Scott wants receivers to 'create a physical presence'

Photo by Clay Owen

University of Tennessee announced Saturday that Latrell Scott will join TennesseeÕs staff as wide receivers coach. Scott, the assistant head coach at the University of Richmond under Dave Clawson, now joins his former boss who has become UT's new offensive coordinator.

As expected, Richmond wide receivers coach Latrell Scott will join Tennessee’s staff as wide receivers coach.

Scott has spent the last three seasons with Richmond and was promoted to assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator prior to the 2007 season.

“In the interview process, he was very energetic, knowledgeable and appears to be an excellent teacher,” UT coach Phillip Fulmer said Saturday. “He has an outstanding reputation as a recruiter.”

Scott, 31, interviewed with Fulmer on Friday, the same day Tennessee officially announced it had hired Richmond coach Dave Clawson as its offensive coordinator.

On Saturday, Scott joined his former head coach at a press conference in the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center to announce their arrival.

“I fully trust Dave, and I’m very, very excited about the fact that we’ll be able to make this offense go,” Scott said.

Scott was an All-American tight end at Hampton and coached receivers for three seasons at VMI before joining Richmond’s staff in 2005.

He said he had an opportunity to leave Richmond for jobs at two other BCS conference schools, but wanted to make sure he moved to a good situation and did that with Clawson, if possible.

“Latrell’s an excellent coach,” Clawson said. “He progressed in our staff. He was the very, very best recruiter I had on my staff at Richmond. He had turned down other opportunities to make a move like this, in hopes of making this move together. We’re very fortunate that it worked like this.”

Scott replaces Trooper Taylor as receivers coach. Taylor was named co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State after four seasons at UT.

“The bottom line is Trooper did a great job with these guys,” Scott said. “But I’m going to be Latrell Scott. I’m going to coach the wide receivers the way that Latrell Scott coaches wide receivers. We’ll be fine. Like I said, Coach Taylor left me with a great group, left me with a very athletic group, a very well-coached group. But I have the opportunity to put my stamp on these guys and see what I can do.”

Scott’s plan for the wideouts sounds a lot like Taylor’s. He wants his players to make plays and make their presence felt in the run game.

“What we want to do is we want create a physical presence in the wide receiver position,” Scott said. “We know these guys are athletic. We’ve got big, strong tailbacks that we want to be able to break long runs, and that’s going to happen because these wide receivers are physical in the run game. We also want guys that can make plays down the field. We want guys that can that can take a hitch on a 5-yard throw and go 80 yards for a touchdown. We’re really excited about the opportunity that we have here.”

And, after meeting with Fulmer on Friday, excited about the players.

Scott got his first look at UT’s receivers on Friday, including 1,000-yard receiver Lucas Taylor and some of the younger players like Gerald Jones.

Scott said that made his decision to join UT’s staff that much easier.

“I got here yesterday and I had an opportunity to watch those guys on video,” Scott said. “It’s the best decision I ever made in my life, next to marrying my wife.”

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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