KNOXVILLE - Larry Scott soon could have the opportunity to return to his home state after one season on Tennessee's football coaching staff.
The tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for the Volunteers interviewed Tuesday night for the head coaching vacancy at Florida Atlantic, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday, and Scott also could be in the mix for the head coaching position at South Florida.
Oregon hired South Florida coach Willie Taggart on Wednesday, while Florida Atlantic fired Charlie Patridge, who was 9-27 in three years there, on Nov. 27.
Scott played offensive tackle at South Florida and began his college coaching career at his alma mater. He started out as the director of high school relations and a graduate assistant with the Bulls before moving to the full-time staff. Scott coached tight ends, the offensive line and running backs for six seasons (2007-12).
Miami hired Scott away from his alma mater in 2013, and he became the interim coach for the Hurricanes midway through last season following Al Golden's ouster. The Hurricanes, who hired former Georgia coach Mark Richt in the offseason, won four of Scott's six games in charge.
The Vols tabbed Scott last January to replace Mark Elder, who took the head coaching job at Eastern Kentucky. Tennessee signed Scott to a two-year deal through next season with a salary of $360,000, and his buyout would be 33 percent of his remaining salary, or a little more than $140,000.
Taggart's salary at South Florida this year was $1.7 million, while Partridge made $591,250 at Florida Atlantic, according to the USA Today coaching salary database.
Scott's Florida ties quickly paid off when he helped the Vols land Tyler Byrd, Marcus Tatum and Latrell Williams out of the Sunshine State for the 2016 signing class, and his home-state connections helped Tennessee land another commitment for next season on Wednesday.
Roughly 24 hours after five-star offensive tackle Trey Smith picked Tennessee, linebacker Shanon Reid out of the Fort Myers area committed to the Vols. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Reid is a four-star prospect and the No. 16 outside linebacker in the 2017 class, according to 247sports. He made official visits to Tennessee, LSU, Michigan, Miami and Iowa State this fall.
Last week Scott made his in-home visit to Reid, who had 117 tackles with 15 for loss as a senior.
"Even though I had just gotten an offer from LSU, those group of guys still recruited my butt off," Reid told The News-Press in his hometown. "I was supposed to make a decision Dec. 2. But knowing those guys stayed on top of me, they showed me love and everything. I really loved that.
"Just knowing those guys have my back and, at the end of the day, they're going to look out for me, made my decision."
Reid joins Will Ignont, Jaquan Handerson, Solon Page III and Mo Burnam as Tennessee's 2017 linebacker commitments.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.