Shelton Felton is part of a coaching tree that Vols ‘will have their pick’ of recruits.
KNOXVILLE — Shelton Felton takes on his first career position coaching job at the Power Five level during the 2020 season.
Felton was hired as Tennessee’s outside linebackers coach during the offseason. He returns to Tennessee after spending the 2018 campaign as a defensive quality control analyst in Jeremy Pruitt’s first season as the Vols’ head coach.
Felton left Tennessee in 2019 to serve as outside linebackers and defensive line coach at Akron.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Shelton Felton’s coaching history
2005-09: Crisp County (Ga.) High School, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
2010-12: Dooly County (Ga.) High School, Defensive Coordinator
2013-14: Colquitt County (Ga.) High School, Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line
2015-16: Crisp County (Ga.) High School, Head Coach
2017: Chattanooga, Assistant Head Coach/Outside Linebackers
2018: Tennessee, Defensive Quality Control Analyst
2019: Akron, Outside Linebackers/Defensive Line
2020-present: Tennessee, Outside Linebackers
During Tennessee’s third week of fall training camp ahead of the 2020 season, Felton met with media for the first time and discussed returning to Rocky Top and reuniting with Pruitt.
Felton said he and Pruitt “developed a relationship through recruiting.”
“Getting the QC position, knowing Coach Pruitt for a long time, I worked with Rush Propst, I knew him through Coach Propst and I knew him through Georgia, Florida State and I have been blessed to have players that have been able to play in the SEC and he gave me a call when I was at Chattanooga and it was a no-brainer,” Felton said of working for Pruitt. “To be on this staff — to be part of this tree, how could you say no to it.”
Colquitt County coach Rush Propst runs onto the field moments after Colquitt County defeated Archer in the Class AAAAAA state high school football championship, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jason Getz)
Felton served as an assistant to Propst at Colquitt County High School from 2013-14. Pruitt was defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for Propst at Hoover High School from 2004-06.
Propst is now in his first season as head coach at Valdosta High School. Propst previously discussed Tennessee’s recruiting pipeline to Valdosta as he hired two of Felton’s former assistants.
“I’ve hired two of his guys in Jeff Kent as defensive coordinator,” Propst said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” of hiring Felton’s former assistants. “He worked for me in 2017 and 2018, and worked for Felton at Crisp County. Seneric McCurdy is our special teams coordinator and defensive line guy who worked for Shelton.
“He stays in contact with us constantly about these kids. I would imagine Tennessee will have their pick because of the relationship with Shelton, Jeremy and Todd (Watson), the guys I’ve got at Tennessee. Obviously they will be in the mix for kids at Valdosta. Jeremy has recruited this school and has built a lot of contacts in the city of Valdosta, so I think from a Tennessee perspective, Tennessee is always going to be welcome to Valdosta High School.”
The entire show with Propst can be listened to here.
KNOXVILLE, TN – AUGUST 19, 2020 – Outside Linebackers Coach Shelton Felton of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Caleb Jones/Tennessee Athletics
Jeremy Pruitt is the most innovative football coach on defense.
KNOXVILLE — Jeremy Pruitt enters his third season as head coach at Tennessee in 2020.
Pruitt’s ability to implement his ideas and concepts, along with changing the culture within Tennessee’s program, has the Vols in position to now start competing for at least divisional championships.
2020 is the eighth season for Pruitt either coordinating a Power Five defense or serving as head coach. His background as a high school coach has helped him at the Power Five level. He is running previous schemes he coached early on in his career that he is now able to with FBS-level personnel.
“Jeremy Pruitt is the most innovative football coach on defense,” Rush Propst said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “I would not want to go against him in any form or fashion. Jeremy just figures things out.
“Playing at Plainview High School for your Dad, coaching in small ball, being at Fort Payne, having to come up with things that are way more out of the box thinking than these sophisticated systems. Because what happens sometimes, the (Nick) Saban’s of the world, the (Will) Muschamp’s and the Kirby’s (Smart) of the world, they get caught up in the system and they get a little bit lost.”
At Hoover High School from 2004-06, Pruitt served as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach under Propst. His tenure at Hoover came during a time where the spread-type offenses were yet to take off and become the face of football. Pruitt went against Propst’s power-spread offenses daily in practices, allowing him to perfect different looks that are being used today against SEC competition.
