Candidates to join Josh Heupel’s staff at Tennessee

Now the real work begins for Josh Heupel at Tennessee. First up — filling out his staff in Knoxville.

Per a few reports out there now, the new Tennessee football staff will have at least a few members from Josh Heupel’s UCF staff. FootballScoop.com was the first on the case. VolQuest and 247Sports are also reporting the moves.

None of these are final, but here are the names being connected at this point.

• Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee is the first connected name to the staff. Elarbee has been with Heupel dating back to Missouri.
• Co-offensive coordinator Alex Golesh could take a similar role in Knoxville. Heupel said that he would be calling the offense for Tennessee, so sliding in Golesh in the same role that he was in at UCF makes sense. It’s obviously impossible to attract a big time offensive coordinator with the head coach calling the plays.
• Quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle played for Heupel during his time at Oklahoma and has since taken the QB coach job at UCF. He’s an obvious candidate for the same role at Tennessee.
• Receivers coach Kodi Burns was hired by Heupel this offseason at UCF. He could be Tennessee’s next receivers coach. Burns was at Auburn last year.
• Secondary coach Willie Martinez also served as Heupel’s assistant head coach at UCF. His history in the SEC (Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee) makes sense to come along with Heupel to Knoxville.
• FootballScoop’s John Brice also names Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett as a DC candidate. Arnett is viewed as a rising star and has received interest from Texas and LSU this offseason.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.