Josh Heupel and Tennessee may have a Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez situation on their hands this fall, at least in the way the Volunteers are building their passing game. The comparison has nothing to do with Gronkowski’s personality or Hernandez’s first-degree murder charge. It is about two tight ends who could give Tennessee a mismatch threat in space.
Chris Brazzell is moving on to the NFL, leaving Braylon Staley, a redshirt sophomore, and junior Mike Matthews set to open as Tennessee’s top two wide receivers. That makes the No. 3 wide receiver job one of the most open competitions on the roster, with second-year receivers Travis Smith, Radarious Jackson and Joakim Dodson, along with true freshmen Tristen Keys and Tyreek King, all fighting for a role. If none of them separates, the ball may go somewhere else entirely.
That is where Ethan Davis and DaSaahn Brame come in. Both are catch-first tight ends, and both could wind up as the No. 3 option in the passing game if Tennessee leans into what each does best. Brent Hubbs said Davis’s athletic ability is “very, very obvious,” adding that if he stays healthy, he thinks Davis is going to be “a really good tight end” for the Vols. Hubbs also called Brame a “freak athlete.”
An anonymous Tennessee source told CBS Sports this week that Davis is a “super athletic tight end that can catch like a wide receiver and play in space.” Heupel has already said Brame is very natural as a route runner and understands space, leverage and how to high point the ball with a big catch radius. He also said Brame has grown into a more complete tight end, with better ability in the run game and in protection. Brame missed a bunch of time with an injury coming out of high school, which slowed that progress.
Tennessee has used three tight ends on the field at times over the last two seasons, mostly to help in the run game, so the Vols are not starting from scratch with heavier personnel. The difference now is the possibility that the tight end group matters more as a passing weapon than it has before. The ceiling is easy to see because it has a precedent: in 2011, the New England Patriots got 169 receptions, 2,237 yards and 24 touchdowns combined from Gronkowski and Hernandez.
That is the kind of production Tennessee is not promising and does not need to promise. But the pieces are there for a bigger role in 2026 if Davis stays healthy, Brame keeps growing and the receiver battle behind Staley and Matthews remains unsettled. For Heupel, the question is no longer whether he has enough bodies at tight end. It is whether he has enough playmakers there to make defenses account for them every snap.
