Vol Club Confidential: New Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims
Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims is in year one on Rocky Top and loving every minute of it. He joined Vol Club Confidential sponsored by Knoxville Smiles to dive into his journey.
“I was on my way to the Ohio high school coaches clinic in Columbus that all the high school coaches in Ohio go to and my first call I get was from Kelsey Pope and he asked me if I was interested in the job and I said yes,” Sims said with a smile. “He told me coach Halzle would be reaching out to me later that night and then I got a text message from Mike Houston, my old head coach at East Carolina that coach Heup had reached out to him doing some background information. That’s when I knew it was real.
“The first call from coach Halzle came around eight o’clock that night. I was sitting in PF Changs eating because I hadn’t eaten all day. My interview was Saturday morning at nine and I went straight back to my office and made sure my stuff was right and it was on and popping on Saturday.”
Sims didn’t want to get his hopes up. He wouldn’t even allow himself to look at the roster of running backs at Tennessee.
“I think it’s just kind of the way I’ve been raised,” Sims said. “Taking one step at a time and let things come to you the way they are supposed to. Focus on doing the best you can do at the job you have at the moment and at that moment it was getting ready for the interview. I felt like I did everything I could to put myself in the position to have a shot at the job. It worked out in my favor which I was thankful and blessed for. I had been in that position before where I started envisioning and putting myself in those rooms and it didn’t happen yet. I had a peace about it from the beginning and I knew it was going to work out how it was already written.”
Watch the full episode above or on the Volquest YouTube channel.
