BREAKING: Kelly leaves Vols for Alabama

Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has lost assistant coach Charles Kelly to Alabama. The veteran secondary coach is leaving Rocky Top to coach the secondary for the Tide with sources telling Volquest that Kelly could be in line to for a bigger title once Nick Saban finalizes the rest of his staff.

Sources say the deal is just under 1 million dollars per year.

Kelly came to Tennessee a season ago after five seasons at Florida State in which the last four he served as the defensive coordinator in Tallahassee. With the Vols in 2018, Kelly worked as the safeties coach and special teams coordinator.

With Kelly’s departure, Pruitt is now down to 10 full-time assistant coaches on his staff after adding former Vol Tee Martin earlier this week. Responsibilities for the staff have not been released.

Last season, Tennessee had five assistants on each side of the ball.

Kelly is the second on the field coach to leave from Pruitt’s inaugural staff as Tyson Helton left to be the head coach at Western Kentucky. Earlier this week, John Lily, who was an assistant to Pruitt in an off the field role, accepted the tight ends position with the Cleveland Browns. Both Lily and Kelly played key roles in Tennessee’s special team units this past season.