Tennessee may have a completely new staff that Volunteer fans are still getting to know but the same can’t be said for the coaches that will be matching up with them this week leading up to Saturday’s game on The Plains.

When it comes to familiarity, Auburn and Tennessee’s coaches know each other very well. Longtime SEC veteran Kevin Steele coached at Alabama with Jeremy Pruitt, both under Nick Saban, in recent years and have recruited together and against each other for nearly a decade in the Southeast. During his Sunday media availability, Auburn’s defensive coordinator was asked to share his thoughts on Tennessee’s first-year coach.

“Jeremy is a very very smart football coach, a very smart football coach. He’s a tough guy that is relentless,” Steele said.

While he admitted his review of Tennessee film from recent weeks has been limited until now, he also noted that he sees a team that is being coached in the right direction.

“They are well coached, obviously, they are still in the process of putting their mark on the team but they are well coached,” Steele added about Tennessee.

On the other side of the ball, Auburn’s offensive coordinator was asked about Tennessee co-defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer. While Pruitt makes all the defensive calls for the Vols, Sherrer is a big part of the weekly defensive gameplan on Rocky Top and he has a unique relationship with the coach he’ll be gameplanning against this week.

“Kevin is a great guy, really good friend of mine,” Chip Lindsey said on Sunday. “We were together at Hoover (High School) in 2007, been a while now, and he’s a really good coach. He did a great job for us there. Just a really smart guy, players love him and does a great job coaching. We stay in touch but now that the season has started, we kinda lose touch with your guys like that but I love him and his family and they’ll definitely have their guys ready to play.”

The key to the game could very well be how Auburn’s struggling offense matches up against Tennessee’s improving defense. While the two coordinators may be good friends, they’ll have to put all pleasantries to the side this weekend as the progress of both their programs hang in the balance between which coach figures out how to win the matchup against one another.

Will this be Auburn’s get-right game on offense or will Sherrer and Pruitt manage to steal a win that would be the spark that ignites Tennessee’s program moving forward?