What new Tennessee special teams coordinator Evan Crabtree said after Saturday's practice

What new Tennessee special teams coordinator Evan Crabtree said during his press conference after Saturday morning’s spring practice:

Coming to Tennessee from Miami, if there were any connections to this coaching staff

“I didn’t have any strong, strong connections. It’s funny because the offensive coordinator Alex Golesh was from my same hometown but did not know him previously to being here. The guy that I GA’d for at Miami, Ohio, had worked with Coach Heupel at Oklahoma. So that was kind of my way in.”

If his promotion at Tennessee feels more merit-based  after not having a previous connection to the staff before coming here

“Yeah, I mean I think everything in this building is merit based. There are young guys, there are guys that are grinding every day on the staff. You see it on the team with our players. But Coach Heupel has created a culture where he allows guys to move up and guys to show what they can do. He puts a tremendous amount of trust in us and we got a tremendous amount of trust in him.” 

Tennessee kicker Max Gilbert and what’s standing out about him this spring

“He is striking the ball. He’s got a tremendous talent with his leg. We’ve got two kickers right now that have unbelievable ability. Max has been consistent. He’s been consistent in the season. Just continuing to train him and, and Josh Turbyville as well, put them in the situations that when we get into Neyland, when we play at Alabama, Georgia, Florida, getting them ready for that moment.”

What he felt like he did to get his promotion to Tennessee special teams coordinator

“I think I’ve been given every opportunity behind the scenes to show what I can do. I think I’ve been around great people in this building that have molded me to be the coach that Coach Heupel wants in this building. Work hard is something that everybody in this place does, but just try to take every day (as) it was my personal responsibility to make an impact, whether that be on special teams or with our team in any capacity.” 

His background in special teams, who he learned it from

“My background as a player, I was a long snapper in college and I had a lot of times in meetings just as a player sitting in on every unit. Had a lot of great coaches that have molded me, that are continuing continuously pouring into me and all the things that they’ve learned throughout their history. And, just, special teams is a passion for me because it’s a team-based unit and you get everybody involved. And offense and defense, I have a passion as an offensive lineman, but when I stopped growing and getting taller, I became a snapper and I just started learning those phases. And spending time here the last three seasons, that’s also where I’ve learned a ton within what we do, but also with what Coach Heupel expects from a culture standpoint and how we approach it every single day.”

Taking what he learned at Tennessee from Mike Ekeler to putting his own imprint on special teams 

“There’s a tremendous foundation here starting with Coach Heupel and Coach Ekeler is one of the guys that is molded me into being a special teams guy and conceptually just having a good understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish. But Coach Heupel, just every day that we do special teams, there’s a standard and an expectation that our team is involved, our coaches are involved. And schematically there are some things as we go down the way that maybe they look a little bit different or maybe they’re similar. But right now we’re so focused on the technique and developing our young team that we have, because there’s a lot of really good tools to use on all of our units. But right now it’s all been technique and just foundational work, which we have a pretty good foundation of here.”

Working with John Bonamego, Tennessee’s assistant special teams coordinator who has an NFL background 

“It’s awesome. Did not know him personally before he got here. However, I played against his team when he was the head coach at Central Michigan. So it’s a little bit funny. I still got to look back on his scouting report on me as a snapper and see what he said. But no, he’s fantastic. His wealth of knowledge, his experience, a sounding board, to have another guy in there that’s been been in the fire at a really high level, I think it’s important. And I think just having another guy in the room that just brings more experience and more ideas and things like that, it’s important to have just the strongest units that we can have.”

How different Tennessee special teams will feel without Matthew Salansky as long snapper 

Yeah, we’re missing a No. 47. He’s been, for five years, consistent and just a really great player. And an in-state guy that has worked and worked and earned it in his own way. It’s going to be different without a guy like Matty, but we’ve got a great one that’s been learning and has been right behind him for the better part of three years. So really excited about Bennett and everything that he’s done. And got some guys coming into, but he’s putting himself in position to have a great career just like Matty did.”