Eight days after winning the national championship, Florida State finds itself with an unexpected vacancy to fill on its coaching staff. Twelve years after UGA dipped into FSU's well to pluck offensive coordinator Mark Richt off a national champion, they emerged with a sage defensive coordinator.
Pruitt, who was national recruiter of the year in 2012, while serving as Alabama's defensive backs coach has been a coordinator or position coach for the eventual national champion three straight seasons. Florida State led the defense in interceptions and scoring defense, second in pass-efficiency defense and third in total defense.
He'll face a greater task turning around UGA's defense than he did after getting hired at Florida State Florida State. UGA ranked 78th in total defense, eighth in the conference and allowed 17 more points per game than Florida State's defensive unit.
He's not a UGA grad like Florida head coach Will Muschamp or 'Bama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, but his 3-4 scheme will ensure continuity from Todd Grantham, who left to assume the same position at Louisville. Pruitt was expected to earn a raise, but his Georgia deal grants him a $350,000 dollar raise from the half a million dollar annual salary he earned at Florida State. We won't insult your intelligence. You do the math.
As a former secondary coach, unlike Grantham whose prior experience came coaching the defensive line, plays like this one should never happen again.
