Tennessee Vols assistant named as one of the top coaches in college football under 35
A Tennessee Vols assistant coach was recently named as one of the top college football coaches under the age of 35. Mike Huesmann of MikeFarrellSports.com included Vols tight ends coach Alec Abeln last week on his list of the top coaches age 35 and under in college football. Abeln just wrapped up his first season […]
A Tennessee Vols assistant coach was recently named as one of the top college football coaches under the age of 35.
Mike Huesmann of MikeFarrellSports.com included Vols tight ends coach Alec Abeln last week on his list of the top coaches age 35 and under in college football.
Abeln just wrapped up his first season as an on-field assistant at Tennessee. He was promoted from analyst to tight ends coach after the 2022 season when former Vols offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Alex Golesh left Knoxville to become the new head coach at USF (Vols quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle was named UT's new offensive coordinator when Golesh left).
From MikeFarrellSports.com: Abeln has a very impressive resume of analyst and assistant jobs already at Missouri, UCF, and Ole Miss in addition to his current job at Tennessee. That’s big school to big school. He was promoted by Heupel, his former coach at Mizzou when he was a player, to fill the void when Alex Golesh left for USF. He’ll have a long career at blue blood programs.
Abeln played college football at Missouri when Josh Heupel was the program's offensive coordinator (Vols offensive line coach Glen Elarbee was Mizzou's offensive line coach at time, too).
After his playing career was over, Abeln served as a graduate assistant at Missouri before joining Heupel at UCF for a season. He then spent a year at Ole Miss with Lane Kiffin before joining Heupel's staff at Tennessee as an analyst.
Abeln, by the way, isn't the only Vols assistant who should've been included on this list.
Tennessee wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope, who is 32 years old, is entering his third season as an on-field coach at Tennessee. Pope has quickly proven to be an elite recruiter for the Volunteers as well as a tremendous position coach.
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