Jerry Mack, Tennessee’s running backs coach, left the team this summer to take a similar position with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Finding a successor wasn’t a problem because the University of Tennessee has produced quality running backs in recent years; they simply needed to choose the right one.
As VolQuest’s Austin Price first revealed, head coach Josh Heupel found a replacement on Monday when the program hired De’Rail Sims, the coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats running backs, to fill the position.
For the previous two of the last three years, Sims has coached running backs at Louisville and Cincinnati in the Power-5 league. Sims’s running games are usually productive; over the last three seasons, his units have consistently ranked in the top 25. Dylan Sampson and Cameron Seldon, two athletes with more athleticism than tire tread, are back for Tennessee.
Now, when Sims gets to town, he can work with both. In terms of recruiting, they will need to start forming a relationship with running back Justin Baker because he is the only back in the 2025 class. In the 2024 cycle, running back Peyton Lewis was also signed by the Vols.
