Tennessee beat out the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Washington and Michigan in landing some of the biggest names in their 2019 recruiting class.
The Vols won another recruiting battle of sorts against the NFL's Oakland Raiders, at least in the eyes of head coach
Jeremy Pruitt.
When the departure of safeties coach and special teams coordinator
Charles Kelly created a staff vacancy on the defensive side of the ball going into Pruitt's second offseason with the Vols, he wasn't necessarily looking to hire a coach to come in and take over playcalling duties for Tennessee's defense.
It's what he wound up doing, though, when Tennessee hired
Derrick Ansley away from his lucrative NFL role coaching the defensive backs for the Raiders to become its new defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
āHe wasnāt available. We just went and got him,ā Pruitt said Wednesday morning during an interview on
āThe ErikAinge Showā on Sports Radio WNML in Knoxville. āItās kind of like recruiting. He was the highest-paid DB coach in the NFL, so it wasnāt like he was looking for a job, but I think (it was) the opportunity, the relationship that we have.ā