While Tennessee week is seen as chance to pound one of the Tide’s biggest rivals, for Vinnie and Sal Sunseri, the week takes on a different meaning.

Vinnie plays defensive back for the Tide, his father Sal who once coached at Alabama, is now a defensive coordinator with the Vols.

And while Sal moved to Knoxville, Vinnie didn’t really give that much of thought about staying in Tuscaloosa.

"Coach Saban is the reason I stayed here," Sunseri said. "He's one of the best DB coaches out there and I just wanted to learn from the best."

But it is still hard for father and son to be apart.

“Let me just say this to everybody here: It's been very, very hard this whole week, especially for both of us,” said Sal Sunseri on the UT website.

“Emotionally for the family it's been very tough. I didn't think it would be this hard. But we're both going to be professionals about it. We're both going to do what we have to do and we're going to go out there and try to play our best football.”

“Very, very tough,” Vinnie Sunseri told the AL.com.
“A lot of mixed emotions. Hard. Hard, hard, hard.”

Football is still football, but as you can tell with the Sunseri’s, family still takes top priority.

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