Tennessee football 2019 preview by position: Vols tight ends

Biggest questions

1. How often will Dominick Wood-Anderson be targeted?

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It’s the most obvious question, but Tennessee football did not give Dominick Wood-Anderson the ball last year given that he was one of the Vols’ most prized offensive recruits. A four-star junior college tight end recruited specifically for receiving, only having 140 yards and two touchdowns is not enough.

The assumption is that Jim Chaney’s arrival will change that. More opportunities for Jarrett Guarantano to throw the ball with better protection should help as well. But we won’t know any of this until the season starts, so one of the key’s to the year is getting Wood-Anderson more touches.

2. Will Jeremy Pruitt regularly put multiple tight ends on the field at a time?

Again, this is one thing Jeremy Pruitt brought up specifically in his introductory press conference. He tried to run it some last year, as Wood-Anderson, Eli Wolf, Andrew Craig and Austin Pope all saw action. Wolf is gone, though, and Pruitt has changed up offensive coordinators.

We know that Chaney loves tight ends as well. But is he as enamored with running multiple tight ends as Pruitt is? Or will his focus just be on one guy playing at a time, and that guy having to be an elite receiver? Pruitt’s idea was a good idea, but personnel and Chaney’s preferences come into play here.

3. Who becomes the most versatile backup?

Again, Wood-Anderson is the proven go-to receiver tight end, and Pope and Craig are both the proven blockers who can add versatility at fullback. But who comes after them. Princeton Fant changing multiple positions and three highly touted prospects at tight end who are freshmen make for an interesting competition.

The Vols will likely want one of them to step up and add another receiving threat at the position off the bench, especially if something happens to Wood-Anderson. Versatility is huge at tight end, so whichever player shows that among the ones we named could make a huge impact.