Former Tennessee star Jerod Mayo has head coaching aspirations

Former Tennessee Volunteer and New England Patriots star linebacker Jerod Mayo has ascended up the coaching ladder quickly.

After his retirement in 2016, Mayo returned to New England in 2019 as the inside linebackers coach. Though he’s still just 35 years old, he’s already received head coaching interviews.

“I definitely have aspirations to be a head coach,” Mayo said, via Chris Mason of MassLive.com. “But to your point, really focused on this team. And we have a great head coach here in New England. But that is the goal. That is the goal. I think I could do it — well, I should say I know I can do it. I’m just waiting for my chance to really come to fruition.”

Mayo also explained the unique way he’s learned to break down plays to his position group.

“A lot of these kids come out of college not really knowing how to study film,” Mayo said on a video call Wednesday. “They know how to watch a game, right? Like there’s just the average fan. But they don’t know how to study film. So trying to take them through all those basics and talk to them like — kind of like I talk to my son.”

He continued.

“Sometimes, no disrespect to the guys, but I’ve installed plays with my son just to make sure I kind of break it down to the point that if a 10-year-old can understand it, then they can understand it,” he said. “And so that’s kind of my approach to the whole situation but as far as the off-the-field stuff, I just try to speak through experience and the things that I kind of went through early in my career.”

Under Jerod Mayo, Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower was selected to his second-career Pro Bowl in 2019.

Prior to his pro career, Mayo was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection at Tennessee. In his junior year, Mayo led the entire SEC in total tackles with 140. In three years at Knoxville, he recorded 236 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

He went on to be drafted 10th overall by the New England Patriots in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Jerod Mayo played for the Patriots for eight seasons. He made two Pro Bowls and one First-Team All-Pro in his career. Mayo was a key contributor in the Patriots victory in Super Bowl XLIX. In his career, Mayo had 802 career tackles, 30 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and eight forced fumbles.