Tennessee football: Gus Duggerton and Dan Katz have taken over Knoxville

Gus Duggerton is now the new Tennessee football OC- kind of.

Gus Duggerton has been the topic of conversation for not only Tennessee football, but also for the entire college football community throughout this pandemic.

In case you were wondering, Duggerton’s not an actual offensive coordinator. As a matter of fact, he’s not even a real person.

He’s actually a video game character, created by Barstool Sports’ Dan Katz.

But that doesn’t stop the thousands upon thousands of sport’s fans from tuning in to watch the OC dominate opponents with a Spurrier-isk offense that includes 60 yard bombs with 15 seconds to go in a game.

In the past 5 years (video game time), we’ve watched Duggerton find success virtually everywhere he goes. What once started at Toledo, evolved to Florida State, and then Texas Tech and now Tennessee.

What makes the series so fun to watch isn’t the gameplay as much as it is the hilarious persona that is Gus Duggerton.

Katz has been able to gather public interest, just as he’s done with anything that he’s been involved in. And while I wish I could say that I’m above watching a 35 year old play a video game at 9 PM every night- I’m not.

In fact, I actually find it to be something to look forward to on a nightly basis, especially after Duggerton’s move to SEC football.

Something that goes unrecognized is Katz odd ability to perform at such a high level on the toughest difficulty of the game. Most of us understand how hard it is to find success on NCAA Football 14.

But Dan, with obvious years of practice, has mastered everything about the video game. Not only does he display a great understanding of it, but he also executes with half of a million people watching.

Again, I never thought that I would be complementing a middle-aged man on his video game prowess, but here we are.

As of Tuesday, Katz and Coach Duggerton are now taking over Knoxville.

What does this mean for Vol Nation?

Well, given the coach’s track record, it looks like UT finally has the coach that they’ve all been waiting for.

Immediate success is happening, at a fast rate.

Gus Duggerton joins Tennessee football

The Twitter world erupted when Katz announced that he would take his gaming talents to Knoxville, just a couple of days ago.

As expected, the fans showered the mystical coach with praise- just as the Vols do with any coach that touches their fanbase, good or bad.

And realistically, how could you blame them? Not only has Duggs given the program their best start since 2016, but he’s proven to win, immediately.

And boy, are the fans eating it up.

They’re even buying apparel.

But is this good or bad news for Coach Jeremy Pruitt?

I would be pretty concerned if I’m Pruitt. Not only is Duggerton giving the fanbase a real taste of a hot start. But he’s also doing it with flair.

Instead of playing conservative ball, the big guy shows no actual signs of fear- chucking bombs on 3rd and 2.

And Vol Nation is loving it.

Is it true that Pruitt could lose some of his popularity and credibility? Possibly. The 5th-year OC has shown the program that there could be better days in Knoxville. And the success is coming at a quick rate.

He’s currently out-doing Pruitt in every facet of the game.

Am I being sarcastic? Very much so.

Realistically, Pruitt has little to be concerned about. After all, it is just a video game character.

Although, it is pretty entertaining to watch the abundance of fanbases erupt with enthusiasm after the arrival of Coach Duggs.

And in case you were wondering, yes, Pruitt even acknowledged the virtual hire via Twitter.

It leaves us all with feel-good emotions knowing that the hard-nosed football coach does indeed have a pretty good sense of humor.

I’d be lying if I said that I, too, wasn’t intrigued with Katz ability to influence an entire fanbase with his charisma and entertaining personality. It’s something that very few people could do.

At the end of the day, I will continue to watch the Gus Duggerton saga that proceeds to play out during this awful dry period of the pandemic.

It’s a tough pill to swallow knowing that the only true variation of watchable athletics is a video game hosted by a random guy in his home- but this is now our reality.

Hey, I’m not complaining.

After all, beggars can’t be choosers.