It took nearly a month, but Tennessee reserve center Chuck Prugh was finally where he wanted to be on Thursday – with his team.

After nearly two weeks on a respirator and another week of recovery at the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center fighting, Prugh and his parents, David and Becky Prugh, addressed the Tennessee football team before practice.

Starting in late September, Prugh struggled through an acute illness that started as mononucleosis and turned into pneumonia.

“(The illness) changed my life and put everything into perspective,” Prugh said. “Football’s not the most important thing, school’s not the most important thing, it’s just your health and your family and religion and everything.

“It helped to open my eyes about what’s really important.”

The meeting was the first time Prugh had been with the entire team since the Wednesday before the Sept. 27 South Carolina game.

Prugh, who said he would consider applying for a medical redshirt, was released from the rehabilitation center on Sunday to continue the rest of his recovery at his home in Maryville.

“You think of going from somebody that was in the weight room lifting five or six or seven hundred pounds, and then to see him in the hospital where we only managed to raise one finger,” David Prugh said. “That’s not something that you ever want to see, but something that we went through.”

Prugh’s parents expressed thanks for the outpouring of public support for their son.

“(The support) helped (us) through things better than him,” David Prugh said. “Chuck was pretty much knocked out at the time. It was us who was having the hard time dealing with it.”

Still working on strength and stamina therapy, Prugh will stay at home for the remainder of the semester, but will continue to cheer on his teammates.

“I told (Vol Network announcer Bob Kesling) that I’d have to be the heaviest cheerleader in the world for the rest of the season.”