Alabama Football: Will Jeremy Pruitt replace Kirby Smart?

With Kirby Smart reportedly taking the Georgia head coaching job former Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt could be replacing Smart at Alabama.

Kirby Smart will be replace Mark Richt as the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs after the SEC Championship Game, according to the Chip Towers Dawgnation.com who first reported the hire and Football Scoop who reported the timeline.

Smart returns to his alma mater in his first head coaching job, but spent the last nine years of experience under Nick Saban, winning three national championships. Before that he spent a year coaching defensive backs at LSU under Saban and one year on his staff with the Miami Dolphins. In between those years he coached running backs for Georgia in 2005.

With Smart leaving after Alabama plays Florida in the SEC Championship Game, Saban is expected to pursue now former Georgia defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt to fill Smart’s old position as defensive coordinator, according to Football Scoop.

Pruitt was at Alabama from 2007-2012, spending the last three seasons coaching defensive backs for two national championship teams before leaving for Florida State to be their defensive coordinator. Pruitt won the national championship with the Seminoles in 2013 and spent the last two years on Richt’s staff at Georgia.

This would be a tremendous hire for Alabama to get back one of their own to replace Smart who has been a head coaching candidate for the last few years. It was only a matter of time until Smart left to pursue the opportunity.

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Now it’s Pruitt’s turn to re-establish himself as one of the best defensive coordinators in college and start soaking up as much knowledge as possible from Saban so in a few years, he could be the next to leave the nest.