A familiar face could soon be roaming the halls of the Anderson Training Center in Knoxville.
Former standout Tennessee linebacker Kevin Simon, who was also briefly an assistant for the program, is apparently returning to Rocky Top — this according to former Tennessee receiver and Knoxville-based radio host Jayson Swain. Simon played for the Vols from 2002-05 after an All-American high school career at De La Salle High School in Calfornia.
Simon was a seventh-round draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. Following his brief NFL career, Simon returned to Tennessee to work as a strength coach before landing a job with the Dallas Cowboys as a scout. After several years in Dallas, Simon landed a job in Atlanta, working as the assistant director of pro personnel and scouting for the Falcons.
During Tennessee’s long-winded search for an athletic director, that eventually went to John Currie over Phillip Fulmer, Simon was a vocal supporter of his former coach, according to 247Sports.
“You’ve got one former Vol right here that’s rooting for him and he’ll do anything to pull the university back together. And not that we’re apart; one voice, one Tennessee. I really think it would be great for our community and our university to have Coach Fulmer in that position,” Simon said last January.
Fulmer must have appreciated the vote of confidence from Simon. Now that the former Tennessee coach is running the athletics program on Rocky Top, adding another key contributor from the Volunteers’ most recent strong SEC run makes sense as Pruitt and his staff attempt to recapture that success for Vol Nation.
I’m loving this staff! Former Vol Kevin Simon is expected to join staff. Simon worked in NFL as a scout previously. Simon’s addition is Program changing for the #Vols. BOOM!!!!
— Jayson Swain (@SwainEvent) February 6, 2018
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
