Packer: Lott of lessons learned after football career ends

Those who know former University of Tennessee defensive back Andre Lott will laugh when they hear what he calls himself these days.

"I'm the social guy," Lott said.

Lott is the risk coordinator at Hardin County Middle School. He's also an assistant coach at Hardin County High School, working with wide receivers and defensive backs.

"My job, as the risk coordinator, is essentially to visit with kids all day long and find out who's doing what they shouldn't be doing," Lott said. "When I find out, I let the principal know and he handles the situation."

When I asked Lott if that made him the "snitch" of the school, he just started laughing.

"No, I'm their friend, but I can also be the bad guy if I have to," Lott said.

Lott was a highly recruited defensive back out of Memphis Melrose High School in 1997 when he, and teammate Cedrick Wilson, both chose Tennessee.

"We each decided where to go on our own," Lott said. "It wasn't like it was a package deal or anything. Actually, we never really talked about where we were going to go, and I committed to Tennessee first.

"I had a lot of great times at Tennessee. I won a national championship in 1998 and played on some really good teams. I think my favorite game was the 2001 win at Florida. We went down their and threw the prowler package at them and they never knew how to adjust. It moved me inside to a nickel position and I had a ball. I wish we'd have run that defense more often, but now a days I think teams would be able to handle facing it better because they prepare for it now. When we used it at Florida, they didn't see it coming."

Lott was always a quiet leader on the football field, but led enough to be voted a team captain in 2001.

"Yeah, there's a story behind that one," Lott said. "We had our last morning run before the season was about to begin in August of 2001. Well, I overslept and missed the run. When I got over there, one of my teammates told me that I had just been named a team captain and nice job oversleeping. I went and talked to the coaches and apologized for missing the workouts. Let's just say that the next morning my teammates got a kick out of watching one of the team captain's have to run at 5 a.m."

After his days at UT ended, Lott spent five years in the NFL. He played four with the Washington Redskins and one in San Diego. There were also stints with the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers mixed in at the end, but Lott had had enough of football by this point.

He's married and has a 15-month-old daughter, Ella Grace.

"I'm enjoying my time at home with my family now." said Lott. "I want to coach for the long term, but I haven't come to grips with the hours that will be involved. I actually coached in NFL Europe earlier this year. I coached the defensive backs for the Frankfurt Galaxy and we made it to the World Bowl. It was fun, but was a lot of hours."

Now that he's back in Tennessee, coaching high school football, Lott is trying to help groom wide receiver Sam Shutt, who he believes is good enough to play at UT.

"He's already been offered by a number of schools like MTSU, Texas Tech and TCU," said Lott. "He's the real deal. He's about 6-2, 190 pounds and runs a legit 4.4 40. He may not have the numbers right now, because everyone is double and triple teaming him, but he can play. I've talked with one of the UT coaches about him. I hope they give him a good look."

For Lott, he's essentially starting over. Football, as a player, has come to an end. Now, it's time to use his skills as a coach, and of course the social guy, to help young athletes achieve some of the things he did as a player.

Mark Packer hosts the Locker Room, presented by Parkwest Medical Center, on Sunday at 10 p.m. on MyVLT2.