Josh Heupel explains why Emmanuel Okoye is starting his Tennessee career at tight end
Emmanuel Okoye starting his Tennessee career at tight end goes back to the basketball court. That’s where the freshman athlete was initially spotted before his football career began, beginning his fast track in the game that ultimately led him to the Vols.
“He was a great basketball player, too,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday, after his team’s first practice of fall camp. “We got a chance to watch some of the footage and his athletic traits.”
Included in those traits for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Okoye, the Nigerian athlete who committed to the Vols out of the NFL Academy in England, is his hands.
That’s why Okoye, who signed with Tennessee as a four-star athlete, is lining up at tight end during his first college football camp.
“Being able to watch his hands a little bit on the basketball court too, we felt like that would transition over,” Heupel said. “With his length and athleticism, that’s why we started him at the position we did.”
Jacob Warren: ‘Emmanuel is one of the most pure athletes I’ve ever seen’
Okoye, who only started playing football two years ago. He was initially spotted on a basketball court, turning heads with his dunking ability at his size, and was invited to Osi Umenyior’s ‘The Uprise’, a football talent evaluation camp held in Nigeria.
He was initially part of the 2024 recruiting cycle, but reclassified to 2023 and signed with Tennessee in May, ranked No. 258 overall in the On3 rankings and No. 9 overall among athletes.
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“Emmanuel is one of the most pure athletes I’ve ever seen in my life,” Tennessee redshirt senior tight end Jacob Warren said at SEC Media Days in Nashville in July. “Being completely real the way (Okoye) runs, the way he jumps, cuts and move, everything about him is super athletic, super twitchy.”
‘It’s a long process here as we begin this journey with him’
Okoye’s recruitment quickly picked up after he went from Umenyiora’s camp to an NFL Africa talent identification camp in Nigeria and then to the NFL Academy in London.
He got his first taste of training camp with his Tennessee teammates on Wednesday morning. More first steps in what Heupel described as “a long, great football journey” ahead of Okoye.
“You think about where he was 12 months ago and where he’s at today,” Heupel said, “it’s a drastic difference in the competition and everything that he’s facing.
“We’re excited about him because he’s urgent, he cares and he continues to grow from day to day and rep to rep. It’s a long process here as we begin this journey with him.”
