'Grateful' McCallan Castles happy to be making plays early at Tennessee, but he's not taking the credit

Making the first defender miss and winning the 43-yard race to the end zone wasn’t the most impressive part of Tennessee tight end McCallan Castles’ touchdown Saturday at Neyland Stadium. At least not if you ask Castles himself. 

“I just saw Bru (McCoy) putting a guy in the end zone,” Castles said earlier this week. “I think that is more impressive than the touchdown itself, the fact that he drove that guy 40 yards in the end zone. 

“It is a great block. That is why he is probably going to be playing on Sundays, because that dude just plays hard and he gives effort for everybody, even on plays he is not getting the ball.” 

The early returns for Castles are just as lofty as how he described McCoy.

“He’s done a really good job,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said on Wednesday. “He’s got great speed, great hands, really natural out on the perimeter. Coach (Alec) Abeln has done a really good job of helping him develop in the corps. 

“The run game, you look at what he’s doing right now, he’s playing with great fundamentals and technique. More than willing (to block). Been really good there. Some of the pass protection stuff, he’s really rock solid at, too.”

The 43-yard Castles touchdown was the most explosive play in an otherwise sluggish 30-13 win over Austin Peay on Saturday.

‘The tight end in our tempo is what gives you the ability to have formation variability’

It was the second touchdown to a Tennessee tight end in as many games to start the season, after Jacob Warren caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Joe Milton in the 49-13 win over Virginia on September 2 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. 

Tight ends accounted for just three touchdowns in Tennessee’s passing game in 13 games last season, with Princeton Fant catching all three in his final season with the Vols.  

Tennessee hasn’t missed a beat at the position after adding Castles, a native of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., out of the NCAA Transfer Portal from UC Davis. 

“We had an opportunity to watch the tape,” Heupel said of Castles. “You watch the tape, it was pretty clear that he’s got the physical traits that you’re looking for at that position.”

It was Warren who helped Castles settle in back in the spring, when he admitted to be “spinning” early on in Tennessee’s uptempo offense. 

“He is a perfectionist by nature,” Heupel said. “If it’s not perfect, early on here he would get down on himself. Jacob Warren, his maturity, his understanding of what we’re doing, has really helped him grow really quickly inside of our offense. 

“The partnership, the friendship that those guys have, the camaraderie those guys have as a whole, has been big to his transition.”

It’s an important partnership at a position that Heupel described as “extremely important” in his offensive scheme.

“If you look at us, we play with a tight end on the field pretty much every snap since I’ve been here,” Heupel said. “… The tight end in our tempo is what gives you the ability to have formation variability. 

“… Those guys are instrumental in how we play as an offense. They’re hugely important. They’ve been really good in the run game. They’ve been a big part of the pass game if you look at the last two years and a couple plus games.”

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee at Florida, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

After Castles followed McCoy to the end zone, Warren was one of the first Tennessee players to come off the sideline and Castles after his first touchdown with the Vols. 

“Tight ends, we’re going to celebrate when we get in the end zone,” Warren said, “and we’re going to enjoy it. Just dancing, making a fool out of ourselves.”

He knows Castles well enough to know that he wasn’t going to make the touchdown about himself, though. If he did make one tackler miss, step out of another tackle and race to the end zone.

“How he prepares and the athlete that he is kind of shows up in that moment,” Warren said. “He was able to make one miss and step out of one, and then accelerate and get to the end zone. I was really special. 

“It was cool to watch and I’m sure he talked about guys like Bru McCoy on the perimeter blocking for him. He’s extremely grateful for guys like that. It’s cool for him to step up and make a play like that.”