Tennessee football has been creative with its usage of tight ends in recent years under position coach Alec Abeln. Despite losing Miles Kitselman to eligibility and Jack Van Doreslaer to the transfer portal, the Vols still have a solid group in the position room.
One of the incoming players is South Alabama transfer Trent Thomas. Despite not having a productive season as a pass catcher, it’s his physicality that was attractive to the UT coaching staff.
There’s a difference between doing it in the Sun Belt and the SEC, though. Luckily for the Tennessee staff, Thomas played in a game at Auburn last season. The tape he put up in that game gave Abeln confidence to add him.
“I turned on the Auburn game and the dude dominated the C-gap,” Abeln said. “And just with what was in the room already, what was coming back, knew that for us to be successful, first and foremost, needed a guy that felt really good about in that area. And man, absolutely, he’s got the tightest hands coming out that we’ve had. Does a really good job in that area. I do think in the route, man, he’s continued to develop and get better. But no, I just turned on the Auburn game, watched the tape, and said, ‘Does this guy help us win?’ And the answer was absolutely.”
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Thomas just rounded out his redshirt-sophomore season and will have two years of eligibility remaining. This past year with the Jaguars, he played in 12 games and started in eight.
During this time, he produced four receptions for 34 yards. He earned a PFF grade of 46.9 on the year, but his best mark was as a pass blocker, at 61.9.
In 2024, Thomas played in all 13 games and made five starts. He caught one pass for five yards that year. As a true freshman in 2023, he appeared in just one game.
Now, Thomas joins a room that features Ethan Davis, Dasaahn Brame, Cole Harrison and Luca Wolf.
