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Tennessee DC Tim Banks excited with additions to his staff

On3 imageby:Brent Hubbs•about 20 hours•

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Tennessee DC Tim Banks

Tennessee’s defense has grow in talent and statistically every year over the last four seasons under defensive coordinator Tim Banks. 

As a result Banks was rewarded earlier this year with a new three contract paying him nearly 2.2 million annually after working the 2024 season on an expiring contract. 

“Being here, Tennessee’s obviously a special place for me and my wife. You guys know me, my faith is everything to me. So I feel extremely blessed to be here. Uncertainty, I don’t know. I knew things would work out the way they needed to work out,” Banks said when asked about dealing with an expiring deal last year. “So I’m excited to work with this new group. 

I’m excited to work with our staff and some of the additions we’ve had. So it’s been a blessing for me. And like I said, I’m super excited to be here.” 

Of those additions, one name is very familiar to Banks and is someone the defensive coordinator has believed in the last four years. Levron “Chop” Harbin arrived at Tennessee as an analyst with veteran defensive line coach and Banks said he immediately make an impression and key contributions to his defense beyond his recruiting success.

“Coach Chop has been a valuable asset for us since he’s gotten here. I know he gets a lot of accolades because of his recruiting and rightfully so. But he does just as good of a job with developing and working with the front. So he’s kind of been a unsung hero around here for a long time. So I’m super excited he’s finally getting to just due,” Banks offered. 

The other addition for Banks is a veteran analyst. Alan Williams is a three time defensive coordinator in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl as a secondary coach with Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts. This off-season, head coach Josh Heupel hired three veteran coaches into analyst roles and Banks said with Williams joining his defensive staff, it’s simply a matter to trying to be better year over year. 

“I’ve known Alan for a while. I’ve never had the, obviously, the luxury of working with him. But we’re always trying to (get better),” Banks said. “Nobody’s happy except one team at the end of the year. So anything that we can do to help us become better players, better coaches, that’s what we’re striving to do. And bringing Alan in has really been awesome. Wealth of experience as you alluded to. As he gets to know us, he’s getting to know the system, but he’s already helped us in so many ways just with some insight and seeing things from a different lens. It’s already helped for us.”

Banks and the Vols return to the practice field on Wednesday as the defensive coordinator looks to build his next defense on Rocky Top.

“We’re just really working on our core identity right now,” Banks said. “And we got a lot of new faces out there, you can’t take anything for granted. So we’re just starting from the bottom up, everybody’s starting from scratch and we’re just building, laying the foundation.”

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