Q&A with Keegan Nickoson of 247Sports’ Bearcat Journal on new Vols RB coach De’Rail Sims

A first-hand look at Tennessee’s new running backs’ coach

Since Vols’ Head Coach Josh Heupel went outside the Tennessee “family,” and his own coaching tree, Vol fans have a lot to learn about their new running backs coach, De’Rail Sims.

I detailed Sims’ various stops and jobs up to this point, but I’ve never seen him coach nor covered a team he worked for, so there’s plenty of information that we just quite frankly don’t have.

With that said, I DM’d Bearcats’ 247 writer Keegan Nickoson to get more information on Sims from somebody who’s covered him for the past two seasons. Many thanks to Keegan for taking his time to answer my questions.

1) At 38, Sims is still relatively young when it comes to coaches. But he’s spent the last four seasons with Scott Satterfield — three at Louisville and the last year at Cincinnati. Sims didn’t join Satterfield at Louisville until 2021 and spent Satterfield’s final two season there until Satterfield took the Cincinnati job and took Sims with him. What, if anything, can you tell me about what drew Satterfield to Sims when he hired him at Louisville, and what factors came into play when Satterfield brought Sims with him to Cincinnati?

I’m not sure there was much of a direct connection outside of the fact that Sims and Satterfield coached against each other while Satterfield was the head coach at Appalachian State and Sims was at Western Carolina.

Satterfield is a Carolina guy, and so is Sims. The majority of Satterfield’s staff has connections to North or South Carolina in some way, whether going to school in either state or being from there.

2) Running back coaches are often looked at to be sorta the heavy lifters on recruiting trails. Sims doesn’t seem to have much of a track record there, at least according to the sometimes accurate and sometimes not list of signees from 247’s list. Would you attribute that to lack of resources at former stops? I know Vol fans were leery of former RB coach Jerry Mack’s recruiting when he was hired, but Mack is a Tennessee native and had already been an offensive coordinator three times and an associate head coach when he was hired here, while Sims doesn’t have quite that sort of track record.

Sims has only had three seasons that he’s been able to be in living rooms with some of the best players in the country. He was hired at Louisville in January of 2021, and by June of 2022, he had landed the #2 back in the country in five-star Reuben Owens. He de-committed from Louisville following Satterfield’s departure from Louisville to Cincinnati, ultimately signing with Texas A&M.

While at Cincinnati he was able to get commitments from high three-star Jason Patterson who flipped to Kentucky and four-star Zion Johnson who has yet to de-commit from Cincinnati following Sims departure. He’s been a player for some major targets since having resources to compete in the recruiting world, I’d be surprised if you saw a downslide in that area at Tennessee.

3) It looks like Sims’ teams have had plenty of success on the ground recently. Louisville finishing fifth nationally in rushing yards per-game at 217 last year and then, according to UTSports.com, Louisville had all kinds of prosperity with its ground attack:

“Prior to Cincinnati, Sims was instrumental for a Louisville offense that finished in the top 25 nationally in each of his two seasons. In 2022, the Cardinals rushed for 200.6 yards per game, good for second in the ACC and 23rd nationally. In 2021, Louisville finished 18th in the FBS with 212.9 rush yards per game, while scoring 29 touchdowns on the ground. It averaged an ACC-best 5.45 yards per game.

Which backs could Tennessee fans look at to get an idea of Sims’ coaching?

I think Sims had an integral effect on Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner. The LSU transfer had a disappointing 2022 season, then he shot out of a cannon in 2023 breaking the 1,000-yard mark for the Bearcats. You have to give credit to Nic Cardwell and the offensive line, but it seemed whoever Cincinnati had in the backfield, whether Kiner, Myles Montgomery, or Ryan Montgomery, they were having success.

If you want to see a damn good running back, go watch Jawhar Jordan’s highlights at Louisville. The dude was a stud. 1,943 yards and 17 TDs from 2022-2023.

4) Tennessee has a pretty solid stable of backs, with returning junior Dylan Sampson, sophomores Khalifa Keith and highly-recruited Cam Seldon, along with incoming four-star freshman Peyton Lewis. Heupel demands his receivers to block on the perimeter and his running backs to pick up blitzes. Have you noticed if Sims’ backs are sufficient in pass protection?

The only back that I can confidently say is good at picking up blitzes is Corey Kiner. The chatter around the coaching staff is that he’s so good it could end up getting him drafted despite lacking burst and explosion carrying the ball.

While at practice, you always noticed Sims working his guys in pass protection drills, and I’m not sure there was anything else he coached harder than that. He definitely doesn’t take that area for granted.

5) What would you say Sims’ best attribute as a coach or recruiter?

Recruiter. He had no business landing a five-star to Louisville over Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Notre Dame, etc. Especially since Louisville hadn’t offered until Nov. 22, 2021, two months before Sims was hired and long after the blue bloods had already offered and been building relationships with Owens.

6) I found this video of Sims mic’d up while he was at Louisville, and he appears to bring plenty of energy to the practice field. Would you say this is an accurate representation of his coaching style?

Yes, he was very passionate in all my encounters with him at practice. The only coaches who could rival Sims’ volume at each practice were Nic Cardwell and Kerry Coombs. It’s no wonder the running backs were one of Cincinnati’s best position groups last season.

7) Finally, recruiting is about relationships, and that’s a just a general truth. But it’s also different walking into a living room of a five-star recruit when Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Lane Kiffin or Ryan Day was just there and you’ve never done it before.

Is he ready for the jump to the SEC? What areas would you expect Sims to recruit well in, and how do you see Sims’ time at Tennessee playing out?

I do think he’s ready just based on his personality. He seems like an attacker and there wasn’t ever a time when I questioned if he was confident or not. He knows he belongs with the best of the best and I think that’s reflective of the success he’s had in recruiting since arriving to Louisville in 2021. When he gets true talent like Jawhar Jordan and Corey Kiner, you see the potential.

I’d expect Tennessee to remain in the top-25 of rushing attacks under Sims’ tutelage.