Following a knee injury to Greg Pruitt, Pruitt had his breakout season in 1979 when he started all 16 games at fullback and had career highs with 1,294 rushing yards, 4.9 rushing yards per carry, and 1,666 yards from scrimmage. He ranked fifth in the NFL that year in all three categories. At the end of the 1979 season, he was named a first-team all-conference player and was selected to play in the 1979 Pro Bowl. After the 1979 season, Pruitt described his first two years in the NFL as the toughest in his life, but noted that "all that has changed now and I don't look back or worry about that now."