A former Vol who didn’t see much action during his three seasons at Tennessee was named this week by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman as one of college football’s biggest freak athletes.

Feldman unveiled his annual “freaks list” on Monday and he included former Tennessee tight end/edge Emmanuel Okoye at No. 9.

Okoye played for the Vols from 2023 to 2025 before transferring to California earlier this offseason.

“Okoye is an intriguing prospect for new Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi, a former D-line coach who has seen more than his share of Freaky linemen,” wrote Feldman. “Okoye is 6-4, 247 pounds with just 8 percent body fat. He bench pressed 405 pounds, squatted 500 and cleaned 365. He vertical jumped 42 inches, broad jumped 11 feet and hit 21.5 mph on the GPS.”

“He is an absolute freak,” said Lupoi of Okoye. “Those numbers are 100 percent verified and accurate.”

Okoye, who is originally from Nigeria, signed with Tennessee during the 2023 recruiting cycle after he was discovered by former New York Giants star Osi Umenyiora.

Tennessee initially put Okoye at tight end before moving him to edge last season.

Emmanuel Okoye didn’t have much football experience when he signed with the Tennessee Vols

Okoye was extremely raw when he landed with the Vols, which is why he wasn’t able to see the field much during his time on Rocky Top.

“Emmanuel is one of the most pure athletes I’ve ever seen in my life,” said former Vols tight end Jacob Warren in 2023. “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.”

Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln praised Okoye’s athleticism in 2023 while suggesting that he has an “unlimited ceiling.”

“He’s got a chance to be the most athletic guy to ever play the position,” said Abeln. “I truly believe that. He is as physically gifted as anybody I’ve ever been around. He’s got to continue to make steps every day. But just from a raw athletic standpoint, the ceiling is unlimited.”

It’ll be interesting to see if Okoye, who is listed as an outside linebacker, can put it all together at California this fall.

Okoye, by the way, wasn’t the only former Vol on Feldman’s list.

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (now at UCLA) came in at No. 67, and former Vols running back Cam Seldon (now at USF) was listed at No. 88.