It finally happened — Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel lost a member of his coaching staff.

Wide receivers coach Kodi Burns is reportedly heading to the NFL to become the New Orleans Saints' new wide receivers coach.

Sources: University of Tennessee WR coach Kodi Burns has accepted the New Orleans Saints wide receivers job. Burns is a former Auburn player who has also coached at Middle Tennessee, Arizona State and Auburn.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 21, 2022

Burns is the only on-field coach that Heupel has last since being hired at Tennessee in early 2021.

Obviously, you never want to lose an assistant, but it's understandable that Burns is leaving for an NFL job.

Fortunately for Heupel, he has some flexibility on his staff with running backs coach Jerry Mack, who can coach multiple positions.

Here are three options that Heupel could target to replace Burns at Tennessee.

Montario Hardesty — South Carolina RBs coach

Hardesty is a former Vol who played under Phillip Fulmer and Lane Kiffin. He served as a quality control assistant at Tennessee in 2018 under Jeremy Pruitt.

Hardesty coached wide receivers at Charlotte from 2019-2020. Heupel could bring him to UT as either a wide receivers coach or as a running backs coach (Mack could move to wide receivers, a position he's coached before). Hardesty, a North Carolina native, would give the Volunteers another much-needed strong recruiting connection in the Carolinas.

David Johnson — Florida State RBs coach

Johnson was on Tennessee's staff under Jeremy Pruitt for two seasons before leaving for Florida State. Johnson, you may remember, said some unflattering things about Pruitt after he left Knoxville.

Bringing Johnson back, however, would be a wise move by Heupel. Johnson can coach either wide receivers or running backs. He's from New Orleans. And he has strong Memphis connections. Mike Norvell doesn't seem like the answer at Florida State, so maybe Johnson could look to jump ship before things get bad in Tallahassee.

Matt Merritt — Georgia Southern RBs coach

For continuity purposes, Heupel could hire Merritt to coach running backs and move Mack to wide receivers. Heupel hired Merritt as UCF's running backs coach after the 2020 season before he was hired at Tennessee. He then brought Merritt with him to Knoxville as an off-field assistant. Merritt left after the 2021 season to join the staff at Georgia Southern. Continuity in Heupel's offense is important. Merritt could hit the ground running if he's the guy.

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