Staff change in college football is inevitable.

It's rare anymore that a coaching staff looks exactly the same in consecutive years.

If a position coach performs well, they'll likely receive a promotion or another job offer. If a position coach doesn't perform well, they'll get dumped for someone who will.

That's just the nature of the business.

And it's something that Jeremy Pruitt has already dealt with as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols.

After the 2018 season, safeties coach Charles Kelly left for Alabama and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton left to become the head coach at Western Kentucky. Tennessee also parted ways with cornerbacks coach Terry Fair.

It looks like more staff change could be on the horizon for the Vols this offseason.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman reported on Friday that UT running backs coach David Johnson is expected to leave for Florida State.

(I mentioned this as a possibility back in December.)

VolQuest's Austin Price reported on Friday afternoon that Johnson is mulling over offers from Florida State and Tennessee and hasn't made a decision yet.

JUST IN: Vols RB coach David Johnson @CoachYACJohnson has an offer from Florida State and a NEW offer from Tennessee.
Just spoke to him where he told me, “He is currently mulling over the decision with his family. No decision has been made yet.”

— Austin Price (@AustinPriceless) January 3, 2020

Johnson coached with recently hired Florida State head coach Mike Norvell at Memphis from 2016-2017. The two coaches had a good relationship, with Johnson calling Norvell "key" in his decision to stay at Memphis in 2017 when he was offered a job by LSU.

If Johnson heads to Tallahassee, it will leave Tennessee with an open on-the-field coaching role. Here are some options for how they could fill that role.

Update: David Johnson told VolQuest on Saturday that he's leaving Tennessee for Florida State.

1. Hire Jay Graham (Current Texas A&M RBs coach)

This is the most obvious possibility and it's the one I mentioned as soon as the news broke that Johnson might be heading to Florida State. Graham played at Tennessee and he coached for the Vols in 2012 under Derek Dooley. In 2013, Graham left for Florida State (kind of ironic in retrospect) after Butch Jones was hired as UT's head coach. Graham and Pruitt coached together at Florida State in 2013. Graham followed Jimbo Fisher from Florida State to Texas A&M in late 2017. Pruitt was reportedly interested in bringing Graham back to Tennessee last year, but it just never worked out. Graham would give Tennessee a strong recruiting presence in North Carolina (which is crucial for the Vols). And he's obviously a good position coach, otherwise Fisher wouldn't have kept him on board for seven seasons.

Graham might seem like the obvious choice, but the obvious choice doesn't always get hired.

2. Promote Joe Osovet (Director of programming for football)

This probably wouldn't be a popular choice with fans, but it might not be a bad idea. Osovet has been widely praised for his progressive football acumen. And he's clearly valued by Pruitt. Osovet is eventually going to get an offer for an on-the-field role from a Power-5 program. Remember, Brian Niedermeyer was a virtual unknown when Pruitt brought him to Tennessee to coach tight ends. Now he's the Vols' best recruiter. If Pruitt promotes Osovet, it's because he believes he can help take Tennessee to the next level.

3. Move Brian Niedermeyer to running backs

Speaking of Niedermeyer, Pruitt has mentioned before that he's capable of coaching running backs (or anywhere on the offensive or defensive side of the ball).

Jeremy Pruitt on new #Vols assistant Brian Niedermeyer: He really could go coach anywhere on the offense or defense.

— Wes Rucker (@wesruckerTBA) January 10, 2018

If Niedermeyer moved to running backs, it would give Pruitt some flexibility to bring in a new tight ends coach if he wished.

3. Move Chris Weinke back to running backs and hire a QB coach

It's no secret that I haven't been enamored with the job that Chris Weinke has done as Tennessee's quarterbacks coach. I didn't really see any improvement from UT's quarterbacks as the 2019 season progressed. And that's not a surprise. Hall of fame running back Eric Dickerson blasted Weinke in 2016 for the job he did (or didn't do) with the Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks.

Weinke previously coached running backs in 2018 for the Vols. Pruitt could move him back to running backs and hire a new quarterbacks coach. Maybe his old college roommate Freddie Kitchens, who was just fired as the Cleveland Browns head coach, would like to take a year or two and reset in Knoxville. Kitchens did a tremendous job as Cleveland's interim offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2018, he just wasn't head coach material.

Another option would be to move offensive coordinator Jim Chaney to quarterbacks, which would free up Pruitt to hire another assistant on the defensive side of the ball if he wished.

4. Hire Joe Pannunzio

Pannuzio coached running backs at Alabama in 2018. He coached tight ends in in Tuscaloosa in 2017, which means his time at the school overlapped with Pruitt's (he was also the director of football operations for Alabama from 2011-14, Pruitt was at Alabama in 2011 and 2012). Pannunzio is currently working in an off-field role with the Philadelphia Eagles. He's a former college head coach at Murray State and he also spent time as a position coach at Auburn, Miami and Ole Miss.

5. Hire Bryan McClendon (current South Carolina WRs coach)

This would be a home run hire. McClendon is an excellent recruiter and knows the SEC extremely well. McClendon coached running backs at Georgia from 2009-2014. He also coached wide receivers for the Bulldogs in 2015 (he coached alongside Pruitt for two seasons in Athens). In 2016, McClendon was hired by South Carolina. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019, but he was recently demoted from the position. I'm sure he'd like a fresh start elsewhere in the SEC. But that might be easier said than done. McClendon is making $1 million through 2020 at South Carolina. I doubt Tennessee is going to pay him that much to coach running backs. Maybe they'd give him a co-offensive coordinator title, but it's hard to imagine him making more at UT than he's currently making at South Carolina. Getting demoted isn't fun, but when the pay doesn't change it makes it hard to walk away.

6. Thomas Brown (current South Carolina RBs coach)

Ok so there's more than five options. I couldn't help myself.

Pruitt coached with Thomas Brown at Georgia in 2015. Brown, who played at Georgia, has also coached at Wisconsin and Miami (where he was also the offensive coordinator for three seasons under Mark Richt).

Brown just completed with first season at South Carolina.

Featured image via 247Sports