Tennessee football is coming off of an 11-win season and hopes to silence all of the haters who push back on the idea that the Volunteers are legit. To do so, quarterback Joe Milton needs to have a big year.
As does the defense, which allowed an average of three touchdowns per game to opponents last season. That won’t cut it if Tennessee wants to see the same or more success this season.
One key piece to the puzzle in Knoxville that does not get enough attention is the screen holders.
Who are the screen holders, you ask? Great question.
They have, arguably, the funniest job in college football.
Three assistant coaches, presumably grad assistants or equipment managers, are tasked with carrying three big black screens around the sideline. They follow around three offensive play-callers.
The three play-callers wear red, blue or green from head to toe.
One of them calls the actual play. The other two are decoys.
This is where the screen holders come into play. Their job is to stand directly behind the multi-colored play-callers to provide them an all-black backdrop that allows them to be better seen.
It’s a thankless job that deserves proper recognition— as they did to the tune of more than 6 million views on TikTok. The screen-holders finally got some love!
Tennessee, believe it or not, does not list “screen holder” as an official position on its coaching staff. That’s a real shame, because those three guys are putting in WORK! They have to be on with each offensive possession and cannot fail to provide the play-callers with a black background.
The grind is real!
How long will it take for other college football programs to get up to date on their screen-holding practices? Every school in the country needs to implement this system. It’s perfect. No notes.