Jeremy Pruitt had one big vacancy left to fill on his Tennessee coaching staff. And now it appears as though he’s made that final hire.
According to a report from Dan Wolken of USA Today Sports, Pruitt has hired Memphis wide receivers coach David Johnson to be his wide receivers coach.
Source: Tennessee is expected to add wide receivers coach David Johnson from Memphis to complete Jeremy Pruitt’s staff.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) January 13, 2018
Johnson has a strong track record of players he’s coached. He’s been with Memphis since 2015, and he coached at Tulane from 2012-15 where he served as their running backs and tight ends coach. In his time as a coach, he’s coached players such as Tyrann Mathieu and Mike Wallace in high school (the two are in the NFL now), and he coached Rob Kelley and Orleans Darkwa, two more NFL players now, while at Tulane.
Johnson saw an explosive passing attack while coaching at Memphis, and his receivers benefited from strong quarterback play. Johnson became the receivers coach at Memphis during Paxton Lynch’s final season at quarterback, and he was the coach the last two seasons with Riley Ferguson as the signal caller.
As the receivers coach at Memphis, Johnson most notably coached up Anthony Miller to back-to-back 1,400 yard receiving seasons in 2016 and 2017. Miller was a walk-on when he first arrived at Memphis, and he now holds the record for most catches and receiving yards in a single season in Tigers’ history. And he was voted as an All-American in both 2016 and 2017.
And according to Memphis football analyst Jarvis Greer of WMC Action News 5, Johnson has solid recruiting ties in the state of Louisiana, a state filled with talented prospects each year.
Talking with Memphis football analyst Jarvis Greer on David Johnson:
“He has done a great job recruiting Louisiana, that’s one of his territories with good ties there from his high school days. He works players hard, but they love him. He will be a good addition to the staff.”
— Dan Harralson (@danharralson) January 13, 2018
Johnson’s hiring hasn’t been made official by the University of Tennessee as of yet. In fact, none of the hires truly have, although Pruitt himself confirmed most of his staff during a press conference on Wednesday.
We will update once Pruitt’s full staff has been announced and finalized.
