Tennessee TEs Coach Alec Abeln Earns National Recognition

Tennessee Volunteers tight end coach Alec Abeln has only had the title for a few months but is already one of the most polarizing young assistants in college football.

One of the crowning pieces every offseason is 247Sports's "30-under-30" column, a story highlighting the top 30 young people, whether they be coaches, personnel assistants, recruiting directors, or anything else, making a name for themselves around college football. They recently released this year's feature, and Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln was recognized for his efforts.

Abeln, who turned 28 in late March, became a position coach for the first time in his career in February. Previous tight ends coach and offensive coordinator Alex Golesh took the head coaching job at USF, and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel decided to promote from within. Heupel's decision has already paid dividends, as Abeln was a deciding factor in tight end Emmanuel Okoye's recruitment. Okoye picked Tennessee over USC and Texas Tech this spring after reclassifying into the 2023 signing class from the 2024 cycle.

Okoye began playing football a few years ago, but the raw measurables are eye-popping. He's 6-5 and 230 pounds with a 45.5" vertical, an 11'3.5" broad jump, a verified 4.5-second 40-yard dash, and a 72" wingspan, all at 18 years old. Okoye was a massive recruiting win, but Abeln wasn't done there. He managed to get four-star tight end commit Jonathan Echols to shut down his recruitment after Echols's official visit. The coaching staff has been high on Echols for a long time, but USF and Florida were creeping in before Abeln delivered the final pitch.

Tennessee TEs coach Alec Abeln during media availability this spring in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of Tennessee Athletics)

247Sports did a good job of highlighting Abeln's journey, which began as a Missouri football player under Heupel years ago. He's worked himself into a premier assistant job before turning 30, and the future is bright for him and the rest of the tight end room on Rocky Top.

"A former Missouri offensive lineman and tight end from 2013-17 who played under then-Tigers offensive coordinator Josh Heupel (2016-17), Abeln’s quickly risen up the ranks. He started as a graduate assistant at Missouri in 2018 before following Heupel to UCF in the same role in 2019. Abeln worked for a year as an offensive assistant at Ole Miss in 2020 with Jeff Lebby and Randy Clements before rejoining Heupel as an offensive analyst at Tennessee in 2021. When Alex Golesh left this offseason to take the USF coaching job, Heupel decided to fill the spot from within. Abeln’s considered a future offensive line coach with coordinator upside by those in the industry. Said one source of him: 'Love him. Bright future.'" - 247Sports on Alec Abeln

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