Here’s what former Georgia QB Aaron Murray has to say about Tennesee’s new head coach

As a player, Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray left Athens just before Jeremy Pruitt came in as the team’s defensive coordinator. Now that Pruitt is settling into his first head coaching position, it doesn’t sound like Murray has a lot of faith in the former Bulldogs assistant coach.

Murray appeared on Nashville radio station 102.5 The Game on Tuesday and criticized the first-year Volunteers head coach. Murray, who left Georgia after the 2013 season as the SEC career leader in passing touchdowns, expressed doubts that Pruitt has the temperament necessary to excel as a head coach.

“I don’t know if his personality is fit to be a head coach. I don’t,” Murray said on the station. “As a head coach, there’s so many things that go into it. It’s not just going out there and coaching. You have to deal with front office. You’ve got to go talk with the president of the university. You have to deal with boosters. You have to deal with the offense, the defense. It’s not just going in there and dealing with the kids and scheming up. There’s a lot that goes into it.

“I don’t think he’s the right guy to kind of be the CEO of a corporation. He’s really good managing just a defense and being a defensive coordinator. He needs to prove to me that he can handle the whole ship. For right now, I don’t think he can. We’ll see what happens this year. I don’t think it helps that he doesn’t have a lot of talent at Tennessee.”

Pruitt served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015. In his final season at the helm of the Bulldogs defense, Georgia won 10 games and ranked eighth in the nation in scoring defense.

There were, however, reported issues with Pruitt and other members of the coaching staff, which Murray also brought up.

“When he was at Georgia, the way he acted, the way he treated [former head coach Mark] Richt I thought was poor,” Murray said. “He wasn’t as respectful as I thought a defensive coordinator should be to a head coach. That’s my thing, with authority.

“When he’s dealing with the athletic director, when he’s dealing with the president, when he’s dealing with a booster who has given millions of dollars, you can’t go tell him to screw off. You have to take the meeting. You have to sit with them. Yeah, I know you want to be game planning and getting ready for the game, but you’re a head coach now. You have to do these other things.”

Murray’s comments come one day before Pruitt makes his first appearance at SEC Media Days.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 8:16 AM.