ATLANTA — Former Alabama player Kevin Sherrer will be reunited with Jeremy Pruitt soon. Pruitt hired his former teammate to his staff at Tennessee, where he’s expected to be named defensive coordinator.
Like Pruitt at Alabama, Sherrer chose to remain on staff at Georgia through the College Football Playoff as the Dawgs’ outside linebacker coach.
“It’s kind of hard, because we’re on two different time zones,” Sherrer said. “When we finish our work at night and move on to the next one, they may still be meeting.”
Sherrer and Pruitt were teammates in 1995 at Alabama, during Sherrer’s senior season.
The two have a long history together. Both were on staff as assistants at Hoover High School in 2005-06, when Pruitt was defensive coordinator there. Sherrer succeeded Pruitt when he left to join the Alabama staff.
Sherrer was also on staff at Alabama in an off-field role from 2011-13. Pruitt was defensive backs coach in Tuscaloosa in 2011 and 2012. Sherrer arrived at Georgia as an assistant when Pruitt was the defensive coordinator and was retained by Kirby Smart. The two have rise through the ranks together, but Sherrer said he hasn’t had much time to reflect on that.
“It’s been nonstop for about two months now,” he said. “Probably after the fact we’ll be able to look at it a little bit different than we are now, because we’re trying to prepare for a game and get ready, get the players ready.”
Both Pruitt and Sherrer are juggling the duties of their new positions with their new roles at Tennessee. Sherrer said they text to communicate, because it’s easier for both to answer when they’re busy. Like Pruitt, Sherrer has had some long nights in recent weeks. It won’t slow down even after Monday’s game when they can leave for Knoxville.
“Basically, you have to manage your time,” Sherrer said. “Once the day sort of slows down or end, you have to clean that up, finish that, then move on to the next part of it. There are things, once the game is over with, I’ll move on to Knoxville and then we’re out recruiting by the end of the week. Have official visits coming in. There are lot of people up there that are already getting things in order.”
