Tennessee is looking to bounce back from a last-play loss to SEC East rival Florida.

Saturday’s opponent is the University of Massachusetts – better known as UMass.

The Minutemen are in their second year of playing as an Independent after departing from the Mid-American Conference. They are 0-4 but have competed, losing all four games by no more than 10 points.

When the Minutemen take the field at Neyland Stadium, Vols defensive coordinator Bob Shoop will reunite with one of his former assistants. While being defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt (2011-2013), Shoop had current UMass recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach Charles Walker as his defensive quality control coach in 2012 and 2013.

Together, Shoop and Walker fielded a defense in 2013 that ranked second in interceptions in the SEC (18), led the conference in interception return yards (277) and tied for fourth in sacks (28).

That year, Shoop and Walker worked together in helping Vanderbilt defeat Georgia, Florida and Tennessee during a second straight nine-win season.

Walker reminisced about his and Shoop’s Vanderbilt days this week.

“You do not get a break in that conference,” Walker told Saturday Down South. “The conference is talented, and to be able to do that at a school like Vandy goes a long way — and setting historical records there with nine-win seasons and bowl games, stuff like that, at an institution that does not have a long history and tradition of winning.”

Walker is taking notice of what current Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason is doing by starting the 2017 season 3-0 following ending last season by defeating Tennessee and making a bowl game.

“It is similar to what they are doing now, they are on that track,” Walker said of helping build the Vanderbilt foundation. “You grow and have an appreciation for it there because you do not have the student body and a population like other schools have. Vandy is never one’s first choice, especially in SEC country with a lot of the top prospects going to other schools, and you have to do a really good recruiting and coaching job there in just getting yourself on board with wins. I have respect for coaching there and maximizing your roster.”

The focus this week is on returning to Neyland Stadium, where Walker’s last visit resulted in a 14-13 Vanderbilt win over Butch Jones’ first-year Volunteers in 2013, denying Tennessee a bowl birth.

The UMass assistant says playing at Tennessee again “will be exciting.” He remembers quite well the 2013 contest, when Vanderbilt rallied from a 10-7 fourth-quarter deficit.

The comeback was highlighted by Vanderbilt keeping its winning drive alive when Tennessee’s fourth-and-inches stop of Commodores quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels in the final minute of play was overturned on replay, giving Vanderbilt a first down at the Tennessee 33-yard line.

“We had a pretty good game against those guys,” Walker said. “It was a great atmosphere and a great fan base obviously there in SEC country. I am excited for our guys to get a taste of some southern football this Saturday.”

The game will be played, but also the reuniting with Shoop will occur, and Walker looks back at learning under Shoop as the “student and the apprentice deal going on.”

“He (Shoop) is a good coach and has been one of the best in the country. We had top-ranked defenses at Vanderbilt.

“He coached defensive backs at UMass when I played here in 2006, when we won the Atlantic 10 conference championship and were runners-up to the (FCS) national championship. It goes a little further than just being a graduate assistant at Vanderbilt, and I have a high respect for him. He is a mentor and we talk time-to-time.”

Walker continues to grow and move up the ranks in the coaching profession, now in his fourth season with UMass.

He teaches and preaches what he has learned under his UMass head coach during his playing days, Don Brown, along with Shoop and current Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry — who was co-defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt in 2011-2013.

“I learned a lot from Coach (Don) Brown when he was here. Playing for Coach Brown, then coaching under Coach Shoop and his attack style and the way we played with our linebackers, and coach Brent Pry now at Penn State, picking up things from all three of those guys.

“Coach Shoop and his mentality and his approach to defense is always attack, attack, attack; and is what I have learned and certain techniques that I have picked up and have used here.”