Tennessee Football Staffer Accepts Major Position With SEC Rival

A key staffer on the Vols staff has accepted a major position with an SEC rival.

Nov 29, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel before a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Tennessee has been expecting some major shake-ups by this point when it comes to the staff, and they sure have seen just that. The Tennessee Volunteers have already let go of their defensive coordinator, Tim Banks, and hired a new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles.

On top of that the Vols were able to get all of their positional coaches and coordinators (other than Rodney Garner) extended or a deal that will keep them on this staff past this season. Following this move things went a tad bit quiet, until they lost a key staffer when it comes to a personnel standpoint.

Not only did they lose a key personnel staffer, but they lost him to an SEC rival.

Former Tennessee Volunteers football "Director of Player Personnel" Jake Breske has accepted a role with the Missouri Tigers. The role that he accepted has been confirmed to be a lead front office role of some capacity, which was enough to pull Breske away from his past home for five seasons.

It is worth mentioning that prior to joining the Tennessee staff, Breske was at Missouri with Josh Heupel, which is where he became more familiar with the Vols head football coach. This wads around the year 2016.

The Vols expected some of these possible moves to happen, and this one was made official. Breske has had a deep background, which is why he was able to land a big role with the Missouri Tigers.

For a better understanding of who Jake Breske is, here is the writeup that he has on the official Tennessee website. This was updated in July of 2024.

Jake Breske's Bio From 2024

Tennessee wide receiver Braylon Staley (14) smiles as he stands next to Smokey after winning a NCAA football game against Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky on Oct. 25, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Jake Breske, who owns over eight years of Southeastern Conference experience, serves as Tennessee’s director of player personnel. Breske reunited with head coach Josh Heupel in the spring of 2021 as the two worked together at Missouri from 2016-17. He enters his fourth season as a member of Heupel’s UT staff. Breske played a key role in helping the Volunteers secure a top-15 recruiting class just months on the job in December 2021, and he has helped UT ink three consecutive top-15 classes since joining the staff. He is involved in multiple recruiting aspects of the program. Breske previously spent five years on Missouri’s staff, including as director of recruiting for the Tigers from 2018-21. He helped direct recruiting efforts for a Class of 2021 that at the time tied for the highest finish ever in school history at No. 21 nationally by Rivals.com. Breske also excelled in his debut year in the director’s role, as Mizzou’s staff put together a highly-acclaimed 2019 signing class, which ranked No. 31 nationally by one outlet. That ranking had only been surpassed at Mizzou three times in the last 10 years, including the 2021 class he helped organize. Breske joined the Tiger staff prior to the 2016 season as a recruiting assistant and served in that role for two seasons before stepping into the lead role. He came to Mizzou after spending three seasons at Valley City State University (North Dakota), working with the quarterbacks in 2013 and picking up offensive coordinator duties in 2014 and 2015. The Vikings went a combined 21-10 in those three seasons, claiming a conference title with a 9-2 season in 2014. Prior to that, Breske spent 2012 in an assistant coaching role with Webster (South Dakota) High School, his alma mater in his hometown of Webster. He began his coaching career with a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at his collegiate alma mater, the University of South Dakota, where he played quarterback and graduated with a psychology undergraduate degree (2009) and a master’s degree in kinesiology and sports science (2011) . Breske comes from a football family as his father, Leon, was a high school coach for 33 years and is a member of the South Dakota Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame. Additionally, both of his older brothers played college football. His brother, Nate, serves as the head athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills."

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