Tennessee football: Four potential concerns over Brian Niedermeyer moving to coach linebackers

3. Never been an inside linebackers coach

Sure, Brian Niedermeyer has specialized in coaching linebackers in an off-field role. But the fact of the matter is he is taking over a position he has never coached. It’s always a concern when you hire a guy to coach a position he has never coached before, and Tennessee football did that when they moved Niedermeyer over to this role.

Of course, Niedermeyer had never coached tight ends before Jeremy Pruitt hired him to lead that position two years ago. So, once again, take this with a grain of salt. But Niedermeyer is replacing Kevin Sherrer, who had extensive experience coaching linebackers, and given how well that unit developed last year, you have to wonder if Niedermeyer will be able to maintain that production.

It’s also worth noting that Niedermeyer actually played tight end in college, so he was at least familiar with that role. He has never actually held the title of any linebackers coach, and that could be problematic going forward. The fact of the matter is we just don’t know what Rocky Top is getting with Niedermeyer in this role yet.

Now, he did specialize in coaching linebackers as an off-field assistant for multiple years with the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. But doing that and actually coaching them on the field are two different things, and that’s what Niedermeyer will have to transition into doing now that he has taken this on. We’ll see how it all works out for him.