Tennessee tight end Miles Kitselman has packed a lot into 2024, beginning with his January decision to transfer from Alabama to the Volunteers.
There is plenty of year left, obviously, including Saturday afternoon’s Senior Day festivities inside Neyland Stadium before the No. 10 Vols (8-2) square off against UTEP (2-8).
“Everyone keeps asking me if I’m excited or ready for it, and I don’t really know how to feel about it,” Kitselman said Monday in a news conference. “I’m definitely sad. I don’t think the emotions have quite hit me yet. I wish I had a lot more time here in Knoxville.
“It’s a great place, and I have enjoyed my time here a lot. I’m just really excited to go out there and play in Neyland.”
The 6-foot-5, 256-pounder from Lyndon, Kansas, is certainly a candidate for Tennessee’s most pleasant surprise this season, having amassed 17 receptions for 229 yards (13.5 yards per catch) and three touchdowns through 10 games. Kitselman is on pace to assemble the most productive single season of any tight end in the Josh Heupel era, topping McCallan Castles from a year ago.
A transfer from UC Davis, Castles racked up 22 catches for 283 yards (12.9) and five scores in 13 games.
“I think Miles is a 10-year NFL guy, to be honest with you,” Tennessee tight ends coach Alex Abeln said Tuesday. “Just the stuff that he does – not just in the box but in the route. He’s everything you want in a guy you get to coach, and obviously I wish I had more time with him.
“It’s been a pleasure.”
Kitselman also has a rushing touchdown, diving over the pile for a 1-yard score to stake the Vols to a 7-0 lead in last Saturday night’s eventual 31-17 loss at Georgia. Such versatility is reminiscent of former Vols tight end Princeton Fant, who had five rushing touchdowns, three receiving touchdowns and threw for a score during the 2022 season and is currently on the Dallas Cowboys active roster.
“We’ve had that play in all year,” Kitselman said. “Watching film of Georgia’s defense against the jumbo package, we thought that the belly play was going to be there. They came out in a defense we weren’t expecting, but we kept the play in anyway.
“The O-line did a great job of surging and keeping those guys low.”
Saturday’s rushing score was overdue, joked Kitselman, who said he rushed for 22 touchdowns in his third grade peewee league and last reached the end zone on a running play at Lyndon High. He spent a year at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College before playing the 2022-23 seasons for Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide.
“The third-grade me had been itching for it, for sure,” Kitselman said.
Kitselman’s season with the Vols has also contained a 15-yard touchdown reception in the second game against North Carolina State, a six-catch, 97-yard, one-touchdown performance earlier this month in the win over Kentucky, and playing 53 snaps against his former team and getting to revel with fans after topping the Crimson Tide.
He has been the starter all season and is more valuable than ever, notching a pair of receptions on Tennessee’s first drive at Georgia before collecting the rushing touchdown.
“I’ll definitely miss the locker room time with the boys and the film room time with the boys,” Kitselman said. “Those are always the best times. Being out there with my brothers on a Saturday night inside Neyland Stadium are some Saturday nights that I’ll never forget, but the times you never forget are the locker room times with the boys.”
Said Abeln: “He just loves football. If you truly want to be great at this game and have the season he’s had, it truly starts with a genuine love of the game.”
Sampson semifinalist
Vols junior running back Dylan Sampson was named Tuesday among the 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award, which is given annually to college football’s top running back.
Sampson leads the Southeastern Conference with 1,230 yards and 123.0 yards per game. He is the only semifinalist from the SEC, and he is Tennessee’s first Doak Walker semifinalist since Travis Stephens was a finalist in 2001.
Defensive setback
Tennessee still has a top-10 defense nationally, but the Vols suffered some slippage after yielding 453 total yards at Georgia and allowing the Bulldogs to convert 8-of-14 third-down opportunities and all five of their red-zone trips, with four going for touchdowns.
The Vols only tallied two tackles for loss – they average 7.3 per contest – and they never sacked Carson Beck.
“Shout out to Georgia,” Vols fifth-year senior defensive tackle Omari Thomas said Tuesday. “They have a great offensive line, and they played well. They’re very well-coached and picked up on a lot of things that we did. They played a better game than us, and we have to play better.
“They definitely threw a couple of wrinkles in there for sure, but that’s something we have to be ready for and adjust to during the game.”
‘The Three Stooges’
Vols first-year linebackers coach William Inge said Tuesday that sophomores Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander took up most of the slack following Keenan Pili’s season-ending knee injury, but that redshirt freshman Jalen Smith has been a prominent contributor lately as well.
“We call them, ‘The Three Stooges,’ because you’re going to see Larry, Moe and Curly walking together in the building fairly often,” Inge said. “Most of the guys didn’t even know who ‘The Three Stooges’ were, so I had to explain it to them. We had to pull that up on the internet.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.