Tennessee football: Ranking all 10 assistant coaches on Vols 2019 staff

Kevin Sherrer is a halfway unknown. He is the new special teams coordinator after serving as Tennessee football’s defensive coordinator last year. It’s worth noting that he did not really call plays, as Jeremy Pruitt was the main guy doing that.

But when it came to coaching inside linebackers, Sherrer did his job throughout the year. The unit was hamstrung to start the season with Darrin Kirkland Jr. trying to return to health, everybody learning the system and J.J. Peterson not there to provide depth.

As things went on, however, the starters became playmakers there. Kirkland was always in position to make plays, even if he didn’t have the physical tools he once had to dominate in SEC play as much as fans might have wanted.

Then came Daniel Bituli, who was a very reliable playmaker. He was never really any problem. Those two along with the reasonable depth of options Jeremy Pruitt had there were enough for us to give Sherrer some credit.

Were it not for his need to prove himself as a special teams coordinator, his new role, he would be higher on this list. But that’s going to be a real test for him. Still, it was basically a demotion, and we don’t know how it’s going to work out. All we know is he did a solid job coaching inside linebackers, and that’s why he’s near the middle of this list.