Mike Tomlin stepping down as the Steelers’ head coach could potentially lead to a transfer QB solution for the Tennessee Vols
The Tennessee Vols are looking everywhere for a transfer quarterback.
The Tennessee Vols may end up with an ideal quarterback solution — after missing on a couple of their top options — thanks to Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tomlin surprisingly stepped down as the Steelers’ head coach on Tuesday afternoon. He had been the head coach in Pittsburgh since 2007.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is still in the market for a transfer quarterback after losing Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt to Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers.
Missouri transfer quarterback Beau Pribula, who visited Tennessee last weekend, is also off the board after committing to Virginia on Monday.
Tennessee’s only scholarship quarterbacks at the moment are true freshman George MacIntyre and incoming five-star signee Faizon Brandon. The Vols like both quarterbacks a lot, but neither has much experience.
How Mike Tomlin stepping down in Pittsburgh could benefit Tennessee
It didn’t take long after the Tomlin news broke for Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti to be connected to the Steelers.
Cignetti, who unbelievably has Indiana set to take on the Miami Hurricanes in the national championship game next week, has deep Pittsburgh connections.
The 64-year-old head coach is from Pittsburgh, his first coaching job was as a graduate assistant for the Pittsburgh Panthers in 1983, and he later spent seven seasons at Pitt (1993-1999) as the program’s quarterbacks/tight ends coach.
Cignetti was also the head coach at IUP, which is in western Pennsylvania, for six seasons.
The former West Virginia quarterback doesn’t have any NFL experience, but he’s quickly become a superstar coach in college football. Given his connections to Pittsburgh, it makes sense that he’d been mentioned for the job.
Now, the job just came open, and we don’t know how Cignetti would feel about being the head coach of the Steelers. Nor we do we know how interested the Steelers might be in him. But it’s a match that makes sense.
If Cignetti guides Indiana to a win over Miami next week, it would be poetic for him to then return to Pittsburgh and take over for Tomlin. And if that scenario unfolds, it means Indiana’s roster would be free to enter the transfer portal.
That includes TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, who committed to Indiana earlier this month.
Hoover is a player that Tennessee pursued last spring when Nico Iamaleava left the Vols for UCLA.
The Texas native isn’t a big threat with his legs, but he’d be a good fit for the Vols after playing under offensive coordinator Kendal Briles the last three seasons (Briles’ offense has similar concepts as Josh Heupel’s offense at Tennessee).
Cignetti is an obvious candidate for the Steelers, but he’s not the only college head coach that could be an option to jump to the NFL this offseason. And any college head coach who jumps to the NFL would expose the roster they’re leaving behind to the transfer portal.
So whether it’s Cignetti or someone else, a college head coach going to the NFL could open the door to a new transfer quarterback opportunity for the Vols.
The one downside, though, is that there’s no guarantee that any coach will make the jump, so it’s not a scenario the Vols can necessarily wait on.
But at this point, it’s unclear what Tennessee is going to do at quarterback, so it may end up being an option that comes into play for the Volunteers.
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