Tennessee football handed out 18 infractions by NCAA from Jeremy Pruitt era

The Tennessee football program now knows the type of sanctions doled out by the NCAA from the tumultuous Jeremy Pruitt era in Knoxville.

In a Friday afternoon news dump of sorts, the Tennessee football program has been hit with 18 infractions by the NCAA, stemming from the disastrous tenure of Jeremy Pruitt at Rocky Top.

While the 18 infractions did not spill out onto the table like fries from a McDonald’s bag full of cash, Tennessee is being hit with all sorts of violations, including $60,000 in inducements, funding on-campus visits during the COVID dead period and covering some players’ mothers’ rent, car payments and medical expenses. From nail salon trips to Gatlinburgian excursions, it is all there!

It should be noted Tennessee has been cooperative every step of the way with the NCAA here. Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman fired Pruitt for cause in January 2021. While the Vols did not self-impose a bowl ban for the 2020 season, they did privately accept a scholarship reduction of 12 for 2021. Tennessee was not seen as having a lack of institutional control, which is massive.

Nobody who committed the violations is at Tennessee any longer, not even Pruitt’s wife, Casey.

Tennessee football handed out 18 infractions by NCAA from Jeremy Pruitt era

While some of the NCAA’s findings about the Tennessee program during Pruitt’s time in Knoxville are downright hilarious, the Vols are in a far better place under second-year head coach Josh Heupel. Tennessee was picked to finish third in the SEC East during SEC Media Days, even getting as many first-place votes as rival Vanderbilt. Make it two for the Tennessee universities!

Heupel massively overachieved in his first year on Rocky Top. It helped that the former UCF head coach found his quarterback early in the season in former Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker. While the Vols are still probably not equipped to overtake Georgia in the SEC East standings, they can compete for second place with the likes of Kentucky, South Carolina, and maybe even Florida.

Clearly, the big key in all this is Tennessee got out ahead of the nonsense Pruitt was pulling from the jump. The NCAA appreciates this, so the Vols may only get slapped on the wrist here. Again, this is a new era of Volunteers football, one that is trying to do good and take this thing in a more positive direction. Admittedly, this is the most optimistic people have felt about them in decades.

Sanctions aside, the Tennessee program is not going into the trash like a McDonald’s bag over this.

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