The Tennessee Volunteers are set to hire veteran defensive assistant coach William Inge to their staff as the linebackers coach, according to a report from VolQuest’s Austin Price on Monday afternoon. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg confirmed the report a short time later.
Inge replaces former Tennessee linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary, who left for the same position on the Michigan Wolverines’ new-look coaching staff on Feb. 15.
A former defensive end for the Iowa Hawkeyes and nearly a player for the Tennessee Titans in 1997, Inge has spent many years in the college football world as his experience will go hand-in-hand with Rodney Garner’s experience for the Vols’ front seven. It’s a funny coincidence that Tennessee’s final win before hiring Inge was against his own Iowa Hawkeyes.
Inge spent his previous two seasons with the University of Washington and helped the Huskies make the College Football National Championship game, falling short to Michigan. Inge and former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer have been together since the 2019 season, going from Indiana to Fresno State to Washington together.
DeBoer had reportedly hired Inge to his staff at Alabama on Feb. 5 as the linebackers coach and special teams coach. It looks as if the two are officially set to split up as Inge reportedly makes his way to Rocky Top, though.
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If everything does wind up being finalized between Inge and Tennessee, it would make for a great addition to Josh Heupel’s staff. As previously mentioned, Inge has loads of experience as a defensive assistant in the college football game who also spent one season in the NFL. Inge has been productive with the Huskies’ linebackers unit over the past two seasons and is a respected name in college football.
Prior to his time at Washington, Inge also had stops at Northern Iowa (2001-2004), Colorado (2005), San Diego State (2006-2007), Cincinnati (2008-2009), Buffalo (2010-2011), the Buffalo Bills (2012), Indiana (2013-2019), Fresno State (2020-2021), Washington (2022-2023), and Alabama (a week in February 2024), if the last one even counts.
In all of Inge’s stops as an assistant coach, he worked with either the linebackers or the defensive line at some point during his tenure at that location.
William Inge knows what it takes to reach the College Football National Championship and will have some nice pieces to work with at Tennessee. The Vols project a starting linebacker duo of Keenan Pili, an ultra-experienced linebacker transfer from BYU who sat out the 2023 season at Tennessee due to injury, and Arion Carter, a terrific rising sophomore who impressed with his speed, IQ, and physicality during his freshman season before suffering an injury in the final few weeks.
Tennessee also boasts junior Elijah Herring, junior Kalib Beasley, sophomore Jeremiah Telander, and incoming freshman Edwin Spillman for Inge to work with.
Josh Heupel reportedly filled both of his vacant assistant coaching positions on Monday. Before VolQuest reported about William Inge, 247 Sports reported that Tennessee was hiring Cincinnati RB coach De’Rail Sims as their running back’s coach after Jerry Mack departed for the NFL this offseason.
Inge is 50 years old at the time of his reported hiring.
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