Tennessee’s two veteran tight ends, redshirt senior Princeton Fant and redshirt junior Jacob Warren, have played in 33 games in their college careers. The rest of the tight end position has zero experience. Hunter Salmon has been on the practice field the last two years but hasn’t played. Freshman Miles Campbell was here for spring practice and freshman Julian Nixon arrived this summer.

It’s safe to say it’s a position with a lot of room for growth and a position that needs to have a huge pre-season camp.

“For us as a team, for us as an offense, Jacob (Warren) and Princeton (Fant) have played a bunch of football. I'm relying on those guys to fill whatever gap Austin (Pope) was going to fill,” offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. “We’ve put a lot on Miles Campbell. I know I've very openly spoken about him and his ability to play the game, to understand the game. He's a freshman, and I told coach Heupel, I've never played a freshman at that position. And I've been really fortunate to coach some pretty good ones. So, we'll see, the next three weeks for Miles will be huge, the next three weeks for Julian (Nixon) will be huge, and we'll kind of see. Hunter Salmon has got to step up and play some in there. We'll end up at the end of the day, we'll be alright, we'll play the best 11 guys. We've made it work before, but the hope is that Miles can take the next step in the next three weeks and I'm okay with putting that on him.”

Campbell arrived at Tennessee in January. He made some early impressions in spring practice and believes he’s grown a lot since then, both physically and mentally.

“It’s been a great transition,” Campbell said. “My body fat has definitely changed going from 18% to 12%. That’s been a big transition.

“I feel like I have made a great impression. Being a smaller tight end but being able to make the blocks, coming down with force being able to help in the run game. I have taken more than the average freshman load as you would say, but I think I have taken it well and handled it well. The opportunity is great knowing that I have a shot to get on the field.”

Miles has more than a shot. He’s a must in Golesh’s eyes just based off sheer numbers.

“From my experience, what you would like to have is four guys that are ready to play and the fifth, kind of like I talked about the running backs, a fifth that's primarily a special teams guy that can get you out of a game at the end,” Golesh said. “Your heavy load playing with two guys, three guys, heavy loads, special teams, those body types, those bigger big skill body types. I think you recruit to that. I don't think we're at that right now here. I think with what we do on offense with how we operate, we can adjust and make it work. We did a year ago at the previous place, adjusted and made it work. We weren't loaded there.

"So, I think we would like to have four or five ready to roll, I think the reality is we'll end up with three to four and we're hoping for four. And if that number is two, then it's two, then we have to continue to develop in the receiver room to kind of overcome that. But we can get through a game, we can operate at a really high clip with two ready to roll. But obviously, that's a position that really gives you so much flexibility. It's way easier to call when you have multiple tight ends that you can play in terms of a guy that can do it all.”

Campbell and Farragut product Jacob Warren both believe they can do it all and that this offense is ideal for them.

“It’s exactly what I want as a tight end,” Warren said. “Just a chance to be a part of the offense to catch balls and to block. I don’t care to block. I actually love blocking. Just being a factor in the offense being counted on to make plays is a big thing to me.”

Added Campbell, “I feel like I fit it well. With my skill set, I am definitely more of a pass catching tight end who can block which is what they want as a tight end.”

Warren, who now weighs 248 pounds after arriving just over 200 pounds when he signed, knows the life of a tight end at Tennessee is now very different and he likes the challenge Josh Heupel’s offense provides.

“Tight ends are considered the adjusters of this offense. So we have to know everything and we have to move depending on what the play might be. It might be a run and we are all the way on the outside of the field and we have to move inside fast. So we have to use tempo and think the whole time. I wouldn’t say the offense revolves around us but we are a crucial part of it. So we have to be on point with alignment, assignment and all of that. It’s exciting to me because I love the challenge of being that guy.”