Pruitt has been coaching against spread-type offenses for nearly two decades — with and without FBS Power Five players.
“Jeremy came up with a three-safety scheme that I thought no one had ever done,” Propst said of Pruitt during their time at Hoover.
“I go back to what he did to Gus Malzahn when Gus was at Springdale,” Propst continued. “When he (Gus) was there we played them in 7on7. Jeremy would figure out things that would slow them down, and they were loaded. He would scheme them up and he would do it over night. He would put something in and have a walkthrough the next day and we would go out and execute it – and shut them down.”
Malzahn became Auburn’s head coach in 2013, the same season Pruitt launched his Power Five career as a defensive coordinator at Florida State, defeating the Tigers in the BCS national championship game.
Propst credits Pruitt’s background in why he is a defensive mastermind at any level of football, saying the Tennessee head coach is “so far ahead when it comes to innovation and thinking outside the box.”
“A lot of it is because of where their backgrounds lies,” Propst said. “Kirby, Will and Saban, they never had to look at a corner that’s 5-foot-4 and runs a 5.5 40 – and how you hide that guy. They’ve never had to worry about a WILL backer, I mean we can blitz him, but he is never going to get there because he is going to be like a velcro stump and run right into that guy. So Jeremy had to figure things out a lot differently and had to think outside a system to be competitive and to be good.”
Offenses, including Malzahn’s, have faced a difficult time against Pruitt’s split safety coverage.
A simplified understanding of the split safety coverage consists of cover-four mixed with cover-two, robber coverage mixed with cover-two, robber mixed with man coverage and man mixed with quarters.
It is a coverage that the third-year Tennessee head coach has specialized in since his Hoover days and before.
Propst, a known offensive guru, mentioned it is a coverage that “used to give me trouble in practice all the time.”
“You would hit a check down and Jeremy’s players knew where the check downs would be,” Propst said. “They would bait you into throwing that check down, which in our offense you expect that check down to go for 10 yards. I can name you 50 times that we would go against each other, that we would hit the check down and we would get tackled immediately or within two yards after the catch.
“He would bait you into throwing that check down, you would think it would be there. That’s where he is brilliant – baiting quarterbacks into mistakes. I just think he is a brilliant football coach and a guy that grew up the right way and has been able to be more versatile because of where he has had to coach.”
Tennessee’s 2020 defensive staff
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Tennessee added two new defensive assistants during the offseason. One being Propst’s former defensive coordinator, Shelton Felton. Felton will oversee the Vols’ outside linebackers.
Jimmy Brumbaugh was also hired as co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. Brian Niedermeyer moves from tight ends coach to overseeing inside linebackers in 2020.
Derrick Ansley returns for his second season as the Vols’ defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Todd Watson, former Hoover defensive coordinator under Propst, is in his third season as Tennessee’s Director of Football Programming. Watson is one that brings a lot of ideas to the defense in the film room.
“With the guys he’s got on his staff right now, defensively, he has a lot of smart guys over there to figure out things,” Propst said of Pruitt.
The entire interview with Propst on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” can be listened to here or below.
Rush Propst discusses going into first season at Valdosta.
Rush Propst enters his first season as head coach at Valdosta High School in 2020.
Propst returned to the state of Alabama in 2019, serving as volunteer consultant at UAB for his former assistant Bill Clark.
Clark, Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee), Chip Lindsey (Troy) and John Grass (Jacksonville State) are all former assistants for Propst during his Hoover High School (AL) tenure that are current FBS and FCS head coaches.
Rush Propst’s career by the numbers
Ashville High School (1989-93)
Eufaula High School (1994-96)
Alba High School (1997)
Alma Bryant High School (1998)
Hoover High School (1999-2007)
Colquitt County High School (2008-18)
UAB (2019, volunteer consultant)
295-96 career record 139 players signed scholarships at Colquitt County (over 250 total players in career) 1 National championship (2015) 5 AHSAA Class 6A state championships (2000, 2002–2005) 2 GHSA Class 6A state championships (2014–2015: 30-game win streak)
Propst discussed going into his first season at Valdosta on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” The show can be listened to here or below.
Matt Moore is entering his second season as an assistant at West Virginia, serving as offensive line coach for the Mountaineers.
