Tennessee made a splash hire this offseason by bringing in Derek Owings as the Vols’ new Director of Football Sports Performance. The Vols hired him away from Indiana, where he had spent the last two seasons building Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers’ championship-winning program.
Owings’ hiring at Tennessee indicated a new internal push to emphasize strength, conditioning, and nutrition in a way that hadn’t been happening previously. He brings with him a wealth of experience and proof as he pushes Tennessee’s players to be the best they can be. It doesn’t come without a lot of hard work, though.
While speaking to the media after spring practice on Saturday, Tennessee sophomore offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. detailed the impact that Owings and his staff have brought to the program in a fairly short amount of time.
“I would definitely say the work ethic and the accountability would be two things that stuck out the most to me,” Sanders said. “He’s very non-tolerant when it comes to missing workouts, missing meals, missing meetings, missing rehab – any little thing – missing the walk across the street. He’s not playing around. You better be on your stuff with Coach Owings. But he’s also a great guy. He comes down to lunch with us, he plays in the game room with us. Comes and chills with us in the meeting rooms and stuff like that. He’s a great dude to bond with. He makes you want to give your all for him everytime you go in the weight room. For sure.”
Earlier in the offseason, Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop also shared his thoughts on Owings’ addition to the Tennessee coaching staff, noting that working out under his program is a little bit like being put through the fire.
“I would describe it as work,” Bishop said in an interview on The Mike Keith Show. “You know, lot different from last year. Been put through the fire a little bit. That’s exactly what we need. We believe that’s going to help us become the team we want to be. I’m looking forward to what else he has to offer for us.”
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Sanders also went into detail about how Owings and Tennessee are approaching his playing weight heading into the season.
“Last year, it was a big emphasis on me just getting to 300 pounds,” Sanders said. “I don’t really think we cared how I got to it, it was just getting there. So my body fat percentage went up a little bit. I think he did a good job with not really wanting me to gain too much weight too quickly, because I had already gained a lot of weight. Still, my goal is from, like, 310 to 315 right now for the season. Just bringing my body fat percentage back down and building my muscles back up was a big thing with him. I feel like he’s done a great job. I love Coach Owings, for sure.”
On3 Sports’ Chris Low recently went through some of the new staff hires that are poised to make a “major impact” with their new teams in 2026, and listed Owings as Tennessee’s representative on the list.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza credits Owings for helping him get to a position where he could lead his team to the championship trophy last season with the Hoosiers.
“Coach Owings and the strength staff here got me up from I think 205, 210 to now a low of where I need to weigh in and weigh-ins every week at 225,” Mendoza said on The Pat McAfee Show in January. “With that, I’ve been able to put on good weight where I’m able to run and I’m able to still be fluid in my movements. Whenever the team needs me to run, I can always run.”
day one in the lab 🧪#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/KS8Ze4vCcc
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 21, 2026
