Vols’ Lilly will fill key role for Pruitt
KNOXVILLE — Defensive-minded Jeremy Pruitt wants to be involved in Tennessee’s offense, but there’s a specific scenario the first-year head coach is trying to avoid.
“What I don’t want to do is come in there and ask the offensive staff a million questions,” Pruitt said. “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?”
Enter John Lilly.
The veteran coach has joined Tennessee’s staff as an assistant to Pruitt. Lilly’s job description asks him to be a liaison between Pruitt and the Tennessee offense run by coordinator Tyson Helton, who is working with Pruitt for the first time.
“The first thing John does is, he’s here to help me,” Pruitt said. “I think it’s clear that I want to be involved on the defensive side from a daily organizational standpoint. But at the same time, we’re not going to do anything in the program that I’m not aware about that don’t go through me.”
Lilly, 49, spent 1998 to 2007 as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida State and 2008 to 2015 as Georgia’s tight ends coach, overlapping with the two seasons Pruitt worked as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator in 2014 and ’15. He went on to work for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
Lilly’s job at Tennessee does not involve on-field coaching, but he will keep a close eye on offensive matters for the sake of Pruitt, a defensive coach the past 20 years.
“You’ve got a guy that can explain a little bit to me about what’s going on and probably eliminate some of the questions,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt is gaining familiarity with two offensive assistants he has not previously worked with — Helton and receivers coach David Johnson — as the Volunteers continue through their spring session that will resume Tuesday with the seventh of 15 scheduled practices.
Johnson came from Memphis, where he spent the past two seasons as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Tigers. Pruitt said he had never met Johnson before considering him for a position on Tennessee’s staff. But Pruitt had been told by Alabama assistant Burton Burns to watch Johnson as he rose through the coaching ranks.
Burns and Johnson are both from New Orleans, which is where Johnson worked as a high school head coach from 2009 to 2011 before taking a job at Tulane coaching running backs and tight ends.
“I talked to Coach Burns and a lot of guys from the city of New Orleans that are high school football coaches. Everybody raves about David,” Pruitt said. “I’ve seen him out on the field since he’s been here. He’s very knowledgeable, and he could coach more than one position.”
Pruitt describes Helton as “very detailed” and “very demanding.”
“I’ve sat in a lot of his meetings here with the players, and he does a fantastic job,” Pruitt said. “He’s very thorough. He goes through everything from getting the call signals presnap to indicators to protections. He really does a nice job. He doesn’t coach with his hands in his pocket, I can assure you. He’s out there getting after them.”