Former Tennessee star, longtime NFL assistant Marion Hobby joining Volunteers as defensive assistant

Tennessee is adding longtime defensive assistant coach Marion Hobby to their staff, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed the news, adding that the hire is for the position of defensive analyst. The Volunteers are adding an experienced teacher to their staff.

Previously, Hobby was a First-team All-SEC player for Tennessee during his playing days. He spent some time in the NFL after being drafted with the No. 74 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. His first coaching gig came with the UT Martin Skyhawks in 1995, and since then he’s been a part of some impressive staffs.

He spent the 1998 college football season with Tennessee as the team’s assistant strength and conditioning coach. His top claim to fame was being Clemson’s co-defensive coordinator/defensive ends coach from 2011-2016. Since then, he’s coached in the NFL, part for the staffs for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals from 2017-2024.

As you can tell, Hobby is certainly an experienced coach, and that’ll be valuable to Tennessee’s mission in 2025. The Volunteers are hoping to get back to the College Football Playoff, and adding an experienced coach who knows what it takes to succeed in Knoxville is a huge move.

More on the Tennessee Volunteers, 2025 season

Meanwhile, Paul Finebaum is bearish on Tennessee heading into 2025. While he believes the Vols did what they had to do when it comes to quarterback Nico Iamaleava, he’s not super enthusiastic about where the team stands.

“This was the biggest story of the off-season, with Nico leaving. Joey Aguilar, from App State via UCLA is not the perfect answer,” Finebaum stated, via SportsCenter earlier this offseason. “He’s good, but he’s not great. Nico could’ve been great, even though he wasn’t last year. Quite frankly, I don’t like Tennessee’s chances of the Playoff at all.”

Despite all the drama, Aguilar and the Volunteers will be expected to compete, after making it to the College Football Playoff in 2024. Whether or not the quarterback can do enough to make Tennessee fans forget about Iamaleava remains to be seen.

Tennessee was hoping to repeat that success and even build on it in 2025. However, with a difficult schedule ahead and newfound questions at quarterback following some NIL drama with Iamaleava, that’s going to be much more difficult to do.