Moore joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” and discussed his football career dating back to his playing days at Valdosta State, starting 34 games at left guard from 1991-94 under head coach Hal Mumme and offensive coordinator Mike Leach.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Moore also discussed his time coaching at Hoover High School. He served as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach from 1999-2004 for head coach Rush Propst. Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt coached alongside Moore during the 2004 season at Hoover.
Jeremy Pruitt discusses coaching at Hoover, evolution of college offenses.
KNOXVILLE — The 2020 college football season is nearing 100 days until kickoff.
Tennessee will kickoff Jeremy Pruitt’s third season as the Vols’ head coach Sept. 5 against Charlotte at Neyland Stadium.
Pruitt recently joined “SEC This Morning” to discuss a wide-range of topics including his time as an assistant at Hoover High School (2004-06) under then-head coach Rush Propst.
“The league that we played in was very well coached, and a lot of the guys that we coached against are coaching in college,” Pruitt said. “Some of the guys that I coached with or coached against, whether it’s Bill Clark at UAB, John Grass at Jacksonville State, or Chip Lindsey at Troy, Matt Moore is at West Virginia — he was our offensive coordinator at Hoover. So it’s interesting ten years later, it’s almost like the game that we started coaching in college is what we we were coaching back then.
“I know from a defensive perspective, looking at the offenses, with the way the game has kind of become, a lot of loose plays, and it’s on the perimeter with a lot of RPOs. This was things that we were seeing everyday in practice, so lots of things that I am seeing right now across college football. I think at Iowa State — they play with three-high safety looks — and I see other teams doing this. It was things that I saw back in the early 2000s. So it’s interesting how the game kind of evolves and comes back around, and I’m sure it will continue to do that.”
“He runs the same type of offense that I run, he has always been creative, but I just feel like that game sits where Jeremy is at his best. That is where I think Jeremy is at his best, is in that kind of game.” — Rush Propst said of Tennessee playing at Oklahoma in Week 2.
“Going back to those days, we played against a fast-paced offense every single day,” Pruitt told Burns. “I’m not really comparing that to what Lincoln does, but I do think that in the way that we structured in how we call things, I think we really adapted probably faster — maybe than some other teams in how to deal with fast-paced offenses.
“Just from a call-system, making it one word, we had to do that going back to when I was coaching at Hoover. We could be very, very multiple and run everything that we wanted to within our system, but it was all one word calls. They managed to do it on offense, you got to manage to do it on defense. I felt like from a structural standpoint, we have been able to do that.”
Sideline to sideline: Tennessee’s 2020 linebackers
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.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
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.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
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.
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee will kickoff the 2020 football season Sept. 5 against Charlotte at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols will travel to Oklahoma and take on the Sooners for a Week 2 matchup.
The contest will showcase defensive-minded Jeremy Pruitt against Lincoln Riley’s offense.
On a recent show of “Tennessee Two-A-Days,” Valdosta High School head coach Rush Propst discussed the Tennessee-Oklahoma matchup that will take place Sept. 12.
“Knowing what I know about Oklahoma, I know Lincoln does a heck of a job,” Propst said. “He runs the same type of offense that I run, he has always been creative, but I just feel like that game sits where Jeremy is at his best. That is where I think Jeremy is at his best, is in that kind of game.
“To me, I have had that circled ever since I saw the schedule. I circled Tennessee in Norman as the game – every program that has been successful, there has been that one game that you could put your finger on and say this is the game that got us over the hump, that built our program into something special. That’s one of those games. They are on the road, it’s Week 2 of the season, it’s the SEC and the Big 12 matchup, it’s a huge ballgame. It is a tremendous opportunity for Tennessee. I know Jeremy thinks that way and he is excited about that game and having his team prepared to be ready for that game. As a football coach, you cannot ask for no more than that opportunity.”
Propst served as head coach at Hoover High School from 1999-2008 and hired Pruitt as his assistant. Pruitt coached at Hoover from 2004-06.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Propst also discussed Tennessee’s schedule this season.
“The game in Norman, if that game is allowed to be played, and if Tennessee can pull it off, you are looking at probably a 10-2 year,” he said. “Let’s say they split between Oklahoma and Florida, they get one of them, then you are looking at a 9-3 year and bowl game winning ten games.”
