Derrick Ansley and Jeremy Pruitt have worked together often during their coaching careers and when the Tennessee head coach decided to make a change to his defensive coaching staff following the departure of Charles Kelly to Alabama, there was only one coach he wanted to fill the void.

After being in communication all throughout the 2018 season, Pruitt extending Ansley an opportunity to become a full-time defensive coordinator at the Power 5 level. That offer, in addition to the strong bond the two men share was enough to lure one of the NFL’s best young defensive backs coaches back to the college game.

During his recent media availability, here is what Ansley had to say when asked why he decided to leave a position on Jon Gruden’s Raider coaching staff.

“I think anytime you take a job you have to create value for yourself and you have to take in the family factor. Being from the South and coming back to the South was very appealing to me. Working with Coach Pruitt was probably the ace in the hole for me because he kind of gave me my start as a graduate assistant at Alabama in 2010 when he was the secondary coach,” Ansley said. “He and I have a very, very strong and unique bond. I consider him one of my biggest mentors.

“He’s helped me along the way throughout my career. Even when we didn’t work together. When he was at Georgia and Florida State, we always talked and always bounced ideas off each other. He’s helped me tremendously grow as a young coach. Coming back here, working here at Tennessee in 2012, the familiarity with the campus, the fanbase, it was a really easy sell for me to come back.”

The relationship the two coaches share must be a strong one as in today’s coaching landscape, many college coaches are jumping at the chance to land an opportunity at the NFL level. Aside from competing at the game’s highest level, coaches seem to appreciate the fact there is no recruiting that has to be done by coaches in the NFL.

While that may be true, Ansley would not have been coordinating the Raider defense next season. That opportunity in Knoxville was too much to pass up for the rising assistant coach, who will likely one day be leading his own program. Getting a chance to run an SEC defense will likely get Ansley closer to that goal, in addition to learning from AD Phillip Fulmer.

“The relationship with coach Pruitt made it an easy, no-brainer for me, but also to coordinate a defense for the first time in the SEC at a storied program like Tennessee,” Ansley said in regards to landing the coordinator role at UT. “We have an unbelievable tradition and an incredible boss in coach Fulmer, who give us everything we need resource wise here. To come back to be a defensive coordinator and work with coach Pruitt, both of those things were very positive in coming back.”

Pruitt made it clear last season, he was the one that would call the defensive plays for the Vols, and while he will certainly have a heavy hand in the gameplanning next fall, he has enough confidence in Ansley to turn over the play calling duties to his new coordinator heading into next season.

That’s something that’s not lost on Ansley.

“I think it shows that he trusts me and it shows me that he has the same kind of philosophy as me,” Ansley added. “This is coach Pruitt’s defense. I am just going to try and get it the way that he wants it. He is going to let me call the plays which is very valuable for my growth. My job is to make sure we have success on defense.”