Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava should have plenty of weapons at his disposal as he enters his first season as UT's starter.
Running back Dylan Sampson, wide receivers Bru McCoy, Squirrel White, Chris Brazzell, Dont’e Thornton, and Chas Nimrod, along with tight end transfers Holden Staes and Miles Kitselman, give Iamaleava a solid group of skill position players to distribute the ball to.
It's a fellow redshirt freshman, however, that could be the biggest X-factor for Iamaleava and the Vols' offense in 2024.
Redshirt freshman tight end Ethan Davis arrived at Tennessee ahead of the 2023 season with quite a bit of hype. Davis is a former four-star recruit from Georgia who was rated as the No. 7 tight end in the 2023 recruiting class. He was also named by 247Sports as the one of the most freakishly athletic recruits in the 2023 class.
Davis immediately delivered on the hype during Tennessee's 2023 spring game via an impressive over the shoulder catch on a pass from Iamaleava.
Unfortunately for Davis, he suffered a collarbone injury during last year's spring game. That injury combined with Davis missing his senior season of high school football due to injury slowed the talented tight end's development a bit.
Davis, though, is healthy entering the 2024 season. And he looks like a player that's ready to contribute in a big way for Tennessee this fall.
During Tennessee's first fall scrimmage last Friday night, Davis and Iamaleava continued to show the chemistry they've built, hooking up for a smooth-looking touchdown.
“Ethan did a really nice job," said Vols head coach Josh Heupel after the scrimmage. "The tight ends in general handled themselves really well. Just from where we finished spring ball, how we started training camp to tonight, just continued growth from that entire group. Ethan Davis made some really nice plays over the middle of the football field. Excited about what he’s done, but also what the entire group has done.”
Earlier this spring, Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln suggested that Davis will be an "elite player".
"I've told him this, he's going to be an elite player in the core," said Abeln in April. "He has so much twitch, pop. He's not scared of anything. As he continues to get better with the fundamentals of it, he's going to be really, really good."
Davis has star potential in the SEC. His athleticism combined with his no fear mentality (plus the fact that Iamaleava is his quarterback) gives the Georgia native a legitimate chance to be one of the best tight ends in the nation.
The biggest thing for Davis will be staying healthy. If he does, we could see some exciting things from the tight end position at Tennessee in 2024 that we haven't seen in previous seasons under Heupel.
Related: ESPN hits Deion Sanders with a reality check on the hype around Colorado that will anger Coach Prime
Local Georgia State
Most Popular
Comments / 0