Former Saluki tight end MyCole Pruitt was back in town October 10 during his team’s bye week from the National Football League. 

Pruitt was selected in the fifth round as the 143rd overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings.

He said there was an immediate difference to playing in the NFL.

“There’s a lot bigger guys than the league I played in,” Pruitt said. “But you get used to it once you get back onto the field and back to what you know.”

Despite the transition, he said he has adjusted well to the Viking offense.

“I’m doing a lot of the same things there, I was doing here,” Pruitt said. “I’m being asked to do a couple different things … trying to get more involved as the days go on.”

Pruitt is nor a paid professional, but he did not abandon his roots. 

“Recently, I was able to purchase my mother a house,” he said. “That was an amazing experience, being able to move them out of a bad situation into a much better situation.” 

Playing for the Vikings, Pruitt is surrounded by NFL stars such as running back Adrian Peterson and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on a daily basis, which he said is great to be a part of. 

“There’s a lot of great history with the Vikings … it’s great to be able to witness that and be on the same field [as those players],” he said.

He said other tight ends on the team, namely Kyle Rudolph, Rhett Ellison and Chase Ford, have taken him under their wing to help guide him through his rookie season. 

A high ankle sprain kept Pruitt out of two preseason games, but he has played in every regular season game so far with no official stats recorded. 

Pruitt said the highlight of his rookie season to this point was in the preseason, when he caught the first touchdown of the NFL season during this year’s Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.

For the rest of the season, Pruitt said he is excited about matching up against the Seattle Seahawks’ defense on Dec. 6.

“That’ll be amazing just to be out there with those guys,” he said. “They’ve done some great things and I’m just looking forward to playing against them.”

Sean Carley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SCarleyDE