Joe Judge’s technical team is quickly becoming the coach of Island Of Misfit College.
The Giants coach plans to add Jeremy Pruitt to his coaching staff. Pruitt was recently fired by Tennessee after an investigation into possible recruitment violations within the program. Atlético were the first to report that Pruitt would join the Giants team.
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A recent report suggested that members of Pruitt’s team were putting money in McDonalds bags and handing them over to recruits when they arrived on campus. Pruitt had a 16-19 record in three seasons in Tennessee, a mark defeated in recent years in Knoxville only by Derek Dooley … who is already on Judge’s team as a senior offensive assistant.
It is unclear what role Pruitt will play in Judge’s team, but there is an opening as a coach for outside linebackers, a vacant position when Bret Bielema left for the position of head coach in Illinois before the end of the Giants season. Bielema has not been a head coach since 2017, when he was fired after losing his term in Arkansas.
Pruitt has had connections with Judge since they worked together in Alabama in 2009-11, when Judge was assistant to special teams and Pruitt trained defense backs. Pruitt has trained defensive backs for most of his career, but he was Alabama’s defensive coordinator and coach for internal linebackers in 2016-17.
The current coach of the Giants inline linebackers also has connections with Pruitt – Kevin Sherrer was Pruitt’s defensive co-coordinator in 2018 and then the special line coordinator / coach of the inline linebackers in 2019. They also trained together in Alabama and Hoover High School (Alabama) early in their coaching careers.
If Pruitt takes over Bielema’s former job as coach of external linebackers, that will still leave the Giants with a spot on the referee team: offensive line coach. Dave DeGuglielmo’s contract expired at the end of the season and he is not expected to return.
It is unclear who Judge is considering for this role, but two potential candidates that make sense include Giants offensive line assistant coach Ben Wilkerson and former Chargers offensive coach James Campen.
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Zack Rosenblatt can be contacted at [email protected]. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip on here.