Tennessee football losing TE commit Brody Foley actually a sign of Vols getting deeper

Although there’s lots of excitement about the personnel surrounding Tennessee football for 2022, the Vols have suffered a few losses on the trail recently. We documented two of them on Monday with this post. Now, they have a third loss.

Brody Foley, a three-star on Rivals and ESPN but a four-star on 247Sports, joins edge rusher Venson Sneed as the second 2022 recruit to decommit from UT within a week. Both committed to the Indiana Hoosiers.

With these two losses, Tennessee football had 17 total commitments for its 2022 class on Tuesday. Foley, who stands at 6’6″ and weighs in the range of 230 to 240 pounds, hails from Anderson High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and announced his new school on Twitter.

The overall trend of what’s happened may be concerning. In a vacuum, though, Foley’s flip is not a concern, even with his four-star status on one of the services. This is actually because of what Josh Heupel is building at the position anyway.

Jacob Warren was a breakout player this past year at tight end, and he will be back next year. Princeton Fant, the other key playmaker at the position, can also return next year, so the Vols should be fine at the position no matter what.

It would have been 2023 before Foley had his chance to shine, but Georgia tight end Ethan Davis committed to Rocky Top for that year over the weekend. A four-star across the board, Davis is more highly-rated than Foley. The product of Collins High School in Suwanee, Ga., is more of a receiving tight end, making him a better fit for Heupel’s system.

One tight end commit leaving the Vols two days after another, more highly touted tight end committed for the next year is not a coincidence. You have to connect the two and suggest that Foley’s move is proof that Tennessee football is just getting deeper with offensive skill players.

Let’s be honest. When Foley initially committed to the Vols, he was only the third player in their 2022 class despite it coming in May. There were questions as to whether or not UT would even be allowed to go to a bowl game, and a disastrous season was the prediction.

Things have obviously taken a completely different turn in recent weeks under Heupel, and Rocky Top is loading up on elite receivers of all kinds It’s hard to look at that and not think some of their earlier commitments are going to be a bit more buried in the depth chart than they initially thought they would be upon their commitment.

Everybody should wish Foley the best. He will likely be fine at Indiana, and he definitely has potential. However, Tennessee football is fine at this position with Warren and Fant for next year and then Davis coming on board in 2023.