Tennessee special teams coach Mike Ekeler leaving for Nebraska

Tennessee special teams coach Mike Ekeler leaving for Nebraska | Source

Posted by author February 3, 2025 Football

Spread the love

Tennessee special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler is leaving for Nebraska after four seasons on Josh Heupel’s staff, a source close to the situation told Knox News on Monday. The source requested anonymity because Ekeler has not indicated his plans publicly.

Ekeler, who is from David City, Nebraska, coached for the Cornhuskers in 2008-10.

He will be Nebraska’s special teams coordinator and replace Ed Foley, who was not retained after the 2024 season.

Ekeler has been one of the best special teams coordinators in college football.

In 2024, Tennessee led the SEC in punt return average for the third time in Ekeler’s four seasons. The Vols gained 1,298 punt return yards and allowed only 128 punt return yards during his tenure.

Under Ekeler’s watch, Boo Carter was also an SEC All-Freshman performer as a punt returner, and Josh Turbyville was an All-SEC third-team selection as a kickoff specialist.

Max Gilbert converted 20 of 26 field goal attempts in his first season as the primary place-kicker. Punter Jackson Ross averaged a career-high 43.9 yards per punt.

Who replaces Mike Ekeler? One possible candidate is on staff

Heupel likes to promote analysts to full-time assistants, which makes senior defensive analyst Levorn Harbin a possible replacement for Ekeler.

Harbin, known around the Tennessee program as “Chop,” already earns $325,000 annually, according to analyst salaries obtained by Knox News via an open records request. And he has been sought by other SEC programs for higher-profile positions.

Harbin is a valuable recruiter and assistant defensive line coach for the Vols. In fact, he has been on the road recruiting for the past few weeks in Ekeler’s place.

The NCAA permits only 11 football staff members to go on the road for off-campus recruiting, which usually includes the head coach and 10 assistant coaches. But at different times, Harbin has filled in to do off-campus recruiting when an assistant coach had offseason surgery and was otherwise unavailable.

But promoting Harbin to special teams coordinator is just one possibility. Heupel also could hire a new special teams coordinator from outside the program, or he could shuffle his staff with an analyst taking over special teams and then Harbin or another person sliding into a position coach role.

Here are Josh Heupel assistants who left Tennessee

Heupel has enjoyed relative stability on his coaching staff. Ekeler is only the fifth assistant that Heupel has lost in four seasons at Tennessee, and none were fired.

After the 2021 season, UT wide receivers coach Kodi Burns left for the same position with the New Orleans Saints.

After the 2022 season, UT offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Alex Golesh left to become the head coach at South Florida. In December, Golesh hired Burns as his new co-offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at USF.

After the 2023 season, UT running backs coach Jerry Mack took the same position with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is now the head coach at Kennesaw State.

Also after the 2023 season, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary left to become Michigan’s defensive run game coordinator and linebackers coach.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.