Embattled Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt did not refute a report Saturday that his Volunteers' football program is under both the school's and NCAA's compliance microscopes.
“Well, I hadn't seen no article or anything like that,” Pruitt said when asked directly about a Fox Sports Radio report from Knoxville that Pruitt's program was presently being investigated for unspecified violations. “But anytime in college football or college athletics, you have typical compliance stuff. And that's all I know.”
Pruitt had multiple assistant coaches and multiple players who have contributed this season unavailable for Saturday's game, including defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley and running backs coach Jay Graham, as well as backup quarterback Brian Maurer and leading rusher Eric Gray.
Tennessee's third-year coach declined to specify the reason for any absences.
“You know, the entire year we've really when it's come to our guys to injury or covid or whatever reasons, we've always said they're unavailable,” Pruitt said.
Asked one final time if anyone was unavailable due to any infractions or similar reasons, Pruitt refused to answer after the Vols wrapped up a 3-7 regular season in a 34-13 loss to No. 5 Texas A&M.
“Guys, I've already addressed that one time,” said Pruitt, who's left with a 15-19 record through three seasons on Rocky Top.
Sources told FootballScoop on Saturday that multiple Tennessee coaches had or were scheduled to speak on compliance matters and that it was not a single coach's methods under scrutiny.
Additionally, a third-party source told FootballScoop, “I can't tell you how many SEC schools have been looked at for this same stuff this year. It's nothing they haven't looked at in the past with other staffs.”
Impermissible benefits carry a broad range, including deliberately blatant violations to something as simple as a player accepting a free meal. In many instances, once a player makes restitution for such an occurrence, he is immediately reinstated.
Asked if he expected to remain the Vols' head coach, Pruitt told reporters via Zoom, "Yeah, absolutely."