In the past week, the Tennessee Volunteers have been closely linked to former Florida State QB Chris Weinke.

The rumors had coach Jeremy Pruitt hiring Weinke to fill the Vols’ open RB coach position, and now that is indeed the case.

On Wednesday, the Vols officially announced that Weinke had been hired to coach the team’s running backs. Pruitt said in a released statement that he’s excited to have Weinke in Knoxville:

“I’m excited to have Chris Weinke on our staff to coach running backs,” Pruitt said. “He has played the game at the highest level and what he has accomplished on the field speaks for itself. He is also an outstanding coach and teacher of the game, coaching in the NFL, in college this past season and at the high school level. He has a great eye for talent and knows the game on the offensive side of the ball as well as anybody I’ve been around. He will be a great fit for our Tennessee program.”

The position came open when then-RB coach Robert Gillespie suddenly departed from the program, but it didn’t take long for the Vols to fill that spot.

Whether Weinke can succeed as a running backs coach after playing quarterback remains to be seen, but he was an offensive analyst at Alabama last season, so he likely learned a lot from his time in Tuscaloosa.