Newcomers ‘Ahead of Time’ to Tennessee Locked Room | Football

Tennessee football tight ends coach Alec Abeln doesn’t want to crown his group early, but he likes the progress so far.

The Vols brought in two portal newcomers to augment tight room. Notre Dame transfer Holden Staes and Alabama transfer Miles Kitselman. Both are using the spring to get acclimated to Tennessee and the fast-paced offense.

So far, so good for Abeln’s group.

“Without inflating their egos too much, the two new guys that have come in are really ahead of schedule in terms of where we thought they would be,” Abeln said Saturday. “Just the ability to line up their process and play and we probably put them at the plate more because of their ability to learn so quickly.”

Both ends of the transfer will be called in the autumn. With the departures of Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles, there are plenty of snaps to go around at the tight end position.

Staes, a 6-foot-4 junior, enters a much different offense than the one he led at Notre Dame. He goes from blocking the run most of the time to now playing in space and being asked to play a lot of different roles.

“Overall, I think we progressed well,” Staes said. “Through spring ball I just want to keep my head down, try to get better day by day and you know, not look too far ahead. And obviously the last few workouts – finishing right, going into the summer and stuff, but I feel comfortable overall.”

Kitselman, a 6-foot-5 senior, brings experience from his two seasons at Alabama and one year at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. His high school career was spent primarily as an offensive and defensive lineman. It wasn’t until he got to Hutchinson that he became a tight end.

Pass blocking, but has shown pass catching skills in practice.

All things considered, Kitselman has been one of the best tight ends so far in spring camp. His veteran presence came through despite being a newcomer to Knoxville.

“Obviously everybody knows that — how wide and how fast we play, just getting into that transition and that feel,” Kitselman said. “But it’s great. I mean, the coaches are great. He brought me and helped me with everything. And I think now, like halfway through spring ball, I have a really good feel for it. I’m just excited to see what the fall brings.”

Ethan Davis continues to develop going into his second season

Now a redshirt freshman, Ethan Davis continues to develop into an option the Vols will use at the end. He bulked up in the offseason after entering Knoxville at 225 points. Abeln said Davis weighed 242 last week.

As Davis prepares his body to compete in the SEC, Abeln expects great things from the young tight end.

“I told him that, he’s going to be an elite player,” Abeln said. “He has so much twitch, pop. He is not afraid of anything. As he continues to improve with the fundamentals, he’s going to be very, very good at it.”

Having Davis up to speed gives the tight end the option to throw three different players down the field. In recent years, they’ve only been able to rotate between two tight ends. Mixing in a third can increase the versatility of the group.

Abeln feels his group is well on its way to achieving that.

“In terms of what’s on our plate, being in space and being in the box, being in the box, running some really deep routes, like that’s a lot to ask of these guys,” said Abeln. “The challenge is finding guys who can do all of that where you don’t have to call certain things when certain guys are inside. I feel like we have that in our room.”