Pruitt: No special treatment was asked for regarding Jeremy Banks
It's been a rough few weeks for Tennessee in terms of its players running into trouble with the law and that trend continued on Tuesday when TMZ released a video of running back Jeremy Banks' arrest in September.
After being pulled over for making an illegal U-turn on Sept. 15, it was discovered that Banks had an outstanding warrant. He was subsequently arrested and taken to Knox County jail for failing to appear in court on a July misdemeanor citation for driving with a suspended license.
In the video, Banks begins spewing lines of profanity at the arresting officers, including "I don't like the police, bro. H*** nah, y'all police are some p*****s, bro. Real s**t, I don't f**k with y'all."
He also asked them several times to call Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt, so an officer did.
During that conversation, which was recorded, Pruitt is overheard asking the officer whether or not Banks needed to be taken into custody for the warrant. Legally obligated to do so, the officer explained the situation to the UT coach, in which he replied, "This is the silliest s*** I've ever seen in my life."
"I've worked at four places and I ain't ever had no crap like this except for here," Pruitt said. "Because the people usually say, 'Hey something's not right here.'"
When asked about the situation during the SEC teleconference on Wednesday, Pruitt explained that police had never given preferential treatment to any of this players.
"No, absolutely not. There's no place I've ever coached where anybody has cut anybody a break," Pruitt said. "The point was: the warrant was issued and had been issued for five weeks or four weeks there, and I wasn't aware of it."
Nov 3, 2018; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Jeremy Banks (33) runs with the ball against the Charlotte 49ers during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 14 to 3. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Banks' playing time against Florida was limited following his arrest, and later on in the video, the sophomore from Cordova, Tennessee said he should have ran from the police.
He also said that, "where I'm from, we shoot at cops." Later on during his ride to jail, his tone seemed to change as he told the officer that he had never met any "as nice as y'all."
Awoken by a phone call around 3:30 a.m. that morning, Pruitt claimed that he "had no idea" who he was speaking to during the initial conversation, and "by the time he got it figured out, there was obviously confusion."
"I appreciate the officer for talking to me and doing his job," Pruitt said.
When news of the arrest became public, it came shortly after the arrest of cornerback Bryce Thompson, who was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault following an incident with his longtime girlfriend at Stokely Hall on UT's campus.
For Pruitt, these incidents have given him a perspective in which he feels the Tennessee coaching staff must do a more adequate job at keeping up with its players' legal issues.
"That's something we have to do a better job, to focus on our players so you don't have a speeding ticket or anything that turns into something like this," Pruitt said. "So we have to do a better job as a staff to know what's going on."
Banks did not face a suspension from the team and Pruitt said the matter has since been taken care of.
"Jeremy's comments and behavior were unacceptable and we've addressed the matter internally."
