It’s important to find college football players who love the game. It’s also important to find college football players who love their position.
Enter former Michigan transfer, TJ Metcalf.
Metcalf is entering his fourth year of college football. The safety played his first two seasons at Arkansas before transferring to Michigan for the 2025 season. Now, after one season with the Wolverines, he and his younger brother Tevis Metcalf have brought their talents to Tennessee to work under safeties coach Anthony Poindexter and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Just don’t talk too much about the wide receiver position around Metcalf, though. He hates wide receivers. It’s written plainly in his bio: “I hate wideouts.”
On the latest episode of The Mike Keith show, the Voice of the Vols asked Metcalf about it:
Keith: Well, it says on your social media profile, I hate wideouts…
Metcalf: I do.
Keith: You hate wide receivers?
Metcalf: I hate wide receivers. Yeah, I do.
Keith: But you seem so nice!
Metcalf: I mean, on the football field, I’m a whole different animal… I can flip it. I get active.
Based on his tape and highlights, you can probably add running backs to that list, too. Really, it’s anyone who has the ball. During his lone season at Michigan, Metcalf racked up 58 total tackles, including some nasty hits.
TJ Metcalf is a Tennessee Volunteer pic.twitter.com/WBkJDwhb27
— CHANNEL TN (@CHANNEL_TN_) January 13, 2026
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Metcalf only had one interception last season, but he’s looking for more. The 6-foot-1 safety is looking for his first career pick-six and believes that Jim Knowles’ defense will set him up for success with the Vols.
“Especially in this defense, they’ve got me doing a lot of different things,” Metcalf said in his interview with Mike Keith. “Both safety spots, which I love that. I believe I’m a versatile guy and I feel like that kind of shows. Me playing nickel at Michigan and moving around the safety spots, shows how versatile I am.”
In three seasons of college football, Metcalf has racked up 129 total tackles, 11 pass deflections, one forced fumble, and four interceptions. Fifty-eight of those tackles and one of those interceptions came during the 2025 season with the Wolverines, where he ended the year with a 67.2 grade on Pro Football Focus.
Tennessee brought in a defensive back haul during the transfer window this offseason, and Metcalf was one of the standout additions. He’ll be part of a new-look secondary that also features coaching additions such as Poindexter and Knowles, too. All of these moves were made in an effort to boost the Vols’ secondary after its struggles in 2025.
The Metcalf brothers come from a football family. TJ and Tevis’ second cousin is All-Pro wide receiver DK Metcalf, who played college ball for Ole Miss and now currently plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
TJ Metcalf isn’t afraid to tell DK that he hates wide receivers, but they’ve got a good relationship. So he won’t throw his family under the bus like that.
“I’ll tell him that,” Metcalf said with a laugh. “No, we’ve got a cool relationship, so I ain’t gonna do that to him.”
Check out the clip from The Mike Keith Show below:
TJ Metcalf hates wide receivers.#MKShow x #Valvoline
Visit https://t.co/0IEmv1YuPy by 4/30 to claim your offer. pic.twitter.com/dgwec01jQx
— Tennessee Athletics (@Vol_Sports) April 3, 2026
