A Wrong Twitter Tag Makes A New Bulldog Fan

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s played so many times that it should be a broken record, but southern hospitality is being given in high doses to an Ohio chef who has become a Twitter sensation in the Mississippi State community.

The man, Jeremy Pruitt, was mistaken for the University of Alabama Defensive Coordinator.

He thought he’d have a little fun with the situation, but he never expected what happened next.

When Mississippi State was searching for its new football coach, Alabama’s Defensive Coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt was one of the names in the mix.

Within the social media frenzy that was the SEC’s coaching search, a different Pruitt was tagged on Twitter.

“That’s how it started,” said Pruitt. “Someone kind of got me confused and, you know, a lot of times people just want to tweet and be the first person to say hello or hi.”

His first reaction was to ignore it, but more tweets kept coming.

“So I’m like ‘Ok. I can have a little bit of fun with this now.’ So I got on Google, and I googled every fictional coach I could figure out and went with that,” Pruitt described.

We asked Pruitt if he expected this situation to blow up the way it did.

“Absolutely not,” said Pruitt. “I figured it would just be funny, especially when Joe Moorhead got hired. I just figured, you know, I would stay in contact with the fans down here and what not.”

He plans to attend the home football game against Florida on September 29th, but an available weekend brought him to Starkville a little bit earlier to watch the womens’ basketball game against South Carolina.

For the last few days he’s been soaking in everything Starkville, which includes wearing the maroon and white.

“Just trying to get him the best stuff, like the most popular items to cheer on his new team,” said Maroon & Co. Manager, Justine Jenkins.

Employees at Maroon & Co., some of whom are also Mississippi State students, aren’t surprised by the welcoming atmosphere of Starkville.

“We’re just trying to show him how authentic we are, pretty genuine,” said Jenkins. “Most people think Southerners are pretty friendly, but they don’t really know how friendly until they actually come down here.”

“Of course, Starkville is really welcoming,” said Maroon & Co. employee, Jimmy Sherrod. “Like, I came here from Atlanta and everyone is just real hospitable, so the fact that happened, you know, maybe it was God’s way of working his little magic, you know.”

Pruitt’s family is originally from South Carolina and for a time he lived in Kentucky, so Southern hospitality isn’t a foreign concept to him, but the welcome he received was still overwhelming.

“I’ve probably hugged more people this weekend, and I’ve only been here 36 hours, something like that, than I probably have in my entire life,” said Pruitt.

So the question is, does Pruitt feel as though he’s been adopted into the Maroon and White family.

“Absolutely,” exclaimed Pruitt. “I definitely just want to shout out to everyone down here that’s been extremely hospitable. There’s so many people that I’ve met that I consider… Well, you know what the saying is, you know, ‘We’re not fans; we’re family.”‘

Pruitt is making plans to try and make it back in Starkville for Super Bulldog Weekend, but is still for sure coming to the home football game against Florida in September.