Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols have a Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez situation on their hands
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers may have a Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez situation on their hands this fall, but that’s not a bad thing for UT football in 2026.
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols may have a Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez situation on their hands.
And no, this isn’t a reference to Gronkowski’s sometimes over-the-top personality, or the late Hernandez’s first-degree murder charge.
This is purely about football.
Tennessee has a pair of dynamic tight ends
One of the big topics of conversation this offseason on Rocky Top — outside of the ongoing quarterback battle — centers around the No. 3 wide receiver role.
With Chris Brazzell moving on to the NFL, redshirt sophomore Braylon Staley and junior Mike Matthews are set to serve as the Vols’ top two wide receivers.
Second-year receivers Travis Smith, Radarious Jackson, and Joakim Dodson, along with true freshmen Tristen Keys and Tyreek King, are battling for the No. 3 wide receiver job (and that battle appears to be wide open).
One of those players will win the job, but it may be Tennessee’s tight end duo of redshirt junior Ethan Davis and sophomore DaSaahn Brame who end up being the No. 3 option in the passing game.
Davis and Brame are both terrific athletes who are catch-first tight ends. Now, that doesn’t mean they’re not valuable as blockers (they both are, and they’re both improving dramatically in that area), but they can be huge mismatches in the passing game.
“Ethan Davis’s athletic ability is very, very obvious, and we all saw that last year,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs Friday on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “It’s just a matter of Ethan staying healthy. If Ethan can stay healthy, then I think he’s going to be a really good tight end for this group, and a really good player. And behind him, DaSaahn Brame is a freak athlete.”
An anonymous Tennessee source told CBS Sports this week that Davis is a “super athletic tight end that can catch like a wide receiver and play in space.”
The Vols have used more tight ends over the last two seasons — Tennessee has had three tight ends on the field at times — but that’s mostly been to assist in the run game.
Davis and Brame, however, give Heupel an opportunity to create some interesting mismatches while using some unique formations.
The potential of Davis and Brame in the passing game reminds me of the 2011 New England Patriots.
New England had one of the best offenses in the league in 2011 thanks to the matchup nightmares that Gronkowski and Hernandez created. The duo combined for 169 receptions for 2,237 yards and 24 touchdowns — just insane production from the tight end position.
I’m not predicting that type of impact from Brame and Davis, but I do think we could see the Vols lean on their tight ends in the passing game more than ever in 2026.
“He’s very natural as a route runner,” said Heupel of Brame this spring. “He understands space, leverage, and being able to go up and high point with a big catch radius… He has definitely grown in becoming a complete tight end, of being able to play in the run game and protection, too. I am really excited about what he’s done.
“That’s a guy that missed a bunch of time with an injury coming out of high school. A year ago, he certainly grew through the course of the season as he got healthy. He got exposed to more things. I am expecting him to play a lot of football and play at a really high level.”
(The Vols also added South Alabama transfer tight end Trent Thomas and UT-Martin transfer tight end Drake Martinez this offseason.)
I don’t know exactly what the Vols’ offense will look like in 2026 — Heupel isn’t going to give anything away — but I think there’s a lot of potential for the tight ends to be used in the passing game this fall more than we’ve ever seen in Tennessee’s offense under Heupel.