ATHENS — Georgia football remains in the hunt for Tennessee tight end Eli Wolf, a plug-and-play graduate transfer.
Wolf, whose scholarship counts toward the 2020 class, visited UGA on Jan. 27 and has a visit to Ohio State after National Signing Day.
Georgia’s tight end depth issue has been well documented with just two healthy scholarship tight ends on the roster. Rising senior Charlie Woerner and redshirt freshman John Fitzpatrick return.
Junior Isaac Nauta (6-4, 240) elected to bypass his senior season and declare for the NFL draft. Freshman Luke Ford chose to transfer to his home state school, Illinois.
UGA early enrollee Ryland Goede suffered a knee injury last season and may not be cleared at the start of fall drills.
Wolf, named the Vols’ most improved offensive player in 2018 spring drills, graduates from Tennessee in May.
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Heisman Trophy candidate Jake Fromm took time to visit with Wolf on his visit, as did Woerner. Nauta also called Wolf to give him insight into the Georgia football program’s championship ways.
The 6-4, 236-pound Wolf was used primarily as a blocker last season. Downfield blocking is always at the top of Kirby Smart’s list for receivers, but the battled-tested SEC veteran would figure to get more targets at UGA.
Wolf was a standout receiver at Minster High School in Ohio, where he holds all of the schools’ receiving records, among them: career receptions (124), receiving yards (2,234) and receiving touchdowns (27) over three varsity seasons (2012-14).
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt had high praise for Wolf last July after choosing him to represent the Vols at SEC Media Days in Atlanta.
“If we can get everybody to compete and play with the effort and toughness and intensity that Eli was playing with maybe the last seven or eight practices, we’re going to be fine,” Pruitt said last July according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Pruitt said Wolf gained 20 pounds from January of 2018 to July, also winning the Vols’ Harvey Robinson Award in April, which goes to the most improved offensive player of spring drills.
The Tennessee football program’s respect for Wolf carried over into the regular season, when he was named a team captain for the Vols’ opening game against West Virginia.
Wolf caught five of the six passes thrown his way last season — the incompletion was a ball that sailed high — and he didn’t have any drops in spring scrimmages.
Wolf caught all five of his targets in the Orange and White Game last spring, leading all receivers with five catches that went for 63 yards and a touchdown.
