Former Tennessee football star Jason Witten hired as Oklahoma assistant coach

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Former Tennessee football great Jason Witten has been hired as Oklahoma’s tight ends coach, suggesting that his five-star recruit son could follow him to the Sooners.

The elder Witten, a native of Elizabethton, Tennessee, was an all-time player for the Vols and Dallas Cowboys. And he’s one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history, having recently been voted one of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2026.

His son, Cooper Witten, is a five-star recruit and the No. 1 linebacker in the 2027 class, according to 247Sports Composite. He plays for Liberty Christian, which was coached by his dad, in Argyle, Texas.

Tennessee and Oklahoma are among dozens of schools recruiting Cooper Witten. His dad’s hiring obviously makes the Sooners the favorite to land the blue-chip prospect.

Here’s when Jason Witten will coach against Tennessee

Jason Witten joins Brent Venables’ staff at Oklahoma. He won’t coach against Tennessee until the Vols visit Oklahoma in 2027. And then UT hosts Oklahoma in 2029.

This will be Witten’s first college coaching job. He had served as a high school head coach at Liberty Christian for the past five seasons since retiring from the NFL.

Witten played 16 of his 17 seasons in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. He was selected 69th overall in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft by Dallas and went on to have an incredible career.

He became the Cowboys’ all-time leader in receptions (1,215), receiving yards (12,977), games played (255), consecutive games started (179) and most receptions in a single game (18). In 2021, he retired as the NFL career record-holder for most games played by a tight end (271).

During Witten’s third and final season with the Vols in 2002, he started all 13 games and set the program’s single-season receiving yardage record for tight ends while leading the team in receptions (39), yards (493) and touchdowns (5). He was a first-team All-SEC selection as a junior that season.

Witten was originally recruited to Tennessee as a defensive end, but was quickly integrated into the tight end group due to a lack of personnel. He had a breakout sophomore season as a tight end, which he capped with a 125-yard receiving performance in Tennessee’s win over Michigan in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Jason Witten: Former Tennessee football player hired as Oklahoma coach

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos