Walt Wells, Kevin Beard coaching on familiar ground at Tennessee

Walt Wells and Kevin Beard both were familiar with Tennessee football before joining the coaching staff. The biggest difference was their introductions.

Wells, UT's new offensive line coach, has a bachelor's degree in finance from Belmont. He earned a master's in relations management at Cumberland (Tenn.), where he began his collegiate coaching career in 1994 as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

"Growing up in Tennessee, this is the flagship university," he said on Tuesday. "So its very important to me, very important to my goals that I had as a young coach."

Beard, who is coaching the wide receivers, said he was recruited by Tennessee. The Vols were one of his top three choices as a high school prospect. He opted to stay close to home and attended Miami, where he played on the Hurricanes' 2001 national championship team.

"It was exciting then," Beard said. "I'm really excited about what we're going to do now."

Wells was Tennessee's offensive quality control assistant the past year. While introductions haven't been necessary, Wells said, "When it comes to my personality on the field, I'd say the guys are going to see a little difference."

Beard, on the other hand, has been more process-oriented, making regular trips to the weight room to interact with players and encouraging them to visit his office. He complimented the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Zach Azzanni, who left last month to coach wide receivers for the NFL's Chicago Bears.

"Coach Z did a great job of putting a great tool belt together for them," he said. "All I want to do is add on to the tool belt and win games in the process."

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Wells said the offensive lines he has coached typically play with "an edge" and "some toughness." He will stress competition in forging the unit.

"You look at all the teams across the board in the SEC that are successful," he said. "They're not rotating any guys and worrying about hurt feelings and things like that.

"We have to go out and find the best five available that are going to come off the ball, hit somebody in the mouth and get some movement up front and protect the passer."

Beard said he will coach with his former position coach, Curtis Johnson, in mind, expanding on Johnson's hard-nosed approach.

"He was the same guy every day," Beard said. "He was going to be hard on you. At the time, you didn't know why. When you left, you got a chance to reflect and (understand) why. I think the difference from him to me is .... I'm going to explain it to them in the moment."

Regarding personnel matters:

• Wells said freshman Trey Smith will begin spring practice working at left tackle. "There's a lot of pressure on Trey but he's a young man that's willing to take that," Wells said. 
•  Wells also said he prefers having Coleman Thomas play center.
• Beard values wide receiver Jauan Jennings' competitiveness above his skills, "At the end of the day, you can have a skill set," Beard said, "but if my will to win dominates you, is stronger than yours, I'm going to win."