Tennessee assistant coach Shelton Felton lands role on Akron’s new coaching staff
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A new position on Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee coaching staff has just come open as defensive analyst Shelton Felton has left Knoxville to become the new inside linebackers coach at Akron.
Felton served as one of the many off-the-field analysts for Pruitt’s first coaching staff at Tennessee. Felton was hired this time last year from Tennessee-Chatanooga, where he was the program’s outside linebackers coach. UTC had the No. 1 defense in the Southern Conference by the time Felton left the program.
When former offensive coordinator Tyson Helton left Tennessee to become Western Kentucky’s head coach, Pruitt assigned Felton as Helton’s replacement recruiter on the road — which is a good indication of how highly UT’s coach thought of Felton.
A former high school head coach at Crisp County High School in Cordele, Ga., he led that program to its first ever state semifinals appearance. It’s worth noting that Tennessee is currently recruiting a current Crisp County standout in 2019 four-star defensive back prospect, Jammie Robinson. Robinson is also being recruited by Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Auburn. Robinson did not sign during the early signing period and plans to do so during the upcoming National Signing Day.
It will be interesting to see how Felton’s departure affects Tennessee’s recruitment of Robinson, if at all.
Akron recently named Tom Arth as the program’s new head coach, Arth had previously been Tennessee-Chattanooga’s coach. Considering Felton had previously worked under Arth, this promotion makes sense in many ways for Felton. FOX Sports sideline analyst Bruce Feldman even expressed his thoughts on Felton’s move to Akron following the news.
If Felton does a good job at Akron, he may be a name to keep an eye on in the future when any assistant jobs come open in the SEC.
Welcome to Akron, coach Felton! #OurWay #AkronMade pic.twitter.com/1PK4VHwKwO
— Akron Football (@ZipsFB) January 9, 2019
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
