KNOXVILLE - Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has added an offensive guru from the junior college ranks to his first staff.
Joe Osovet, who has been the head coach at ASA College in New York, announced through social media Wednesday that he will join Pruitt in Knoxville. Sports Illustrated reported Osovet will be a quality control assistant for the Volunteers.
"Today I am filled with such emotion," Osovet wrote in a message he posted to his Twitter account. "I have worked for this moment for 23 years of my coaching career. I wanna thank Coach Pruitt for allowing me to be apart of his football staff at Tennessee!
Osovet is the latest addition to Pruitt's support staff. Tennessee also announced Drew Hughes as director of player personnel and Todd Watson as director of football operations last week. Bob Welton, who was director of player personnel under previous coach Butch Jones, is leaving Tennessee after remaining on staff through signing day.
Hughes served in a similar role at Florida for four seasons before coming to Tennessee. Watson worked in a similar role at Troy University before he was hired at Tennessee.
Osovet's offense at ASA College averaged 446 yards and 38 points per game in 2017. The news of his move to Knoxville followed a Tuesday tweet from former Florida State defensive quality control assistant Bert Biffani indicating Biffani will take a similar role at Tennessee.
Tino Sunseri, son of former Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri, has also indicated he will join the Vols as a quality control assistant and work with quarterbacks. The 29-year-old played quarterback at Pittsburgh.
Former Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty has also indicated he is a part of Pruitt's new staff.
A report from 247Sports.com on Wednesday night indicated Tennessee was set to hire Chris Weinke to fill the running backs coach position that came open this week when Pruitt and Robert Gillespie parted ways. Weinke was an analyst at Alabama in 2017.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.