Tennessee Vols finally take care of major offseason task
The Tennessee Vols finally have a tight ends coach. After losing Alex Golesh in early December (he left to become the new head coach at USF), Tennessee has promoted offensive analyst Alec Abeln to tight ends coach. On3.com's Matt Zenitz first reported the news. Quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle was promoted to offensive coordinator last month […]
The Tennessee Vols finally have a tight ends coach.
After losing Alex Golesh in early December (he left to become the new head coach at USF), Tennessee has promoted offensive analyst Alec Abeln to tight ends coach.
On3.com's Matt Zenitz first reported the news.
Quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle was promoted to offensive coordinator last month (Golesh served as Tennessee's tight ends coach/offensive coordinator).
The Vols have had two staff openings in Heupel's first two offseasons and he's filled both roles via internal hires.
Last year, Heupel promoted Kelsey Pope to wide receivers coach to replace Kodi Burns who left for the same job with the New Orleans Saints in the NFL.
That move has paid off well as Pope has been praised for his recruiting and on-field coaching abilities.
Tennessee will hope the same is said about Abeln in a year.
This move feels like it's all about continuity for Heupel. Abeln has been with Heupel since his playing days at Missouri, minus a short stint at Ole Miss as an analyst (Ablen was with Heupel at UCF in 2018 and 2019 and then landed in Knoxville in 2021), so he knows the offense extremely well.
I think Heupel has built enough equity that fans have to trust this hire. The biggest thing for Abeln will be recruiting. He obviously needs to be able to coach the position (which Heupel obviously believes he can), but recruiting will be the most important aspect of his job (gotta have players to coach).
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
