Tennessee football: Both tight ends coming back allows Vols to adjust in 2022

Well this is a shocker. Tennessee football had two key tight ends this past year, one a senior in Princeton Fant and one a redshirt junior in Jacob Warren. You figured either the senior would not take advantage of the COVID eligibility ruling or the redshirt junior would transfer.

It appears, though, that neither is doing that, and both will be coming back for 2022. All of a sudden, Josh Heupel has a huge advantage for his offense. Last year, Warren had 18 catches for 179 yards and three touchdowns. Fant had 13 catches for 149 and one touchdown.

Warren’s return was confirmed based on what he said, ironically about Fant and also Hendon Hooker, in a press conference Thursday. Fant was part of the same press conference but confirmed his return later on Twitter.

"“I think that relationship is what could hopefully keep him to come play for us next year.”…“Hendon coming back is obviously huge for this program, and for me personally, because he likes to throw the ball to me. I’m happy for that.”-Jacob Warren"

With Velus Jones Jr. gone, Heupel is already going to have to tweak his offense a bit. He’s more likely to do that if Cedric Tillman leaves. That could mean more use of Fant, who stands at 6’2″ 240 pounds, and Warren, who stands at 6’6″ 246 pounds.

Heupel has shown in the past an ability to tweak his offense based on the top receivers. Dating back to his days with the Missouri Tigers, he has almost always had wide receivers as his top four receivers and no tight ends with over 300 yards on the year.

The one exception was in 2017, when as offensive coordinator of the Missouri Tigers, he added  Albert Okwuegbunam to his offense. Okwuegbunam, a tight end, caught 29 passes for 415 yards and led the team in touchdown receptions with 11. Now, Heupel had his top four receivers back from a year ago, but he still made room for a guy like Okwuegbunam because of his talent.

That shows an ability to adapt to his personnel despite him running a specific offensive scheme, and next year, he may have to adapt to such personnel. After all, he’s got two tight ends with different skill sets who could both be effective while he is losing one, maybe two wide receivers.

On one hand, Tennessee football has the true tight end in Warren, whose height makes him a major mismatch for opponents in the passing game. He also can help out as an extra blocker given his size if necessary.

Fant, who has spent time at running back and linebacker in the past with the Vols, is more of a utility tight end. Heupel could line him up in the backfield at times. Think about the way Austin Pope was used in the previous system. If you want to be ambitious, think about Shawn Bryson back in the late 1990s.

There’s a chance Fant could be used in that regard, as an extra blocker in the backfield who could also be used on passing plays. Either way, though, Tennessee football is in great shape with these two guys coming back at tight end. Heupel can now adjust accordingly.