KNOXVILLE — Tennessee will kickoff the 2020 season on Sept. 5 against Charlotte at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols have two new coaches overseeing the linebacker unit in 2020.
Brian Niedermeyer spent the last two seasons as the Vols’ tight ends coach and moves to inside linebackers for the 2020 campaign.
Shelton Felton returns to Tennessee as the outside linebackers coach. Felton served as a quality control analyst under Jeremy Pruitt in 2018.
The linebacker unit will have the ability to play fast and physical from sideline to sideline this season.
Player personnel for the unit will showcase Kivon Bennett, Quavaris Crouch, Deandre Johnson, J.J. Peterson and Henry To’o To’o throughout the JACK, MIKE, WILL, SAM and BUCK spots.
Felton served as defensive coordinator for Rush Propst at Colquitt County High School from 2013-14.
“He is thorough,” Propst told Vols Wire of Felton. “Players like him, and he demands a bunch. He is high-energy and is what you look for in a coach. To me, I put him on a top pedestal of some of the best coaches that I’ve had. I have had 25 guys coach college football and he is right there at the top. He is a heck of a football coach.
“He is full of energy and is very knowledgeable about the game. Kids love him and he gets the most out of his players. To me, that is the mark of a great football coach.”
Niedermeyer started his coaching career at Arkansas-Pine Bluff as a defensive student assistant in 2012.
In 2013, Niedermeyer served as a volunteer analyst and assisting linebackers at Miami.
He also served as a defensive coach for Pruitt at Georgia and Alabama. Niedermeyer was a graduate assistant at Georgia in 2015 and worked with linebackers. He then followed Pruitt to Alabama and served as a defensive graduate assistant and worked with linebackers in 2016.