Freshman running back Cameron Seldon dazzled spectators on Saturday afternoon during his debut appearance with Tennessee Football.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder finished the Orange & White game with 10 carries for 45 yards and found a touchdown on the ground. The Browns Store, Virginia native also added in three receptions for 43 yards through the air.
“He’s willing to stick his foot in the ground, get vertical, get underneath his pads, find a way to get plus two,” head coach Josh Heupel said about Seldon after the game. “If he’s going to continue to grow who he is today, I expect him to be dramatically better when we get to the kickoff of next September.”
GIVE. HIM. SIX!
Cam Seldon from 24 yards out!#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/Nlaxs1Ks2L
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) April 15, 2023
During his time at Northumberland High School, Seldon was an all-around athlete, but primarily played the wide receiver position. In fact, Seldon mentioned after the spring game on Saturday that the last time he was a full time running back was 12U football. Ever since then, Seldon has been productive at multiple positions on the field, but primarily found his role at wide receiever.
After joining the Tennessee football team, Josh Heupel and the coaching staff decided to put Seldon with the running back room. The Vols are well aware of Seldon’s talents at the receiver position, too, but wanted to give him a solidified spot with the running backs to start his Tennessee career.
“He’s played a lot of positions,” Heupel said about Seldon. “He’s never had a true home, and we felt like it was important to give him a home here early and grow and expand from that. He’s been really good in what he’s done inside the running back room.”
With the size that Seldon brings to the table, the Tennessee freshman is the biggest running back in the Vols’ room by at least two inches and a few pounds. Seldon looks more like a quarterback in the backfield than a running back.
Combining all of that together – his ability to play running back, the ability to play wide receiver, the overwhelming size in the backfield – Seldon starts to resemble a former Tennessee great from the last 10+ years.
As ESPN’s broadcasters mentioned on Saturday during the spring game, Cameron Seldon certainly has some Cordarelle Patterson to his game.
During his one year at Tennessee in 2012, Patterson was an offensive machine for the Volunteers. The then- 6-foot-3, 205-pounder ended that year with 778 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 46 receptions. Patterson also added in three touchdowns and 306 rushing yards on 25 carries throughout the year as well.
And while Patterson has played both positions in the NFL, the 32-year-old has settled into a role as a productive running back for the Atlanta Falcons.
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“Really unique player just with his skill set and the background that he has from playing running back, to playing in the slot, to the outside, to playing on the defensive side of the football,” Heupel said about Cameron Seldon on Saturday. “He’s played a lot of positions.”
In many ways, the same could be said about Patterson, too. Both players have a similar size and skillset that can be advantageous, especially at the collegiate level.
For a few years now, people have speculated the top former players that would produce numbers in the Josh Heupel-led Tennessee offense. Cordarelle Patterson’s name is often on and near the top that list. But now, with Cam Seldon on the Tennessee roster, fans may get close to that reality.
Seldon has worn a red non-contact jersey for much of the spring practice slate as he continued to learn and operate out of the running backs room for the first time in his young football career.
“It’s been hard, but I’ve been just taking it slow, putting the pieces together,” Seldon said about practicing with the running backs. “Coach told me I was doing okay, so we’re just slowly putting everything together so it can all make sense because it’s different than when I played receiver.”
While Seldon’s past experiences at the receiver position do translate over to the running back position to some degree, there’s still a lot to be picked up on – especially at the college level and in the Tennessee offense playing for Jerry Mack.
“The hardest part is probably learning the details because I’ve always trained receiver,” Seldon said. “I never really trained running back, I just played it, so now I’m learning the details of it. It makes more sense, but I feel natural at running back, but I like receiver. I don’t know, it’s hard to say.”
Seldon had a great opportunity to show out on Saturday as neither of the starting running backs, Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright, played due to injury. Additionally, Dylan Sampson’s day was just down after just three carries on the ground.
Still, though, if Saturday’s spring game was an indication of things moving forward, Seldon could certainly be an x-factor for the Tennessee football team.
“He’s got a really high-end ceiling,” Josh Heupel said about Cam Seldon. “His ability to be a pass catcher out of the backfield is really unique and obviously a skillset we want.”
