2017 Tennessee Positional Preview: Tight End

Ethan Wolf has been a constant of the Tennessee offense for three years now, but his numbers certainly wouldn’t tell you that on the surface. The senior tight end has just 752 career yards and four touchdowns on his career, but he makes his impact doing much more than just catching passes.

Wolf is used a ton in the run game as a blocker. He takes plenty of snaps from the H-back set, coming through as a lead blocker. Although he hasn’t caught a ton of passes at Tennessee, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the ability to do so.

We’ve seen the flashes -- namely against Kentucky and Florida last year. I’m sure the NFL knows about Wolf, but just like us, I’m sure they would love to see him featured more in the passing game.

Hopefully this year he gets that chance. Tennessee has a ton of inexperience at receiver and running back, so I’m thinking that they’ll lean on Wolf to do a bit more this season. We may see him actually develop a consistent role in the passing game with Jauan Jennings and Josh Smith really being the only experienced pass catchers returning.

I would love to see Ethan as the second or third option in the passing attack. I think his 6-6, 245 pound frame and skillset have been underutilized during his time here.

Behind Ethan is little brother Eli Wolf. The sophomore appeared in six games last season, but didn’t make an impact. Eli was able to haul in a touchdown in the Orange and White game this spring, however.

Jakob Johnson, Austin Pope, Andrew Craig and Will Jumper round out the tight end group. One of Pope, Craig or Jumper has a chance to emerge and push for playing time next year with Johnson and Ethan Wolf on the way out.