Tennessee’s Most Important Players for 2018: #8 Dominick Wood-Anderson

We continue our countdown of Tennessee’s most important players this season with tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson. Check out No. 9 Darrin Kirkland, Jr. here.

In attempting to give Tennessee its best chance to win in 2018, Jeremy Pruitt and his staff went the junior college route as often as possible to try to quickly rebuild a roster which suffered through a 4-8 season in 2017.

One of the most highly-rated players in the class — from JUCO or high school — was 6’5”, 240-pound tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson.

Wood-Anderson was rated as the No. 1 JUCO tight end in the country and the No. 10 JUCO player overall out of Arizona Western College, and was highly sought after by the likes of Alabama, Florida State and USC. He joins a Tennessee offense which finished last in the SEC in total offense and just 12th in passing offense in 2017.

Offensive coordinator Tyson Helton will showcase more of a pro style attack than Tennessee employed under Butch Jones and his plethora of coordinators. Wood-Anderson figures to be an important piece in both the running and passing game in Helton’s offense. If Tennessee can add a productive tight end to what it hopes to get out of Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings, the Vols’ aerial attack could look much better in 2018.

Wood-Anderson’s combination of size, speed and athleticism jump off the screen and look to be pretty lethal, even by SEC standards. If those skills translate even somewhat, whoever becomes Tennessee’s starting quarterback could have three great weapons in the passing game.

Tennessee had a more-than-serviceable tight end the past few years in Ethan Wolf, but in the Vols’ new-look offense, that position is more important than ever. If he is able to make the transition quickly, Wood-Anderson might just be the dominant offensive threat Pruitt and Helton need to surprise some teams in the SEC.