All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee Vols 10 biggest stories from January 2019

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 11
Next
Tee Martin
Photo by Elsa Hasch /Allsport /

5. Tee Martin comes home amidst staff changes.

The Tennessee Vols football program had numerous staff changes take shape in January among position and quality control coaches. Jeremy Pruitt lost four quality control coaches overall, making for a big shake-up.

Montario Hardesty and Shelton Felton left to join Tyson Helton and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for on-field roles. Executive assistant John Lilly left to join Freddie Kitchens and the Cleveland Browns. Finally, Tino Sunseri left to join Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Then there was one on-field staff departure in special teams coordinator and safeties coach Charles Kelly. He left for Alabama to join Saban. But all of this is okay for the program because of the replacements Pruitt brought in.

And the most notably among those is Tee Martin. Martin offsets Kelly’s departure for on-field staff positions. After numerous previous attempts to bring him home have fallen through, this one finally worked out.

Martin was fired from the USC Trojans as offensive coordinator this past year after a major drop-off this year in offensive production under Clay Helton. So, on the open market, Pruitt was able to bring home the national championship quarterback to coach receivers on Rocky Top.

Not just a Tennessee football legend, Martin brings elite recruiting prowess and tons of experience to the Vols. He was a huge hire as a position coach, and it was worth all the coverage it got for the month of January. Tee Martin is a Top 10 Tennessee football legend, and his return was perfect.

Home/Tennessee Volunteers