Football
February 18, 2025
The assistant coaches include:
Both Harbin and Crabtree have served on Heupel’s Tennessee staff as analysts. Bonamego joins the staff with 35 years of experience at the professional or college level, including six stints with NFL teams as a special teams coordinator or assistant.
“We are excited about the cohesiveness of our coaching staff,” Heupel said. “Chop and Evan understand the culture and standard of excellence that we have built here over the past four years. Both have strong relationships with our players, and it will make for a seamless transition as we get ready for spring practice. Chop has been a valuable part of our recruiting efforts.
“We have taken great pride in our special teams units being among the best in the country since we arrived here. Evan has played a pivotal role in that success. John owns nearly two decades of coaching special teams at the highest level. As a former head coach, he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge into our program.”
Harbin joined the Vols as a defensive analyst in 2021, and he was promoted to senior defensive analyst in 2022. He worked closely with defensive line coach Rodney Garner in developing one of the elite units in the country. Under their watch, the Vols have produced back-to-back first-team All-SEC defensive linemen and will soon add to their NFL Draft pick total this spring. “Chop” helped mentor the LEOs and James Pearce Jr., who was a semifinalist for the 2024 Bednarik and Lombardi Awards and tallied 29.5 tackles for loss and 19.5 sacks in his three seasons.
Harbin came to Rocky Top after serving as the Director of Recruiting at Auburn for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Harbin was previously a defensive analyst at Auburn from 2013-14. Harbin spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Louisiana, coaching the defensive line from 2015-16 and the defensive tackles in 2017.
A native of Butler, Alabama, Harbin also coached stints at Tuskegee University (2006-12) and Georgia Southern (2002-03). He spent one year (2004) as a pro scouting assistant with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, two seasons (1999-2000)…
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