DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Former Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke is joining the coaching staff at Tennessee.
New head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced Wednesday that the 2000 Heisman Trophy winner has been hired as the new running backs coach.
Weinke joins the Volunteers after spending the 2017 season as an offensive analyst for Alabama.
Before his time in Tuscaloosa, Weinke was quarterbacks coach for the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and spent five years as the program director of the IMG Academy in Florida.
Weinke was quarterback for the Seminoles during their run to the 1999 national championship and first undefeated season in school history. He became the oldest player to win the Heisman at the age of 28.
The 45-year-old still holds FSU career records for passing yards (9,839) and touchdown passes (79).
Weinke will be reunited with Pruitt, who was hired after serving as Alabama's defensive coordinator for each of the last two seasons. He has also been defensive coordinator at Florida State and Georgia.
"I'm excited to have Chris Weinke on our staff to coach running backs," Pruitt said in a statement. "He has played the game at the highest level and what he has accomplished on the field speaks for itself. He is also an outstanding coach and teacher of the game, coaching in the NFL, in college this past season and at the high school level. He has a great eye for talent and knows the game on the offensive side of the ball as well as anybody I've been around. He will be a great fit for our Tennessee program."
Weinke was a fourth-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2001 and started as a rookie. He spent six of his seven NFL seasons with the Panthers. He retired after spending the 2007 season with the San Francisco 49ers.
Tennessee parted ways with former running backs coach Robert Gillespie last week.