Georgia tight end coach John Lilly. (Photo: Sean Taylor)KNOXVILLE – The defensive-minded Jeremy Pruitt wants to be involved in Tennessee’s offense, but there’s a specific scenario the Volunteers’ 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.
A veteran former Florida State and Georgia assistant, Lilly is joining Tennessee’s staff as an assistant to Pruitt. Lilly’s job description asks him to be a liaison between the defensive-minded 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.”