Ansley prepping for first coordinator job with Vols

After spending his first season as a coach in the NFL, former Tallassee football star Derrick Ansley is returning to the Southeastern Conference for his first gig as a defensive coordinator. Ansley, who was a first-team all-state defensive back for the Tigers in 1999, is leaving the Oakland Raiders to work under former colleague Jeremy Pruitt as the defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.

“It was about having a clear understanding of who I was going to be working for,” Ansley said. “With (Pruitt) being a defensive guy and us working together two times before was the main reason. The second reason was about opportunity and responsibility.”