Jon Gruden crashes on-line statistics class at Tennessee

Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is getting pretty handy with all this new communication technology. Just ask a statistics class at the University of Tennessee.

He surprised them last week by crashing into their on-line class on Zoom just as the professor was telling them about that day’s lesson.

“We’re getting ready for the NFL draft. I don’t have a lot of time,” Gruden said. “We’re really sorry to interrupt. I’m a huge Tennessee fan.”

Gruden was a graduate assistant coach at Tennessee from 1986-87. It’s where he met his wife Cindy, who was a cheerleader for the Vols at the time. It was Cindy Gruden who assisted her husband when he was having trouble figuring out his web-cam.

After joking with the students for a little and making sure they were all doing their work, Gruden bid them farewell.

“Stay positive and keep working. We’re all in this together,” Gruden said. “Take care of your families, take care of your grandmas and grandpas and do great for (Professor) Morris.”

Like a lot of NFL coaches who have had to learn a new way of doing things due to the COVID-19 crisis, Gruden has had to brush up on things like Zoom and Facetime while working from home and communicating remotely with staff members and draft prospects.

Virtual draft feedback

Although there were reports of technical issues during the NFL’s virtual mock draft on Monday, more and more it’s sounding like some teams are more technologically advanced than others.

“It was good and it’s really not going to be too much different than (normal),” said an NFL head coach who did not want to be identified by name, given the private nature of the mock draft.

In fact, the head coach said people were probably making too much out of the difficulty of the transition to a virtual draft.

“It’s funny because people are nervous,” the coach said. “But it’s nothing even close to the timing of decisions and the way you have to operate during a real game, having to make decisions with the 40- and 25-second play clocks.”

On the other hand, the coach said his home has now turned into his office.

“It is pretty crazy having everything set up at my house,” he said. “But it’s going to be fine on Thursday, and it was totally fine on Monday.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter.