Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt's reshuffling of his staff for the 2020 season appears to be almost complete.
According to multiple news reports, Pruitt is moving Brian Niedermeyer from coaching tight ends to working with inside linebackers, while Joe Osovet - who had an off-field position with the Volunteers - will take over the responsibility Niedermeyer held the past two seasons.
Niedermeyer has been part of the staff since Pruitt's first season in Knoxville - he also was at Alabama in 2016-17, when Pruitt worked as defensive coordinator in his second stint with the Crimson Tide - but Osovet moves into an on-field role with a team for the first time in three years.
Most recently the director of programming for football at Tennessee, Osovet was the head coach and offensive coordinator at New York's ASA College in Brooklyn in 2016-17, which followed his time in charge at his alma mater, Nassau Community College on Long Island. He was a combined 33-11 in those head coaching roles, receiving honors that included being named junior college coach of the year by USA Sports Writer in 2014 and Northeast Football Conference coach of the year twice.
In his two seasons at ASA, the Avengers went 13-7, averaging 41.9 points per game in 2017 after averaging 75 points the final two games of 2016. In his time in the junior college ranks, he coached 11 future NFL players and 47 future Division 1 players.
Niedermeyer replaces Kevin Sherrer, who left this month to coach inside linebackers for the New York Giants. Niedermeyer has a solid relationship with rising sophomore linebacker Henry To'o To'o, having helped bring him to Knoxville from California.
Sherrer also held the title of special teams coordinator, which has not been filled.
The Times Free Press reported earlier this week that Jay Graham, who led the Vols in rushing in two seasons and went on to play in the NFL, had been hired for a second stint as running backs coach at his alma mater. Tennessee announced that move Thursday.
"I'm excited to welcome Jay Graham back to Tennessee," Pruitt said in a news release. "He is one of the best assistant coaches in the country, and his track record for developing running backs speaks for itself, as you can see several of the young men he has coached playing on Sundays. He's the total package as a coach with his experience playing in the NFL and his years coaching in the SEC and ACC.
"He has tremendous work ethic and an impressive ability to connect with young people. I was impressed by Jay from the start of our time working together and winning a national championship in 2013. He's one of the best running backs ever to play at Tennessee, which I saw firsthand in the mid-90s. I'm thrilled to be working alongside him again and bringing him back to Rocky Top."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.