The Tennessee Volunteers brought in three new assistants this offseason to join head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s staff — OC Jim Chaney, WR coach Tee Martin and DC Derrick Ansley.

As the Vols head toward the summer, Pruitt seems very happy with the new hires and how they’ve fared thus far.

In an interview this week, Pruitt detailed exactly what he likes so far about his new assistants (via 247Sports):

“To start with Jim, Jim’s done it in this league a long time. He’s done it at Tennessee,” Pruitt said during his interview on Tuesday morning. “He’s done it at a very high level, so he has lots of experience within the league. He understands the University of Tennessee.

“Same goes with Tee. Tee has lots of experience, been an offensive coordinator, done a fantastic job when he wasn’t an offensive coordinator, very good recruiter, very good developer of wide receivers and he’s very, very familiar with Tennessee. It really helped getting those guys who’s coached here before.

“You look at Derrick, Derrick’s the same way. He’s coached here at Tennessee before, is a guy that’s familiar with this league. He’s familiar with the expectations that I have on the defensive side of the ball, and it kind of goes along with the other guys on our staff.

“I think adding those three guys has made us a lot better as a staff — not that we had a bad staff before — but I just think that these guys helped us improve and they’ve done a nice job this spring.”

These new assistants have the experience, but that will need to translate to wins this fall. Pruitt’s squad showed improvement in 2018, but now it’s time to take the step toward making bowl games.