Tennessee Analyst Matt Merritt Set to Take On-Field Role at Georgia Southern

Tennessee offensive analyst Matt Merritt is set to join Clay Helton's staff at Georgia Southern as the running backs coach, per multiple reports. Merritt has

Tennessee offensive analyst Matt Merritt is set to join Clay Helton's staff at Georgia Southern as the running backs coach, per multiple reports. 

Sources: Tennessee football senior analyst Matt Merritt has accepted the running backs coach job at Georgia Southern. Merritt is the former running backs coach at JMU and Elon and spent three years as an off-field assistant at Ohio State.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 29, 2021

Merritt has served as a senior analyst and assistant running back coach for the Vols the season. He was originally scheduled to be the new running back coach at UCF prior to Josh Huepel taking the job at Tennessee. 

Merritt has been a key recruiting piece for the Vols as he has worked hand-in-hand with Jerry Mack to help land Justin Williams and Dylan Sampson. 

Many consider Merritt to be a rising star in the business. He was previously the running's back coach at James Madison and Elon. 

Josh Heupel did an excellent job of arranging his support staff in Knoxville in year one, and it comes as no surprise that he will have other programs coming after many of his guys in off-field roles. 

Jerry Mack was a candidate in multiple head coaching searches, and he is considered one of the best in the business at the running back position, so with him opting to stay in Knoxville for the time being, Merritt's vacancy will be a desirable position.