Tennessee tight end Holden Staes has a basic but ambitious objective for his junior season with the Volunteers after spending the past two years at Notre Dame.
Be everything.
"I kind of just want to be that overall tight end who can get busy in the run game, open up holes for the running backs, play out in space and block with the receivers out in space," Staes said Saturday afternoon in a news conference. "Obviously I want to get the ball in my hands and be a downfield playmaker for this team and a big red-zone threat as well.
"I just want to do it all for this offense."
The Volunteers held their 10th spring practice Saturday and are closing in on next Saturday's Orange & White Game inside Neyland Stadium.
Staes is coming off a sophomore season with the Fighting Irish in which he amassed 15 receptions for 176 yards and four touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 242-pounder from Atlanta was the nation's No. 1 tight end in the transfer portal during the December cycle and the No. 16 overall transfer prospect, according to 247Sports.com.
"You saw a guy on tape who made a bunch of plays and played really fast," Vols second-year tight ends coach Alec Abeln said. "He has elite hands and understands space. As we do a little different stuff in the scheme side of it both in the run and the pass game, he's learning to adjust to that.
"As far as the raw speed, the hands and the ability to make plays in space, he's been everything you saw on tape."
Tennessee's tight end room was overhauled this past winter following the departure of Jacob Warren, who committed to the Vols when Butch Jones was the head coach and spent three years under Jeremy Pruitt and three under Josh Heupel. Warren was actually one of two sixth-year senior tight ends on last year's roster, with UC Davis graduate transfer McCallan Castles making the most of his one season in Knoxville.
Staes is one of two tight ends the Vols acquired through the transfer portal, with the other being Alabama's Miles Kitselman.
"Without getting their egos too inflated, the two new guys who have come in are really, really ahead of schedule in terms of where I thought they would be as far as the ability to line up, process and play," Abeln said. "We've probably put more on their plate because of their ability to learn so fast."
The Vols have primarily used two tight ends each of the past two seasons, with Warren and Castles last year and Warren and Princeton Fant in 2022. That could be the situation later this year as well with Staes and Kitselman, though redshirt freshman Ethan Davis is pushing for more opportunities after playing against just Virginia and Connecticut last season.
Staes is the favorite to be the starter when Tennessee opens its 2024 season against UTC, but the adjustments are ongoing following his two-year stint in South Bend.
"There are big differences for sure," Staes said. "Coming from Notre Dame, there was a lot of '12 personnel' (lining up with one running back, two tight ends and two receivers) and a lot of huddling and a slower-paced offense for sure. We ran the ball a lot, and we run the ball a lot at Tennessee, but it's a different scheme for sure. At Notre Dame, we would huddle, and you had time to diagnose the defense. Here, you get the signal and the play is happening immediately.
"Obviously it's a tempo offense, and you're playing in space a lot more. I've been adapting well, and I'm just trying to put my head down and work. I think I've handled it well so far."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.