Mike Ekeler shares how Tennessee's kick return competition is going

Position battles are happening throughout college football right now as teams are less than two weeks away from their season opener. Tennessee is no different, and there’s a battle for the starting kick returner job taking place in Knoxville at the moment.

Special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler recently provided an update on how the kick return competition is going. It’s clear that he feels good about multiple options.

“We’ve got about four or five guys we’re working in returner and off returner in that role. So we feel good about that, you know,” Ekeler said. “We’ve got Dee [Williams], we’ve got Cam [Seldon], we’ve got [Dylan Sampson], you know. We’ve got Will Wright back there working. We’ve got some guys that we feel confident with.”

Williams is a senior who has proven to be a dynamic punt returner for the Vols. He averaged 18.7 yards per punt return last year for Tennessee and also returned one kickoff for 17 yards.

Seldon is a freshman running back from Virginia, while Sampson is a sophomore running back who finished with 397 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns last season for the Vols. He had one kickoff return for 24 yards in 2022.

Wright is a redshirt junior defensive back who walked onto the Tennessee program in 2020. He saw action in nine games last season and had an interception.

Tennessee will rely on freshmen on special teams

It’s no surprise that freshman Cam Seldon is getting work at kickoff return this preseason as Tennessee has made it clear under Josh Heupel that it will play freshmen on special teams.

Ekeler also spoke about other freshmen who are getting work in various special teams roles.

“We’ve got a bunch of true freshmen, a bunch of those DBs, receivers, shoot, Ethan Davis, a tight end. But you’ve got John Slaughter, you’ve got [Rickey] Gibson, you’ve got [Jordan] Matthews, you’ve got [Cristian] Conyer. I mean we’ve got some guys who are doing some great things – Caleb Herring is out there rocking and rolling on a couple of units,” Ekeler said. “So it’s cool. Love our freshmen; love their mentality. They love the game and they’re only going to get better.”

Tennessee believes that playing freshmen on special teams helps to ensure that they are ready when their number is called to help out on offense and defense. When you recruit at the level that Tennessee does, you sign athletes every year who are ready to help immediately, whether it be on offense, defense or special teams.

“From the freshmen standpoint, one of the really cool things, if you look back since the time we’ve gotten here, we’ve taken freshmen, and we’ve put them out there,” Ekeler said. “We’ve played them on special teams from the jump. And developed them, and got them game reps right there, got them acclimated, so when they go in on offense, go in on defense, they’re like, ‘Hey, no big deal.’ They’re already ready to rock and roll. And that’s kind of how we look at it as a staff from a special teams standpoint. We develop those guys there.”