SEC game on the Tennessee Vols' schedule in 2024 just became a lot more interesting
An otherwise "meh" game on the Tennessee Vols' 2024 SEC schedule became a lot more interesting on Sunday afternoon. One of Tennessee's 2024 home SEC games is against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Before Sunday, that was probably one of the least interesting games on the Vols' schedule. But now, it has a heck of a […]
An otherwise "meh" game on the Tennessee Vols' 2024 SEC schedule became a lot more interesting on Sunday afternoon.
One of Tennessee's 2024 home SEC games is against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Before Sunday, that was probably one of the least interesting games on the Vols' schedule.
But now, it has a heck of a storyline attached to it.
On Sunday evening, Mississippi State reportedly hired Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to replace Zach Arnett as the program's head coach.
Lebby, of course, has a strong connection to Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.
In 2018, Lebby was Heupel's quarterbacks coach at UCF. Lebby was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019 before leaving to join Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss in 2020, where he served as the Rebels' offensive coordinator.
Lebby was also a student assistant at Oklahoma from 2002 to 2006 (Heupel, who was a star player at Oklahoma, was on the Sooners' staff for two of those seasons).
Heupel and Lebby obviously know each other extremely well. They know what each other likes to run on offense and they know each other's tendencies. Tennessee will have the talent advantage next season against Mississippi State, but it will still be interesting to see Heupel coach against one of his former assistants.
Something else to watch for in the coming days is whether or not Lebby poaches anyone from Tennessee's coaching staff. Vols tight ends coach Alec Abeln was a graduate assistant at UCF in 2019 when Lebby was the offensive coordinator. Abeln followed Lebby to Ole Miss in 2020 (Abeln was an offensive assistant at Ole Miss) before re-joining Heupel at Tennessee in 2021. Abeln could be an offensive coordinator candidate for Lebby (though Lebby will almost certainly call plays at Mississippi State).
Tennessee offensive analyst McKenzie Milton could be another name to watch as well. Milton played at UCF from 2016 to 2020, so he's quite familiar with Lebby.
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