fired-tennessee-coach-jeremy-pruitt-as-analyst-at-jacksonville-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21289\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Charles Kelly wants fired Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt as analyst at Jacksonville State"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE \u2014 Jacksonville State football<\/a> coach Charles Kelly thought about hiring former Alabama<\/a> assistant and Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt when he was first hired by the Gamecocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recent court filings in Pruitt’s lawsuit against the NCAA revealead that Jax State attempted to go through the process of hiring Pruitt, who is still under a six-year show cause order for his part in the Tennessee recruiting violations that led to his dismal. The lawsuit claims without the show-cause, “Jax State would have already hired Jeremy for the 2025 football season.”<\/p>\n

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Jax State sent a letter to the NCAA on June 24, with the association responding in September.<\/p>\n

Asked about Pruitt on Saturday, Oct. 25, Kelly declined to give an update on the hiring process but explained he tried to hire Pruitt due to their history. They were both on staff at Florida State, and Kelly was the special teams coordinator on Pruitt’s first staff at Tennessee.<\/p>\n

“I have great respect for Jeremy, his dad, went to school here, his son played quarterback here. He is one of the best defensive minds I have ever been around in college football. He’s been out of coaching four years now, so I did look into when I first got here of the opportunity to bring him on in some capacity,” Kelly said. “Let me say this, here at our university we’re about compliance, we do things the right things. There’s a process that you have to go through in order to make hires. I can’t speak on those process because I’m not able to do that, but I will tell you we will do things by the book. Any chance we have to get somebody that could help our players, help our staff or anybody else, we would try to do that. That’s about all I can say on that, I can’t discuss what the NCAA or what the school does. I can say I think he’s a very good coach, and we’ll do things the right way.”<\/p>\n

LETTER TO NCAA: Jacksonville State letter to NCAA making case to hire Jeremy Pruitt: What it says<\/a><\/p>\n

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JEREMY PRUITT: Jeremy Pruitt trying to return to college coaching as Jacksonville State analyst<\/a><\/p>\n

PRUITT BACK HOME: Former Tennessee, Alabama coach Jeremy Pruitt is back home on the sideline coaching for Plainview<\/a><\/p>\n

CADEN CREEL: What Charles Kelly said about Jax State QB Caden Creel’s injury status ahead of MTSU matchup<\/a><\/p>\n

The lawsuit stems from Pruitt’s firing at Tennessee. Recruiting violations found at Tennessee under Pruitt’s time as head coach included payments to players and prospects. The lawsuit alleged that Tennessee’s chancellor told Pruitt, \u201cJeremy, we know you haven\u2019t done anything wrong” during the meeting in which he was fired. The lawsuit alleges that Pruitt was made to be “the sacrificial lamb for conduct that long preceded his tenure at UT.”<\/p>\n

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Pruitt is coaching at Plainview High School in Rainsville, Alabama. His father, Dale Pruitt, is head coach of the Bears. He did not respond to a request from the Gadsden Times for a comment.<\/p>\n

Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports, Jax State athletics, the outdoors in Alabama and more for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter\/X\u00a0@_Max_Donaldson<\/a>\u00a0and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Why Charles Kelly wants Jeremy Pruitt as Jax State football analyst<\/a><\/p>\n