Native Nashvillian Spruell Driver Jr. earned the BS in industrial engineering in 1987, graduating with high honors. He attended through the Minority Engineering Scholarship Program. He was named a torchbearer, was a member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, and was a Roddy Scholar. He earned the JD degree, conferred by Duke in 1991, where he was a Womble Scholar and a member of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Team. After serving as a corporate attorney for Eastman Chemical, he went into private practice in Nashville, interrupting his private practice to serve as legislative attorney and special counsel to the speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1988–2000) and director of Judicial Education and Program Services for the Tennessee Supreme Court (2000–2). He served as president of the UT Alumni Association in 2004–5 and was appointed to the UT Board of Trustees by Governor Bredesen in October 2005.