Tennessee freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer is one of the more exciting young prospects on the Vols roster this season. He’s working hard this fall to earn his way into a crowded tight end rotation featuring the likes of star veteran Miles Kitselman, redshirt sophomore Ethan Davis, and fellow true freshman DaSaahn Brame.
Van Dorselaer has the look. He’s big, strong, and physical, standing at 6-foot-5 and 236 pounds in his first year of college football.
When you see him on the field this season, he’ll be rocking the No. 3 jersey, which is a bit of a detour from the usual suspects with the number such as cornerback Jermod McCoy, wide receiver Dee Williams, former quarterback Tayven Jackson, and wide receiver JaVonta Payton.
It’s not every day that you see a tight end with the No. 3 jersey, but it sits close to Van Dorselaer on a personal level.
“Yeah, most tight ends stick with the 80s,” Van Dorselaer said during UT fall camp this week. “… I just wanted to go with 3. It was my mom’s lucky number, so I figured I’d just put 3 on there.”
But while No. 3 might be unique in the tight end world, the single-digit aspect is far from unique in the Vols’ TE room. Aside from Miles Kitselman’s No. 87, the other two primary players in the room are No. 0 Ethan Davis and No. 7 DaSaahn Brame.
While Van Dorselaer is still young in his football career and still developing, tight ends coach Alec Abeln has a lot of excitement about his potential on the field.
“Just his level of understanding what college football looks like mentally, physically,” Abeln said. “He came out during mat drills and was a freaking dog. I mean, tug of war champ down the line. I don’t know if he lost tug of war all freaking spring. And another guy that just shows up to work every day, knows his job, plays really hard, wants to be great. Really excited about Jack.”
In the short time of fall camp, plenty has been said about Van Dorselaer’s physicality. Which is also a tribute to Southlake Carroll High School in Texas for getting him prepared to play at an SEC level and not be overwhelmed off the bat. But he’s also an underrated pass catcher and is continuing to improve on that throughout fall camp.
“He’s a lot like (Kitselman), where I don’t know if he gets enough credit in the route,” Abeln said. “And I think last year, obviously, his senior high school, he played mainly defensive end, but you’ll see flashes on his tape as a junior and sophomore. He’s not nothing with the ball in his hand. He understands, I think in the route, so much of winning in the route is understanding what you’re getting, what the picture is, what the leverage is, how much space I have. I think he’s going to be a guy that absolutely can get open for us and do some things in space.”
Here’s a look at everything freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer had to say in his first fall camp interview in Knoxville:
