Tennessee football: Top 10 Vols fall camp position battles

10. Tight end

Okay, okay! Yes, our first position battle on here is a bit hypocritical since we brought up the running back scenario in our introductory page. Tennessee football is likely to use two tight ends in its system this year given what Jeremy Pruitt and Tyson Helton have talked about.

So with Dominick Wood-Anderson and Eli Wolf the clear favorites to be the top tight ends, it’s likely they’ll both play. However, there is a difference. The running back situation involves two backs with separate roles. Other positions, like wideout, almost always have two guys on the field.

Although we’ll see a lot of two tight end sets on Rocky Top this fall, it’s not going to be an every-play thing. And they won’t have different roles. So there is indeed a competition to win the starting tight end job among the two.

Wood-Anderson seemed like the favorite back when he committed to the Vols in December. He was a four-star junior college player who Nick Saban tried to bring to the Alabama Crimson Tide. At 6’4″ 257 pounds, the guy has incredible size and skill.

However, Wolf, the younger brother of recently departed Vols tight end Ethan Wolf, all of a sudden showed he could live up to his brother’s name in the spring. He became the most improved offensive player during that time, and after that he was one of the three Vols to accompany Pruitt to SEC Media Days.

Other guys like Ja’Quain Blakely, Austin Pope, James Brown, Jacob Warren and LaTrell Bumphus are also in the mix. But Wolf and Wood-Anderson are the clear leaders, and one of them is going to be the main guy. This fall camp could go a long way towards determining who it will be.