With Alex Golesh’s move from USF to Auburn football, he’s in the process of building out his coaching staff. While the coordinator role and main position coaching jobs get the most notoriety, he’s also tasked with filling assistant positions.
One of these roles is already set to be coached by a former Josh Heupel Tennessee Era offensive lineman. Parker Ball is on staff with the Tigers as an assistant offensive line coach. He was also on Golseh’s staff at USF following his playing career in Knoxville.
Ball played for Tennessee from 2019-23. He stuck through the coaching change from Jeremy Pruitt to Heupel and began to carve out a role later in his career. The former walk-on appeared in all 13 games in 2021 and 2022 in some fashion. In 2023, he saw offensive snaps in five games, including a win over Vanderbilt and Citrus Bowl victory over Iowa.
Ball is from Douglasville, Georgia, and went to Douglas County High School. This is the same school that four-star edge rusher Jordan Carter went to, who signed and committed to Tennessee in the 2026 class on Wednesday.
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Golesh has also added a former Tennessee assistant to his staff. He hired Kodi Burns as an assistant, who worked alongside Golesh and Heupel in 2021 as a wide receivers coach. He left after that year for the same role with the New Orleans Saints. However, New Orleans let Burns go following the 2024 season, and he reunited with Golesh in Tampa as South Florida’s receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator.
USF had its best season in nearly a decade this past year, going 9-3 with a win over Florida, which helped Golesh get the Auburn job.
Burns also played at Auburn from 2007 to 2010, beginning his career as a quarterback but eventually moving to receiver. He was a part of Auburn’s 2010 National Championship team and even caught a touchdown in the title game against Oregon.
Golesh, Burns and Ball will take a return trip to Knoxville next fall when Tennessee hosts Auburn in an SEC matchup at Neyland Stadium. The exact date of the game is not yet set.
