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Tennessee football: Five positives from Vols moving Brian Niedermeyer to ILB coach

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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3. Necessary change at tight ends coaching

If there’s one drawback to Brian Niedermeyer, it’s that he didn’t really produce results as tight ends coach. Dominick Wood-Anderson was a team player, a great weapon and did a lot of things for Tennessee football. But given his four-star status as a junior college transfer Jeremy Pruitt pried away from Nick Saban, his numbers weren’t through the roof.

Over the past two years, the Vols have made a habit of using their wideouts to make big plays. Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway became clear stars, and it didn’t matter who was coaching receivers. Tee Martin did dramatically improve the unit, to be fair. What’s clear, though, is with Tyson Helton and Jim Chaney, tight ends haven’t been used that much.

As a result, the Vols needed to move Niedermeyer away from tight ends. He clearly needs to be on the staff given his fiery mentality and his ability to recruit top-notch talent, but he just didn’t produce that well there when it came to coaching on the field, and we say that despite the fact that Niedermeyer played tight end in college. Coaching it doesn’t seem to be his strong suit.

Promoting Joe Osovet to that position is a great move because of Osovet’s experience running cutting edge offenses. He’ll be able to figure out ways to get the tight ends to produce more. Niedermeyer, meanwhile, gets to stay on the staff and move over to another role where he’ll have the chance to create better on-field production.

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