Tennessee has promoted offensive analyst Kelsey Pope as wide receivers coach.
Before serving the 2021 season on Josh Heupel’s UT staff, he was the wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator at Gardner-Webb (2020), wide receivers coach at Tennessee Tech (2019), assistant wide receivers coach at Shorter College (2018) and running backs coach at Ohio Northern (2017).
Pope knows the position and appears to be on an upward trajectory in the coaching ranks. He was a record-breaking receiver at Samford and spent time in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.
Pope replaces Kodi Burns, who took the same position with the New Orleans Saints after one season with the Vols.
Pope is a critical hire because UT is trying to keep momentum going after the highest-scoring season in program history and develop a promising group of freshman wide receivers.
The Vols lost two of their top three receivers from last season. But they return Cedric Tillman, who had career highs of 1,081 receiving yards and 12 TDs.
