KNOXVILLE - Since he arrived on Tennessee's campus in 2013, Jason Croom has looked the part of a tight end thanks to his oversized frame.
Only now, though, is the fifth-year senior learning what it takes to play that position.
Transitioning from wide receiver to tight end never was going to be an overnight process for the 6-foot-5, 246-pounder, but his coaches are pleased with the progress he's made as Tennessee enters the final two weeks of spring practice.
"Jason Croom improves every practice," offensive coordinator Mike DeBord said last week. "I know one thing with Jason: He's tough. He's making that transition right now, but by the time he goes through spring and then has the summer and gets involved in training camp, he's going to be fine."
Croom always seemed like a natural fit at tight end, but the position is more complex than most people think. It requires the strength and physical style necessary to hold up as a run-blocker or in pass protection, the knowledge of where to line up based on the how the defense is aligned and the understanding of pass coverage.
Schematically there are more responsibilities than at wide receiver, where Croom spent the first four-plus years of his career with the Volunteers.
"The game changes (and) it's understanding how to see the game from a big-picture standpoint," said Larry Scott, Tennessee's new tight ends coach. "When you're just a receiver out on the perimeter, it's really just the coverage or the shell or what's going on out there.
"I like to tell those guys often that with the tight end position, next to the quarterback you probably have the most things to go through in your mind as a checklist, so to speak, before the ball's snapped. And the way we play, that ball's snapped rather quickly. You have to be able to take information, process it pretty quickly and get going."
Ethan Wolf thrived at the position the past two years, catching passes in all but three of the 25 games he's played, and he made three straight grabs during a two-minute drill in Saturday's scrimmage to help the offense get in game-winning field-goal range in that series.
As a Vol, Wolf is two years younger than Croom, but as a tight end he's much more experienced.
Scott has enjoyed the project Croom has been for him in his opening months on the job.
"I think it's been awesome for the both of us," Scott said. "As a coach, that needs to fire you up a little bit, to get your hands (on a new player). It's kind of like bringing in a new freshman.
"From the very beginning, you're able to build a foundation and a base for him as a player. Obviously his natural skill set and those types of things can elevate his time frame for how fast he picks things up and gets going. It's definitely been fun from a foundational standpoint to start building that from the bottom up."
The Vols hope the transition process for Croom is completed by the start of the season.
"It's about not overwhelming (him)," Scott said. "Let's pick something out that we need to get better at and let's just attack that and get better. Each and every opportunity we get to get better at it, let's make sure we're improving.
"That steady improvement, once that foundation is built, will put you in a pretty good position when you get to where we will be at our maximum performance, which is when we're ready to start playing games."
As Croom learns his new position, DeBord and Tennessee are learning how they might employ him as an added weapon for the offense.
"Obviously he's a guy that can create mismatches," DeBord said. "We can work to get him the ball down in the red zone and stuff like that. We're adding things as we go."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.