The entire show with George Bates as a guest can be listened to here or below. Bates played for Pruitt at West Alabama in 1999 and is currently serving as head coach at Center Point High School in Alabama.
Jeremy Pruitt is a force to be reckoned with in the East and ultimately the SEC as a whole.
KNOXVILLE — Jeremy Pruitt enters his third season as head coach at Tennessee.
Tennessee ended last season on a six-game winning streak that has provided momentum for the program.
Tennessee’s program has even more momentum this offseason as the Vols have the current No. 2 nationally ranked 2021 recruiting class.
Jan 2, 2020; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Tom Allen (left) and Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt (right) shake hands as defensive lineman Darel Middleton (97) dunks the coaches after a Tennessee victory over Indiana in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl at TIAA Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
Pruitt’s collegiate coaching career began in 1999 at West Alabama when he served as defensive backs coach for the NCAA Division II Tigers.
At West Alabama, Pruitt coached defensive back George Bates to a 1999 USA Football All-American Second Team selection.
Bates is currently the head coach and athletics director at Center Point High School in Birmingham, Alabama. He joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days,” co-hosted by Valdosta High School head coach Rush Propst, to discuss Pruitt and the Tennessee program.
Bates discussed how he is not surprised with Tennessee’s recent recruiting momentum under the direction of Pruitt.
“To me they are a program on the rise,” Bates said of Tennessee. “It does not surprise me at all because with the COVID-19 pandemic going on, with all campuses being shutdown, no official visits being handled, no spring evaluations by the coaches – deep down in this day and age kids love the flash.
“Who has the biggest pool table in the locker room, who has the most flat screens, they go off a lot of the eye candy and right now nobody is seeing that. It is not allowed. You have to go off your gut, your instincts and the genuine bond that you have with that particular school and coach. With Coach Pruitt, this is him true and true. He is a football guy. I know Tennessee has great facilities like other schools have, but that is not him. As a football guy, he wants to talk about football. He is allowing him to shine even more.”
Bates also discussed that going forward, Tennessee will be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC.
“He is the perfect guy for Tennessee because he has been around multiple successful programs, multiple successful head coaches,” Bates said. “Now being the guy that he is, that is a grinder, he is taking all of those experiences and I think Tennessee is something that is about to have happen (for them) that has not happened in a long time. He is a force to be reckoned with in the East and ultimately the SEC as a whole.”
The entire podcast can be listened to here or below.
PODCAST: George Bates details playing for Jeremy Pruitt
KNOXVILLE — Jeremy Pruitt enters his third season as head coach at Tennessee.
Pruitt’s collegiate coaching career began in 1999 at West Alabama. He served as defensive backs coach for the NCAA Division II Tigers.
At West Alabama, Pruitt coached defensive back George Bates to a 1999 USA Football All-American Second Team selection.
Bates has launched his own coaching career as he is the head coach and athletics director at Center Point High School in Birmingham, Alabama.
Bates joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss his coaching career, playing for Pruitt at West Alabama and watching him build the Vols’ program back to a championship level.
Former Colquitt County (Moultrie, Ga) High School football coach Rush Propst is taking over as the new head coach of the Valdosta (GA) High School Wildcats, according to the Valdosta High Twitter account. During Tuesday’s Valdosta Board of Education …
Former Colquitt County (Moultrie, Ga) High School football coach Rush Propst is taking over as the new head coach of the Valdosta (GA) High School Wildcats, according to the Valdosta High Twitter account.
During Tuesday’s Valdosta Board of Education meeting, the board voted 5 to 4 to bring Propst to Valdosta.
While at Alabama’s Hoover High, he was featured in the MTV series “Two-A-Days.” Propst led Hoover to multiple state championships but an extramarital affair and recruiting allegations ended his time at Hoover.
In 2007, he moved to Colquitt and compiled a 119-35 record with two state titles. Prospt was fired last March after allegations of the misuse of school funds for a hotel and concerns about being verbally abusive to an athlete.
Valdosta is home to the winningest high school football program in the country with a record 911 wins. The Wildcats have won six national championships, 24 state championships, and 42 regional championships. Former Georgia lettermen Buck Belue, John Lastinger, Brice Hunter, Malcolm Mitchell, Todd Peterson, Jay Rome and James Eunice all graduated from Valdosta.
Valdosta plays at Colquitt County September 11 of the upcoming season.
