This past spring, Tennessee football tight end Miles Kitselman was shut down due to an upper-body injury. Now, while limited, he’s returned to the practice field with the Vols.
Donning a red non-contact jersey and only able to do a portion of the drills, Kitselman is gearing up for the upcoming season. At the moment, the expectation is he’ll be ready to go when Tennessee heads to Atlanta to play Syracuse to open the year.
His position coach, Alec Abeln, gave the latest on where Kitselman is at in his recovery.
“Like you’d expect Miles to,” Abeln said about how Kitselman has handled it. “He’s pissed at me half of the time because he wants to do more, and he’s gonna push that as hard as he can. He’s ahead of schedule and doing a great job with it, but just like you’d expect him to do it.”
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Even during drills where Kitselman can’t give it a full go, he’s been involved with the young position group. Behind him is third-year Ethan Davis, second-year Cole Harrision and true freshmen DaSaahn Brame and Jack Van Dorselaer.
Last year, it took Kitselman some time to grow into a leadership role. As a new player, he had to get his footing in the room and team first before taking over as a vocal leader.
Now, as a team representative at SEC Media Days, he’s one of the go-to guys in the locker room.
“I mean, it’s tough when you come in as a incoming player, as a transfer, because first job you got to do is earn the trust and respect your teammates,” Abeln said. “And I think part of him kind of, he’ll say, getting his balls back during the spring, feeling more comfortable just earning their trust. I think he clearly established that he’s a guy that we can count on during the fall and understands there’s space for leadership this year. And this team has taken it to heart.”
