With players set to return to campus June first, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has promoted A.J. Artis to be his next director of football sports performance Tennessee announced on Monday.

Artis takes over for Craig Fitzgerald who left the Vols for the New York Giants.

“AJ is a great relationship builder,” Fitzgerald said. “He is an ever learning researcher as he is always trying to find the best techniques for training for football. He is always there for the players in their training needs or development as people. He has excellent wisdom and has been around great coach football people. He has been in three winning programs so he understands it.”

Artis is currently the 11th African-American head football strength coach at the power-5 level and one of four in the SEC.

"A.J. understands the standard we expect in this role and will continue to push our strength and conditioning efforts to the forefront of college football," Pruitt said. "Since he first joined our staff in 2018, he has helped instill physical and mental toughness in our program through his contagious energy, hard work and innovation. Our players have tremendous respect for him, and I have no doubt they will continue to develop under his mentorship."

And Artis feels blessed for the opportunity to run his own program.

“I would like thank Coach Pruitt and Coach Fulmer for the opportunity to lead a great group of young men," Artis said. "I will give my all to our student-athletes and the Tennessee football program. I am excited for this opportunity and look forward to helping Vol football continue its resurgence."

With football players off-campus since March, there was no need for an immediate promotion. During the players time away, Artis and the strength staff have remained in contact with players regarding strength training and have sent out daily workouts.

Artis has been on Fitzgerald’s staff at Tennessee since 2018. Prior to his arrival in Knoxville, Artis spent two years at Duke in the as an assistant in the sports performance program.

“A.J. did a great job for us here as an assistant,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe told Volquest.com. “He’s a great relationship builder which is what strength and conditioning is really about. That’s what I loved about him. His expertise is in the field is outstanding. He’s an upbeat, positive, high energy guy.”

Artis is originally from North Carolina graduating from Morehead High School in 2011. He played college football at Campbell University and started his sports performance coaching career as a graduate assistant at Appalachian State before joining Cutcliffe’s staff at Duke.