ESPN’s Mark Schlabach reported on Thursday that Tennessee will not extend any contracts for assistant coaches and implemented a hiring freeze on all vacancies while investigating any recruitment violations that occurred on Jeremy Pruitt’s program.
In the same report, Schlabach mentions that one of the players involved in the investigation by the Tennessee compliance department is Georgia’s 5-star signatory, Amarius Mims.
Mims is Georgia’s best rated signatory in the 2021 recruitment class, as he was the No. 1 player in Georgia and the 7th overall player in the 2021 recruitment cycle. Mims committed to Georgia in October and signed in December. He’s already on the Georgia campus.
The highlight of Cochran, Georgia, chose Bulldogs in Tennessee and Alabama. Georgia ranks third in the 247Sports Composite recruitment ranking. Tennessee’s recruiting class is 15th at the moment.
Related: Amarius Mims: The 2021 class evaluates how big this 5-star commitment to Georgia was
Mims is not the only player involved in the investigation, as Schlabach reports that current Tennessee runner Eric Gray was also involved. Gray was prevented from participating in Tennessee’s final game of the 2020 season against Texas A&M and Schlabach reports that the investigation played a role in this.
Ironically, the assistant coach in charge of recruiting Mims is no longer in Tennessee, as Will Friend accepted the offensive line coach’s debut in South Carolina. It was reported on Thursday morning that Friend, along with the offensive coordinator of South Carolina South, Mike Bobo, are expected to take on the same jobs at Auburn, according to FootballScoop.com.
Tennessee fought on the pitch this season, going 3-7 in Pruitt’s third year on the show. Volunteers also saw some high-profile matches during this off-season, when race leader Ty Chandler entered the transfer portal, while lead race passer Deandre Johnson was transferred to Miami.
Georgia beat Tennessee 44-21 in Athens this season.
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