Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln met with the local media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Vols win over NC State and to preview Saturday night’s matchup against Kent State.
The Vols played an abundance two tight end sets against NC State and Tennessee’s three tight ends combined to catch six passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns.
Abeln discussed the seamless transition for the newcomers, where they can still improve and much more. Here’s everything Abeln said.
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On how different it is for Tennessee having three usable tight ends
“Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean obviously you can attack your opponent in a lot of different ways. And something that we’ve wanted to do a lot in the past and just haven’t had the depth. Where, a year ago, Jay (Jacob Warren) or Cali (McCallan Castles) gets nicked up, like now you’re looking at a real tough spot. Now we’ve got the ability to plan that as much as we want.”
On where tight end Miles Kitselman has improved the most since getting to Tennessee
“I think the biggest thing from him from Day 1 was just confidence and knowing that like man, you do belong at this level and you do along at the next level. And trusting that and going and attacking it that way. I think Saturday was great for him to get some production. I think there’s still more, kind of just scratching the surface of what you can see from him.”
On Josh Heupel wanting to use more sets with one running back and two tight ends, how much they had to develop the three tight ends they have
“I mean one, I think going back to the spring, even fall camp, the work that the new guys did investing into learning this thing made it really easy, where you were able to continue to put stuff on the plate. I know I was trying to be sly and not exactly say exactly what we were working on, but man that was a huge part of what we were able to get really through the summer and fall campaign and spring ball. Just because they did such a good job investing into the base stuff that you felt comfortable putting it on their plate. I think the other side of it is anytime you got a chance to be playing more guys that naturally kind of motivates guys to invest and learn it.”
On the bond between Miles Kitselman, Ethan Davis and Holden Staes
“I mean it’s huge. Obviously with the tempo you’re going to play multiple guys and I think everybody kind of understood that coming in. It starts with having great human beings and we’ve got a room full of awesome human beings that get excited for each other, root for each other, coach each other. It’s really cool to be around that group because of the way they support each other and it’s a bar set by Jay (Jacob Warren) a year ago. It really is carried into this group as well.”
On having experience teaching transfer tight ends the system already, if he changed anything
“Not radically different in any way. I think every guy’s going to be different in how they learn and some guys, nobody ever comes in and says, ‘Hey, I learned best by sitting and hearing it on a PowerPoint presentation.’ But there is a level of work that goes into it and understanding that the more you can attack reps full speed, the faster it happens for you. When you’re out there thinking and trying to be perfect all the time, it makes it really tough. I think those guys just, man, whether they were right or wrong, from day one, we’re gonna attack at full speed and I think that accelerates the learning process. But as far as stuff that we did differently, not a whole lot honestly.”
On if he’s been surprised with how efficient the transfers have been in the system
“I mean absolutely. I think there’s always more. Like there’s always another step to it and I think the guys were really happy about how they played and performed on Saturday, but at the same time they all understand that it’s week three. There’s a long season ahead with a lot of good teams that we have to continue to get better every week and they’re ready to do that.”
On how easy it is to pitch to recruits when all three of the primary tight ends have a touchdown through the first two games
“Yeah, I mean it certainly helps. I think, you know, this cycle, we fight production a lot and shoot, a year ago we were second in the league in touchdowns and had two guys that both had fairly productive seasons. Even through spring, you kind of could see what was coming in a lot of ways as far as our ability to be weapons in the pass game and through the summer, you’re obviously selling that in recruiting, but I think everybody’s gonna sell, ‘oh, we’re gonna get the ball to tight end and we’re gonna produce.’ It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing for it to show up on Saturday and I’m fired up that those guys have had the success they’ve had so far.”
On how Holden Staes, Miles Kitselman and Ethan Davis are doing in terms of reading, reacting and adjusting either pre-snap or post snap to what is asked of them
“To be honest with you, that’s one of the areas where we’ve gotta grow and get better. I think a couple of the reads we made in the past game, we can make a different read. It’s never gonna be perfect and a lot of times, there’s a gray area where you try to make it as black and white as you can, but the end of the day, they gotta go execute and make a decision. That’s certainly something pre-snap, post-snap out this week. I think in the core, there was a lot of stuff that they had to kind of figure out on the fly and thought they did a really good job handling that.”
On if he felt like he was keeping Tennessee’s 12 personnel a secret over the offseason
“Yeah, there’s times when it’s the absolute best thing you want to be in it. It gives you a real, real advantage x’s-and-o’s wise. Certainly don’t want to help anybody prepare for something that you feel is gonna be really good against them. And we’ve had the ability to go in it for a long time, so I guess in some way we’ve been keeping it a secret by not putting it on tape, but it’s not been a secret around our building at all.”
