Will Tennessee vacate wins following the Jeremy Pruitt scandal? The latest fallout surrounding the Volunteers football team

Jeremy Pruitt spent three years leading the Tennessee Volunteers in his first gig as a head coach.

While Pruitt struggled, leading the Volunteers to a 16-19 record, his firing was not the result of poor performance, but rather, after an internal investigation found evidence of recruiting violations.

Tennessee received their punishment for the violations on Saturday.

All 11 wins from the 2019 and 2020 season have been vacated, while the program was also fined $8 million and placed on five years probation. The fine is believed to be the biggest in a recruiting violations case in NCAA history. Furthermore, they were stripped of 28 scholarships.

According to Chris Low of ESPN, the program had been illegally paying for unofficial visits. Low reported:

"The NCAA found that most of the violations in the case were related to Tennessee coaches illegally paying for unofficial visits for prospects and their parents, including hotel rooms.

Pruitt told NCAA investigators that any such wrongdoing was hidden from him by his assistants and that he was unaware of the violations."

While the punishment may seem severe, Tennessee was able to achieve their priority of avoiding a postseason ban. Josh Heupel took over as the Volunteers coach after Pruitt was fired.

After leading the team to a 7-6 record in 2021, his first season with the program, he coached Tennessee to an 11-2 record last season.

After entering the season unranked, the Volunteers finished the year ranked sixth in the Final AP Poll. It marked their highest finished since 2001.

How did Jeremy Pruitt attempt to help the Tennessee Volunteers?

Jeremy Pruitt reportedly played a role in the Tennessee Volunteers avoiding a postseason ban. Speaking to Andy Staples of On3 Sports, Brent Hubbs of Volquest said Pruitt stood in front of the committee on the last day. Hubbs said:

"He said to them, 'guys, you do whatever you need to do, but there is no reason in the world that the current players on that football team should be punished in any way, shape or form. They didn't have anything to do with any of this. They do not deserve a postseason ban.

They should be able to go play for a championship if they can earn that right. They do not deserve to be punished for this', and he absolutely stood up and said that after being dragged through the mud for 18 and a half hours over a two day span."

Check out Brent Hubbs' comments on Jeremy Pruitt below (starting at the 11:30 mark):

While Jeremy Pruitt received a severe punishment in the form of a six-year show cause suspension, he attempted to protect the players on the Volunteers roster. It is unclear if his comments had any effect on Tennessee avoiding a postseason ban.