KNOXVILLE – Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has completed his on-field staff by luring a wide receivers coach with Southern roots away from an in-state school.
David Johnson, who spent the last two seasons as wide receivers coach at Memphis, posted a photo of himself on Twitter wearing Tennessee gear Sunday.
Memphis coach Mike Norvell wished Johnson well in a released statement.
“We are grateful to Coach Johnson for the role he has played in helping us establish a championship culture here at Memphis,” Norvell said in the statement. “We wish he and his wife, Akeia, and their family, well in their upcoming move and in their futures.”
Johnson’s two seasons at Memphis coincided with the emergence of Anthony Miller as one of the nation’s top wideouts. Miller, who began his college career as a walk-on, caught 95 passes in 2016 and 96 passes in 2017 as the Tigers offense flourished with the help of former Tennessee quarterback Riley Ferguson.
Before his time at Memphis, Johnson spent four seasons at Tulane coaching running backs and tight ends. He was a wide receiver at Nicholls State from 1991 to 1993 and coached high school football in Louisiana before getting his first job on a college staff at Division III Millsaps in 2005.
Johnson turned down an opportunity to join Ed Orgeron’s staff at LSU after last season, according to a report in the Commercial Appeal in Memphis.
The hiring fills out Pruitt’s allotment of 10 on-field assistant coaches and remains in keeping with his trend of hiring coaches who have Southern ties. Pruitt said last week that the process of filling out his staff could last through February, likely meaning there are quality control assistants, graduate assistants and support staff positions that still need to be filled.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.