Tennessee expected to hire former Mizzou player Alec Abeln as new TEs coach

Tennessee Football has its new tight ends coach, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. He reports that Volunteer head coach Josh Heupel will hire Alec Abeln as the new coach of the tight ends. Here was the Zenitz report:

“Tennessee is expected to hire Alec Abeln as tight ends coach, sources tell @On3sports. Abeln has worked at Tennessee as an analyst since 2021 after previously working at Ole Miss. He was an offensive lineman at Missouri when Josh Heupel was Mizzou’s OC.”

Abeln played for Missouri from 2013 to 2017, where he was primarily a left guard, but now is focusing on the tight end position as a young coach. After spending the last two years with Heupel since he took the job, Abeln now gets a big promotion to head of the TE room.

Heupel gets raise, extension

Josh Heupel helped engineer an impressive turnaround at Tennessee in 2022. He’s now being rewarded for his efforts.

Heupel has agreed to a contract extension through 2029 and will see his salary increase to $9 million — which is a $4 million raise, according to On3 and VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs. He just completed his second season as the Volunteers’ head coach after arriving from UCF, and he got Tennessee back into the national spotlight in college football.

Tennessee went 11-2 this season, one year after a 7-6 record in Heupel’s first season at the helm. The Volunteers became known for their high-powered offense, leading the SEC with 525.5 yards per game and 46.1 points per game behind quarterback Hendon Hooker. They also got one of the biggest wins in recent memory when they knocked off Alabama at Neyland Stadium thanks to a last-second field goal — setting off a celebration for the ages.

Even despite losing Hooker to a season-ending injury against South Carolina, Tennessee still clinched a spot in the Orange Bowl against Clemson, winning the game 31-14. After that game, Heupel looked back on the culture he and his staff started to build.

“I just know that where we started, where we’ve gotten to, but there’s so much left out there for us,” Heupel said. “It’s in individual habits, it’s in us continuing to improve in communication as coaches, refining what we’re doing inside of our building, as we continue to develop depth inside of our program, recruit.

“One of the great lessons, I said this to the football team after the game tonight, is two years ago there was so much outside noise that wasn’t necessarily positive, and none of those guys paid attention to it. They decided collectively and individually to go accomplish something, and they worked for it.”