Alabama QB Jake Coker’s mom had “come to Jesus meetings” with Nick Saban about Jeremy Pruitt
Your bizarre Cotton Bowl story of the day comes from CBSSports.com‘s Jon Solomon, who detailed the relationship between Jake Coker’s family and then-Alabama recruiter Jeremy Pruitt in 2010.
Coker had always wanted to play at Alabama, but he did not receive an offer until June of that year.
By then, he was fully committed to Florida State — where he eventually spent three seasons — and his mother, Michelle Spires, did not like Pruitt trying to pry her son away from Tallahassee.
“I called Jeremy and said, ‘Quit sneaking in the back door. Do you understand the word ‘commitment?’” Spires told Solomon. “Jeremy got a little uppity with me but it didn’t last very long. From a mother’s standpoint, he was wrong. I still think he was wrong. I called him on it.”
In an odd twist of fate, Pruitt wound up taking Florida State’s defensive coordinator job in 2013, and is now back at Alabama to recruit until the 2015 season ends, at which point he’ll serve as the Crimson Tide’s new defensive coordinator.
Spires said she held a couple “come to Jesus” conversations with Alabama coach Nick Saban after Pruitt’s actions in 2010.
“I meant business because it got to be really traumatic,” Spires said. “Jake started wondering, ‘Did I make the right decision? What if, what if, what if?'”
Coker’s long, winding journey now puts him in position to win a national title and become an NFL draft pick.
Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin praised his quarterback during Tuesday’s media session.
“I think what people see at the end of the year is him playing so much better because now he’s got confidence and experience,” Kiffin said.
