Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren isn’t taking a wait-and-see approach this season. He’s taking a go-get-it approach.
Warren told Off The Hook Sports that he intends on this season being his last at Tennessee. After this fall, Warren plans to focus on preparing for the NFL and, eventually, pursuing a field in kinesiology.
Warren could come back for another season because of the exemption given to all athletes in 2020 for Covid. However, that’s not the plan.
“I’ve done a lot of reflecting on it recently because it’s very important,” Warren said. “It’s coming up before you know it. It will be decision time.”
Don’t be mistaken. Warren loves playing for Tennessee, just like his father, James Warren, who lettered for the Vols as an offensive lineman in 1992 and 1993. However, the younger Warren’s path won’t continue along with the Vols if he has the season he hopes to have in 2022.
“I’ve set goals for myself to make it to the NFL and play in the NFL,” Warren said. “That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time, so after sitting down and setting those goals, I have to start thinking like ‘This is my last chance. This is my last year. This is my senior year. It’s all or nothing.’
“Taking that mindset into this season is kind of where I feel like I need to be in order to ensure that I’m doing everything I can to be as successful as possible.”
Warren doesn’t even tell others that he could return in 2023. He just likes to say he’s a senior and leave it at that. That’s all a part of the mindset. Warren said thinking about the possibility of playing in 2023 would be like a “safety blanket” in which he could more easily make excuses not to prepare himself for the NFL or be as good as he can be at Tennessee.
“In my head, it’s this one,” Warren said. “I’ve got to attack this season and be ready to play my best and go achieve those goals.”
Warren knows that pre-draft lists, predictions and projections will start to crop up later this year. Those will all be a factor in his ultimate decision to head off to the NFL. However, he’ll also rely on his own intuition.
“At the end of the day,” Warren said, “it’s just going to be whether it’s time for me to bet on myself and take that jump.
“Hopefully, the decision will be clear after this season and it will be pretty obvious.”
