Auburn football: Shelton Felton was instrumental in Big Kat Bryant to Tennessee

Former Auburn football defensive end Big Kat Bryant made the move to Tennessee via the transfer portal to reunite with his former high school coach now employed by the Vols.

No, not that former coach. Former Auburn football defensive end Big Kat Bryant did not take his talents to Rocky Top to reunite with Kevin Steele, an offseason defensive hire for the Tennesee Volunteers.

Instead, he made the leap of faith knowing he would be guided by one of his former coaches at the high school level, Shelton Felton.

Felton, the team’s outside linebackers coach, bounced around the Georgia high school football scene, crossing paths with Bryant along the way.

Now, he has landed the outside linebackers coach for a program that disappointed in 2020–going 3-7 with wins over the winless Vanderbilt Commodores, 2-8 South Carolina, and 5-5 Missouri Tigers.

After a year with the Akron Zips of the MAC conference, Felton has returned to Tennessee, where he was a quality control analyst in 2018. Clearly, his return is an important one, no matter how far down the totem pole he may be in Jeremy Pruitt’s staff.

He was the reason Big Kat Bryant signed on the dotted line to wear orange and white in Knoxville:

I’d like to think Steele wasn’t a reason. As sturdy as Auburn football’s defense was relative to their shaky offense, the 0-1 Tigers head coach didn’t have his impressive group of tacklers pressuring opposing quarterbacks nearly enough, and his coverage schemes routinely led to wide-open receivers down the field.

Tennessee has a much-improved frontline, but Bryant made a backward step in achieving a national title.

Then again, maybe that’s not his goal. The NFL appears to be.

Fly War Eagle wishes the Big Kat in getting there.