San Jose State: Pruitt seeking holiday cheer
When Jimmy Pruitt went home to San Diego last Christmas and again in the summer, he had to endure the usual abuse from friends about San Jose State’s 38-7 season-ending loss to San Diego State. It wasn’t exactly trash talk. “It was all nonverbal. Just facial expressions,” Pruitt said.“They carried themselves a little different around me. It was all joking.”
“It’s OK,” the Spartans’ senior cornerback said he told them at the time. “We’ll be back. We’re going to see you guys this year.”
The rematch is Saturday night at Spartan Stadium. With first place in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference on the line, Pruitt is eager to deliver a better performance against his hometown school.
The Aztecs gave him a little recruiting attention when he was at Helix High, but Pruitt said his intention always was to attend college elsewhere. “I wanted to get away from home, to explore,” he said.
Still, Pruitt is proud of his hometown and, especially, his high school alma mater. “When you go there, Reggie Bush, Alex Smith, Bill Walton, they’re everywhere,” he said of his fellow Helix alums. “You can just feel the atmosphere, you can feel the rich heritage that’s there.”
But for the past two years, the Spartans have lost to the Aztecs, and this is Pruitt’s last shot at them.
“Especially with us going down there last year and having that outcome, it wasn’t really what we wanted,’ said Pruitt, who has eight career interceptions. “This year we’re going in with a chip on our shoulder.”
And so the game is just a little bigger for Pruitt because the opponent is from San Diego?
“A lot ... a lot ... a lot,” he said, emphasizing the word a bit more each time. “This is going to be a fun game. We’re definitely ready.”
— JEFF FARAUDO