New Tennessee Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles brought a couple of coaches with him to Rocky Top this offseason.

One of the coaches that Knowles brought along from Penn State (Knowles’ previous stop) is Anthony Poindexter, who will serve as Tennessee’s co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach.

Poindexter has never coached in the SEC before, but he nearly played for the Volunteers a little over 30 years ago.

Anthony Poindexter recalls being recruited by Tennessee

Poindexter joined The Mike Keith Show on Thursday and he discussed being recruited by the Vols in the early 1990s.

The Virginia native noted that he was recruited to Tennessee by Lovie Smith.

Smith, who served as the Vols’ defensive backs coach in 1993 and 1994, was the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2004 to 2012 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2014 to 2015.

“I took an official visit here,” said Poindexter. “What spooked me out of coming here — so, I’m only four hours away — but when we were coming down, they had a snowstorm. So it turned into an eight hour drive instead of a four hour drive. And I was like, ‘Oh, Lord, this is way too far’. I thought I was going to California or something. I really hadn’t left my hometown much. I loved it down here, but it was a little too far from home for me.”

“If my mind serves me right, I think Peyton (Manning) came in that weekend,” added Poindexter. “So I guess it was a good visit for him. But I was very interested. And like I said, the snowstorm kind of spooked me. I just thought it was way too far from home.”

Poindexter ended up signing with the Virginia Cavaliers (90 minutes from his hometown). He was the ACC defensive player of the year in 1998.

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