John Lilly

Tennessee has hired a former SEC assistant coach to its football staff.

Former Georgia and Florida State tight ends coach John Lilly has joined new coach Jeremy Pruitt's program and will be the executive assistant to the head coach, sources close to the situation told GoVols247 on Saturday.

Lilly recently was considered for a position in Alabama's program as well after spending the 2017 season out of football.

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The West Virginia native spent 10 years (1998-2007) on Bobby Bowden's staff at Florida State as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the Seminoles before he was hired by Mark Richt at Georgia to coach tight ends for the Bulldogs.

Lilly spent eight years in Athens and spent two of them on the same staff with Pruitt, who was Georgia's defensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015.

He twice handled the play-calling duties for the Bulldogs in bowl games. In 2014 Georgia beat Louisville 37-14 in the Belk Bowl with Lilly calling the shots after offensive coordinator Mike Bobo took the Colorado State job. The following year, after Richt was dismissed in 2015, Lilly helped the Bulldogs beat Penn State 24-17 in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

After Georgia moved on from Richt and his staff, Lilly spent the 2016 season in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, where he worked alongside new Tennessee running backs coach Chris Weinke, who coached quarterbacks for the Rams.

New Rams coach Sean McVay did not retain Lilly when he took over for Jeff Fisher after the 2017 season.

Lilly coached high school football in North Carolina in the 1990s before starting his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida State in 1995, and the Seminoles promoted him just a couple of years later.

His reputation as a strong recruiter is evidenced by his all-time commitment list, which is topped by four former five-star recruits, two at his most recent stops.

At Florida State, Lilly was the primary recruiter for defensive back Myron Rolle and tight end Brandon Warren, an Alcoa product who later transferred back to Tennessee.

Lilly's list of Georgia recruits is highlighted by wide receiver Terry Godwin, defensive end Jordan Jenkins, linebacker Roquan Smith, safety Tray Matthews and tight ends Orson Charles, Jeb Blazevich and Arthur Lynch.

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Contact Patrick Brown at patrick.brown@cbsinteractive.com or on Twitter, and follow GoVols247 on Facebook.