Josh Heupel Dives Into Emmanuel Okoye's Fit at TE
The Vols delivered on the field in 2022, tallying 11 wins and a New Year's Six Bowl victory. The coaching staff did an excellent job backing up that on-field success by translating it to the recruiting trail - Tennessee signed college football's No. 11 class in 2023, a big jump from the first season under head coach Josh Heupel. With the recruiting world being so stagnant after December nowadays, many fans are focused on the upcoming season.
While the rest of us were wondering what quarterback Joe Milton III could do this season or how the Vols could fix their secondary issues, Heupel and new tight ends coach Alec Abeln were focused on landing Emmanuel Okoye, a 6-5 and 230-pound athletic marvel that had been biding his time in London, England, playing for the NFL Academy. Okoye began piling up offers this offseason after verified measurables hit the internet - he sports a 4.5-second 40-yard dash, has a 45.5" vertical, broad jumps 11'3.5", and is a former basketball star.
Okoye was initially in the class of 2024 but decided to reclassify into the 2023 class and make his college decision early. His finalists were Tennessee, Texas Tech, and USC, but the allure of playing in Heupel's offense at tight end was too much to pass up. Heupel updated Okoye's progress on Tuesday when meeting with the media and spoke about why Tennessee chose to play him at tight end compared to edge rusher, which some schools recruited him as.
Tennessee TE Emmanuel Okoye during his official visit with the Vols in Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 15, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Okoye)
Heupel referenced the aforementioned basketball background, saying, "He was a great basketball player, too. I got a chance to watch some of the footage, his athletic traits, being able to watch his hands a little bit on the basketball court, too, and felt the length and athleticism." 2023 tight end signee Ethan Davis comes from a similar mold - Davis was a Power-5 basketball prospect before he decided to play football in college. Tennessee wants to move to a more athletic breed of tight end that can take advantage of all the open space in the middle of the field.
The Vols' plan is for Abeln to help guide them into that new age, beginning with Okoye and Davis. While the ceiling on Okoye is ridiculous, it's also just that - a ceiling. He's still new to the game of football and the tight end position, and you can't pick it all up in one day. "He's got a long great football journey ahead of him. Today was day one for him on the field," Heupel surmised. "You think about where he was 12 months ago and where he is at today, man, it's a drastic difference in the competition in everything that he's facing." While there's still work to be done, Heupel has noticed Okoye's work habits and has high hopes for his future. "Excited about him because he's urgent, he cares. He continues to grow from day to day and rep to rep."
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