Jeremy Pruitt pulls out the George Floyd card to justify his NCAA violations and other wrongdoings: "You sit there as a White man"

According to reports, Jeremy Pruitt claimed he offered a black player's family money because of the George Floyd murder. The former Tennessee head coach was given a six-year show-cause order on Friday for recruitment violations.

Knox News acquired documents through open records requests that reveal the statements provided by Pruitt to investigators.

He made the statement in the initial stages of the NCAA investigation in January 2021, as well as in his reaction to the allegations in November 2022.

Jeremy Pruitt reportedly gave a player's mother $300 in a Chick-fil-A bag in 2020, which is a violation of the NCAA rule.

However, he said to the NCAA investigators that the racial climate in the country following Floyd's murder by a police officer motivated him to take the action.

“Then you throw in George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, okay, so you sit there as a white man and you see all of this going on, and you can see these kids suffering.”

“… (It’s) pitiful when you sit in a room and you hear grown men, and I’m talking about our coaches too, when they talk about growing up and the circumstances that they’ve been under, because it’s hard for a white man to understand, right.”

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Despite going against the NCAA rules, Jeremy Pruitt believes he has done the right thing at that moment. He was proud to let the investigator know he would do it again, as he considers the act a virtuous one and not a violation of the rules as it is viewed. He said:

“I would do it again because I don’t think it’s breaking the rules (based on what would’ve been available through UT’s Student Assistance Fund if not for the pandemic).

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve got little kids, and I hope one of these days when I’m dead, and gone that somebody does the right thing for them.”

Jeremy Pruitt claims mothers’ testimonies were to protect their sons

After their parents testified, investigators granted limited immunity to several players, which would enable them to transfer and participate in sports at other institutions. This circumstance led Pruitt to suspect that some mothers had cooperated to safeguard their sons.

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Jeremy Pruitt recounted an incident where a player's mother met him at the parking lot of the Volunteers football facility, visibly distressed due to financial struggles.

Tearfully, she confided in him that she had exhausted all options and had no other means to meet her financial obligations.

He expressed his disappointment in the mothers for saying things he didn't do in order to protect their sons.