Tennessee Vols have an under-the-radar player who could be a major X-factor in 2023
The Tennessee Vols have an under-the-radar player on their roster that could be a major X-factor for the program in 2023. Earlier this offseason, Tennessee added four-star tight end Emmanuel Okoye to their roster. Okoye, 6-foot-5/230 lbs from Nigeria (he attended the NFL academy in London), was rated by 247Sports as the No. 30 edger […]
The Tennessee Vols have an under-the-radar player on their roster that could be a major X-factor for the program in 2023.
Earlier this offseason, Tennessee added four-star tight end Emmanuel Okoye to their roster.
Okoye, 6-foot-5/230 lbs from Nigeria (he attended the NFL academy in London), was rated by 247Sports as the No. 30 edger rusher in the 2023 recruiting class (he's expected to play tight end, however, for the Vols).
Okoye, who was also a standout basketball player, is still a bit raw, but he has incredible athleticism (he reportedly has a 45.5 inch vertical, which is completely insane for a player that's 6-foot-5 and 230 lbs).
Vols redshirt senior tight end Jacob Warren was asked about Okoye last week at SEC Media Days in Nashville and he had plenty of great things to say about one of Tennessee's newest additions.
"Emmanuel is one of the most pure athletes I’ve ever seen in my life," said Warren to reporters last week. "Being completely real, the way he runs, the way he jumps, cuts and move. Everything about him is super athletic, super twitchy. A guy that hasn’t been playing football for a long time so needs to kind of develop in the way of…in football there’s kind of a different language you talk."
"He doesn’t quite understand maybe yet, but we’re trying to bring him along, teach him that this is exactly what this means," added Warren. "When he does this, you do this. Different things like that that he needs to develop a little bit more for him to be right before you want him."
Once Okoye gets the terminology and concepts in Tennessee's offense down, he could become a dangerous weapon in Josh Heupel and Joey Halzle's high-scoring offense.
We haven't really seen the Vols' offense under Heupel with an elite athlete at tight end. And considering how creative Heupel can be when it comes to his offense, the idea of using Okoye should be exciting for Tennessee fans. I don't think there's any doubt that Heupel will find a way to utilize Okoye's explosive athleticism (and if for some reason it doesn't work out at tight end for Okoye, he could always get some reps as a pass rusher, too).
As good as the Vols' offense was in 2022, there's still plenty of room for Tennessee to improve moving forward as the Volunteers continue to add elite talent and athleticism to their roster.
Former Vols OC David Cutcliffe makes strong statement about Josh Heupel
Former Tennessee Vols OC David Cutcliffe made a strong statement about Josh Heupel
Featured image via Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK
