Tennessee football has typically used two tight ends in past seasons under Josh Heupel. Beginning with the duo of Princeton Fant and Jacob Warren, McCallan Castles paired with Warren last season to continue the trend.

Now, all three of those former tight ends have moved on. This opens the door for new faces to man the position under the watch of position coach Alec Abeln.

This could even feature a third player in what was previously just a two-man rotation.

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The only returner is Ethan Davis. The former four-star received a redshirt in his freshman season while racking 33 receiving yards despite battling through a spring injury.

Ahead of this season, Davis has put on significant weight. Now, he's in a good position to stay healthy and excel as a possible starter.

"I mean physically, he’s 245 pounds right now which was the hugest thing for him," Abeln said. "Last year was just getting his body ready to survive in this league. Mentally, it’s really cool to see last year to this year. And really this spring from last spring, just how far he has come mentally where he is able to just go play free and do the stuff that we all know he is capable of doing."

With this frame, Davis is a major receiving threat. Abeln compared him to a 'big slot' which will allow him to play a signficant role in the pass game.

Davis isn't the only tight end that's earning the trust of the coaching staff. Transfers Holden Staes and Miles Kitselman have jumped out early and making their case for playing time.

"It’s actually really nice to have three guys where even during practice you’re not worried about burning guys out, keeping guys fresh," Abeln said. "We’ve got three guys that can play at a really high level right now and getting to watch them compete for it has been awesome."

Despite all three pieces battling for snaps, there is a camaraderie amongst the group. While each is competing to earn the starting role and to play the most snaps, they've still formed a relationship.

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What helps is the understanding that each can play a different role. They can each do a bit of everything but have specific strengths that could be used given specific situations.

"Their chemistry is great," Abeln said. "They all obviously want to play, they all obviously want to be the starter, that’s still up for grabs. It’s open competition this camp and I know that’s the stock coach answer, but that’s the reality of it. They’ve each got different skill sets which allows you to do different things with each guy. Gives us flexibility as a staff, which we can get into and what we can call for certain guys. I think the offense is still the offense but definitely gives us ability to use guys really intentionally."

With just under a month to kickoff, there will be a bit of time for someone to earn the lone starting role. However, no matter who it is, there will be playing time for each throughout the year.

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