The door remains open on Jauan Jennings potentially returning to Tennessee's football team.

New Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt said on Wednesday at his first press conference back in Knoxville that he could meet with the dismissed star wide receiver "in the next couple of days" about a possible reinstatement.

Jennings, who suffered a season-ending wrist injury in the first half of the season opener against Georgia Tech in September, was abruptly dismissed in late November by interim coach Brady Hoke and athletic director John Currie just days before the season finale against Vanderbilt.

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However, with Hoke and Currie both gone and Pruitt now the coach and Phillip Fulmer supplanting Currie as Tennessee's athletic director, there's a path to Jennings returning, and after meeting with Fulmer last month, a meeting with Pruitt appears to be imminent.

Pruitt returned to Tennessee on Wednesday after remaining Alabama's defensive coordinator through the College Football Playoff games against Clemson and Georgia and held his second team meeting with the Vols on Tuesday night.

"Everybody that was on the roster at the end of the season that we met with at the end of the semester was here last night," Pruitt said Wednesday. "Obviously there's been some movements that happened before I was here. I really had no control over that, and I know there's a lot for you guys, you guys have to write about things.

"But from my standpoint, I know Jauan has reached out to Coach Fulmer and I know they met, and I actually reached out to (Jennings), because I feel like him talking to Coach Fulmer, I should do that. There will be a time, probably, in the next couple of days, that me and him may possibly sit down just kind of see where things are at."

The decision to dismiss Jennings came hours after he went on an expletive-filled tirade against the previous coaching staff on his Instagram, but the rant wasn't the only reason for the decision.

The fiery, competitive Jennings has expressed both remorse about his mistakes and a desire to return to Tennessee and rejoin the Vols and has made those feelings known in recent weeks leading up to his initial meeting with Fulmer in December.

Jennings had a breakout sophomore season in 2016 when he was Tennessee's second-leading receiver behind Josh Malone and finished with 40 catches for 580 yards and seven touchdowns, including the memorable go-ahead score in the win against Florida and the final-play Hail Mary winner against Georgia.

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Contact Patrick Brown at patrick.brown@cbsinteractive.com or on Twitter, and follow GoVols247 on Facebook.