Three-star tight end Brody Foley made the trip to Knoxville for the second time this month on Saturday to take in Tennessee’s 2021 Orange and White Game.
After keeping a close eye on the Vols’ tight end room during UT’s open practice two weeks ago, Foley wanted to watch the offense as a whole during Tennessee’s spring game.
“It was awesome,” Foley told Volquest about his trip. “Weird being in a football stadium with fans and it was awesome to have that feeling. I know it’s nothing like a gameday during the fall in Neyland, but it was entertaining. I love watching the offense.
“At the practice, you got a feel for the offense, but it wasn’t the same as a game-like situation because they’re only working on a couple of plays. The play-calling was great and it was just the basic offense, too, because they’re not going to show a whole lot in a spring game. It was fun. Those are the offenses that are fun to play in. The up-tempo, finding the mismatches and then taking the ball down the field and putting it in the end zone.”
Tennessee’s tight ends had an impressive showing. Senior Princeton Fant caught four passes for 56 yards and redshirt sophomore Hunter Salmon caught a three-yard touchdown down near the goal line.
“The tight ends did a great job,” Foley said. “Scored on a nice slip play when (Salmon) was wide open. And they hit the pop pass. They’re doing stuff that I think I can do at a high level. It’s stuff I’m doing right now in high school.”
Foley is ranked as the No. 32 overall tight end in the country by Rivals. He’s viewed as the No. 21 overall player in the state of Ohio.
The Anderson High School product out of Cincinatti, Ohio has continued to form a close relationship with Tennessee offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Alex Golesh. Even Vols first-year head coach Josh Heupel has formed a great relationship with Foley.
“(Golesh has) told everything straight and how it’s going to be,” Foley said. “He’s very transparent and doesn’t lie about anything. Recruiting me, he says ‘You’re going to have the glory of playing for Tennessee, but you’re going to have to work your butt off. Simply playing for Tennessee isn’t the end all be all. You’re going to get here and we’re going to win an SEC title.’ A lot of kids are buying in.
“The whole thing that I’ve gathered — there’s coaches on TV that butter things up and they’re not showing who they really are, but Tennessee’s coaches don’t change for anything. It would be hard to play for a two-faced coach, but they’re straight-forward and tell me that I’m going to have to work for my spot, that it probably won’t be my freshman year, that it’s going to be a grind.”
Foley has four official visits currently scheduled with Indiana, Rutgers, Minnesota and Tennessee. He’ll return to Knoxville the last weekend of June. Tennessee will be the only spring game the 6-foot-6 tight end attends, however, as the three other schools he’ll take an official to aren’t necessarily easy trips to make.
Foley would like to make a decision at some point in July. He doesn’t want to be “overwhelmed going into his senior season,” but will hold off if he doesn’t feel comfortable making a decision.
