Which SEC coaches would Jeremy Pruitt pick to be quarantined with?

Jeremy Pruitt is heading into year three in Knoxville, tasked with growing his program after a 8-5 season in 2019. There’s just one problem right now — he can’t leave the house. Pruitt has been stuck at home with the rest of the world during the coronavirus outbreak, waiting things out in hopes of returning to the practice field sometime during the summer.

Pruitt isn’t exactly one for light-hearted questions, but he took one on Monday from the 3HL on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville. He was asked which SEC coaches he would pick to quarantine with if given the choice. His answers weren’t all that surprising.

Pruitt chose Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp.

“I wouldn’t have any problem with Nick, Kirby or Will just because we kind of all come from the same family of defense,” Pruitt said. “I’m sure we could talk a lot of ball and probably cause a lot of confusion for ourselves and our team.”

Nick Saban, of course, groomed both Smart and Pruitt at Alabama. Each have graduated to take control of their own SEC programs, currently still trying to find a way to beat their former boss. Pruitt has never worked with Muschamp, but the current South Carolina head coach also came up through the ranks under Saban.

Pruitt and Smart have a friendship that runs deep, as Pruitt pointed out during the 2018 summer at SEC Media Days. During their time together at Alabama, Smart tasked Pruitt with the job of getting his pregnant wife to the hospital so she could deliver twins.

“One night about midnight, my phone rings, and I look and it’s Mary Beth,” Pruitt said during his first SEC Media Days. “And she says, ‘Pruitt, let’s go to the hospital.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m fixing to get in the shower.’ She said, ‘Don’t get in the shower. Come right now.’

Pruitt’s choices seemed pretty easy. What about you? If you had to pick three coaches from the SEC to quarantine with, who would it be?