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Tennessee’s tight ends coach confident Ethan Wolf will be ‘ready to go’ Saturday
By Jason Hall
Published:
Tennessee tight ends coach Mark Elder told reporters Wednesday that he believes freshman tight end Ethan Wolf will be “ready to go” for the team’s matchup with No. 4 Oklahoma on Saturday night. Wolf suffered a bruised knee in last week’s game against Arkansas State.
“Ethan is doing great,” Elder said. “He is doing really well. I think that Ethan will be ready to go (this weekend.)”
Wolf became the first true freshman in school history to start at tight end in Tennessee’s opening game against Utah State. Elder believes that Wolf has continued to improve and showcased it prior to his injury in last week’s game, which saw him record a team-best five receptions.
“He did a nice job and caught a hand full of balls in the game thus far,” Elder said. “He blocked pretty well. He is coming along and still progressing. He is doing a really nice job of taking the coaching and getting better with technique day-by-day.” On Monday, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones announced that Wolf was questionable for Saturday’s game and would be evaluated over the week. If Wolf cannot play this weekend, the Tennessee depth chart names either Alex Ellis or Daniel Helm as the next in line. Helm is also a true-freshman and ranked as a consensus four-start prospect.
“Coming in from high school Daniel was a wide receiver and a linebacker,” Elder said. “His physicality is a linebacker but there wasn’t a whole lot of blocking. He has been steadily increasing his ability to block to be a true wide tight end. That is where I think he has made the biggest stride. There wasn’t much asked of him to do that until he stepped foot on this campus. He is continuing to get better in that regard.”
Wolf currently has 46 yards on eight catches through his first two games. As a high school senior, Wolf recorded 41 receptions for 475 yards and five touchdowns for Minister High School in Ohio. He ranked as a consensus three-star prospect and was named to the Associated Press Second Team All-Ohio as a junior and senior.
A former freelance journalist from Nashville, Jason covers Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky
