The Vols will kick off its 2022 season Sept. 1 against Ball State at Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and SEC Network will televise the season-opening matchup.
Following Tennessee’s first practice during fall training camp, second-year head coach Josh Heupel met with media and was asked if tight ends Jacob Warren or Princeton Fant could be used in the backfield to assist with pass protection in certain situations.
“Not right now,” Heupel said. “The running backs that we have on campus and the guys that have been spending time, we want to develop them here through training camp and give them the opportunity to showcase that they’re going to play at a really high level and earn trust from our coaching staff and from the players around them in pass protection, and when the ball is in their hands.
“Today, on day one, without watching the film, I thought the two young running backs, Justin (Williams-Thomas) and Dylan (Sampson), had a really good day. There are some things that they did that popped out to me as a coach. Some of that was with the ball in their hands, and some of it was without it.”
Fant and Warren are in their second season as tight ends in Josh Heupel’s offense.
“Both of them now have a year in the system,” Golesh said. “That’s a tough spot to play in this offense. You’re moving around. You’re playing a bunch of different places. Same as everybody else, there’s a year of it now under their belt. A year ago, you coach so much scheme and just understanding what’s actually happening. Now they can play fast.
“Jacob has gotten bigger. He’s up to 254 (pounds). Princeton’s in the 240s. Their bodies are right. They’re both healthy. They have a really good understanding of what’s going on. In that room, for us right now, we really just have to find a three and a four. That’s what we didn’t have a year ago and we struggled at times because of that. Being able to get big and play in bigger sets at times, cost us a couple times, so beyond those two, it’s finding a three and a four there — that way we can get big and change formations based on personnel there.”
KNOXVILLE — Game week ahead of the Sept. 26 season opener is approaching for Tennessee.
Tennessee practiced for the 16th time Thursday during fall training camp. Following practice, Jeremy Pruitt addressed the Vols’ tight end unit. It is a unit that saw redshirt freshman Jackson Lowe enter the transfer portal this week.
“The tight end position we are working several guys there,” Pruitt said on a Zoom call with reporters. “It is a competitive spot. There’s not much difference in the guys. How they go about their business every day, how they practice, how they compete, what kind of habits they’ve created. They control it. We want to play the best players, and we’ve got some guys who are competing hard there to do that.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
The tight end group is coached by Joe Osovet this season. The unit consists of Austin Pope, Princeton Fant, Sean Brown, Jordan Allen and Jacob Warren.
Pope underwent back surgery in July. Pruitt mentioned that Pope “is not going to play right now.”
“We’re working Princeton Fant, Sean Brown, Jordan Allen, Jacob Warren, so we’ve got a lot of guys that are getting reps in there,” Pruitt said. “Most of those guys have played very little football for us, so they’ve got to work on their consistency, they’ve got to be able to block the C-area, they’ve got to play fast, they’ve got to be good communicators.
“That’s one position that you really need to be instinctive to have a feel because we ask the tight ends to do a lot. It’s a position where there’s lots of competition. I have confidence in all of those guys, but somebody’s got to separate themselves.”
KNOXVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 – Tight end Jacob Warren #87 of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Caleb Jones/Tennessee Athletics
Jim Chaney discusses Vols’ tight ends unit having ‘a lot of competition’
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee’s tight ends unit is headlined by senior Austin Pope in 2020.
Pope announced he underwent back surgery on July 16. Following Tennessee’s third practice of fall training camp, third-year UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt mentioned that Pope has been practicing and “should be ready to play for the opener” at South Carolina on Sept. 26.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney discussed the Vols’ tight ends unit on a Zoom call with reporters during there second week of fall training camp.
“Austin is that, he’s a stabilizing force,” Chaney said. “He’s a good kid, been around football a long time. We like what he brings to the table. He will always be that consistent kid that we like.
“Behind him, we have Princeton Fant, who is a young man who bounced around a lot early in his career. We feel real comfortable where we have him right now doing what he needs to be doing. Jacob Warren is doing a fine job. There is a lot of competition in the room. They all have a little different skill set it seems like, it’s interesting to me. Behind him you have Jordan Allen and you got Sean Brown. You got some other guys that are just mixing around. There’s a lot of competition there, waiting on someone to jump above the other ones and emerge as a solid football player. They’re just continually learning. You’re talking about guys that haven’t played a lot of football for us in those five. That is a position that we are trying to force feed real fast on development and we are doing it, hopefully, through competition.”
KNOXVILLE, TN – AUGUST 26, 2020 – Tight end Princeton Fant #88 of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Caleb Jones/Tennessee Athletics
