Former Tennessee Vols running back Montario Hardesty spent five seasons on Rocky Top.

Hardesty, who played for the Cleveland Browns for four seasons after his time at Tennessee, had the best year of his Vols career in 2009 under Lane Kiffin.

After rushing for a combined 1,046 yards during his first four seasons at Tennessee, Hardesty rushed for 1,345 yards and 13 touchdowns under Kiffin in 2009. He also caught 25 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown in 2009.

Montario Hardesty makes it clear that he’s a big fan of Lane Kiffin

Hardesty recently joined the Raw Room, and he was asked about playing for Kiffin at Tennessee.

The former Vols running back made it clear that he’s a big fan of the former Tennessee head coach.

Hardesty, who spent the 2018 season as a quality control coach at Tennessee, was the assistant strength and conditioning coach at FAU in 2017 under Kiffin, who was the head coach at FAU from 2017 to 2019 before landing at Ole Miss.

“Coach Kiffin is one of my favorite coaches,” said Hardesty. “Just because, as a player, how he kind of helped my career excel. But then also as a coach, he gave me one of my first opportunities. My first coaching opportunity was a small Division II school…Coach (Kiffin), when he was at FAU, actually gave me the opportunity to come to FAU. So, man, Coach Kiffin is one of my favorite guys. He’s a great coach. He was a great motivator for me. Y’all know LK, he’s got that swag. Y’all see him at Ole Miss. The best thing that he knows how to do is he brings that (swag) to his players.

“Just the way that he’s able to instill that confidence in his players,” continued Hardesty. “He’s a great offensive mind. But I just love the way he’s able to instill that confidence in you. And he builds great relationships in a different way than some coaches do. He’s not super rah rah, but he’s just a really good coach, as far as instilling that confidence in you and then making the whole team believe in the goal.”

Kiffin, who is in his sixth season as the head coach at Ole Miss, is expected to be one of the hottest names during this winter’s coaching carousel.

We’ll see if Kiffin actually makes a move. He seems happy in Oxford, and with Ole Miss in the mix to win a national championship, the timing for a school to hire him could be challenging.

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