Butch Jones will be back in Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Only the former Tennessee coach will be in crimson and white on the visitor's sideline.

Jones, who oversaw the worst season in the proud history of Tennessee's program in 2017 and was fired two games before the Vols lost eight games and went winless in SEC play for the first time ever, was hired this offseason as an intern/analyst by the Crimson Tide.

Nick Saban on Wednesday said Jones is assisting Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley and has been a "very helpful" addition to the Tide's support staff.

"Butch can't coach the players," Saban said during the SEC teleconference. "He works hard in terms of assisting our coaches in planning and preparation. Butch is a very bright guy, and he's done a really good job of that. Basically what he does is assist Mike as much as possible and always gives me a little summary of things that he thinks we need to work on on offense and just from an overall view from a thousand feet type of thing, which has been very helpful."

Alabama is paying Jones a $35,000 annual salary for the role, which only slightly mitigates the $8-plus million buyout he is getting from Tennessee.

Jones was 34-27 overall and 14-24 in the SEC in his five seasons at Tennessee. The Vols snapped their bowl drought by going 7-6 in 2014 and peaked with nine-win seasons in 2015 and 2016, squandering excellent chances to top the SEC East both times. Once Tennessee lost six NFL Draft picks after the 2016 season, the bottom fell out in 2017 as the Vols let winnable games against Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky get away, were blown out 41-0 at home by Georgia and lost five SEC games by 18 or more points.

Saban confirmed Jones will travel with Alabama to Saturday's game, but downplayed the advantage he might give the Tide based on having recruited most of the roster inherited by former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

"Butch goes on the trips with us," Saban said. "It won't be any different in this game than any other game. I think any time you have somebody on your staff that just coached at a place, he obviously knows a little bit more about the personnel, but their schemes on offense and defense are completely different than what they've been in the past, so that's no real advantage at all."

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Butch Jones

Jones is the latest fired head coach Saban has added to his program in recent seasons having previously hired Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Locksley to roles either on Alabama's support staff or full-time staff.

Saban said moves like hiring Jones are more about making the Tide better than anything else, even if all those moves have helped those coaches rehab their image out of the head-coaching spotlight.

“I think that guys that have been head coaches obviously have done a good job along the way as assistant coaches in whatever their expertise is, as well as in most of these cases some success as head coaches,” Saban said. “So their knowledge and experience is something that can be beneficial in trying to help us improve our program, and I think each one of those guys have done to some degree and it’s very much appreciated.

"The No. 1 thing is they create value in our program, but the No. 2 thing is I have a tremendous amount of respect for what those guys did wherever they were and playing against them. I think that that enhances my sort of respect for them and how they can benefit our program. If it helps them get back on track, then that's a real bonus for them, and we appreciate what they did for us in helping our program, and hopefully they get a better opportunity because of that."