Tennessee Vols: Kevin Beard Praised By Former UT Wide Receiver

The latest addition to the Tennessee Vols’ coaching staff, Kevin Beard, received some support from a former Vol on Monday.

Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jomo Fagan gave his support of UT’s new wide receivers coach Kevin Beard on Monday.

Fagan tweeted that he thinks Beard was one of the best hires in all of college football this off-season.

https://twitter.com/80BABY/status/846528344086773760

Beard was hired earlier this month to replace Zach Azzanni, who left Tennessee for the same position in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.

Butch Jones’ hiring of Beard was widely met with praise by college football analysts and other coaches.

So it’s not surprise that a former Vol wide receiver is also a fan (Fagan played at Tennessee from 2001-04, before transferring to Western Carolina).

Beard will reunite at Tennessee with recently promoted offensive coordinator Larry Scott.

Both Scott and Beard were on staff at Miami at the same time.

Scott was the Hurricanes tight ends coach from 2013-15. He also served as interim head coach in 2015 after Al Golden was fired.

Beard was the assistant director of football operations in 2014. He was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2015 (Beard was an offensive quality control assistant at Georgia in 2016).

Not only is Beard expected to be a quality coach for the Vols, he’s also expected to be an elite recruiter. The former Miami Hurricane has deep ties in South Florida, which should pay dividends for the Volunteers.

There’s no doubt that Tennessee has greatly improved their coaching staff this off-season — at least on paper.

Next: What Will Get Butch Jones Fired In 2017?

On September 4, against Georgia Tech, we’ll see if those “on paper” improvements are able to translate to gameday.