McCallan Castles stood at the podium inside the north studio of the Neyland-Thompson Athletics Center last Wednesday.
The tight end listed off a number of defensive players that he has faced over the last two weeks of Tennessee football fall camp. The usual names were mentioned—Aaron Beasley and Keenan Pili, but Castles immediately named freshman linebacker Arion Carter.
I have to shout out Arion Carter,” Castles said. “That dude fills holes fast and he is going to lace you in the hole. I’ve never seen a dude come in so ready to play from a young guy standpoint.”
Castles has seen a lot of football over the last five years. So has linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary.
The 6-foot-1, 227-pound Carter has quickly made an impression in the Vols’ linebackers room, thus far living up to the billing of the four-star prospect out of Smyrna High School that signed with Tennessee’s 2023 class, though there are times he also looks the part of a newcomer adjusting to life in the SEC.
“There’s never going to be perfection,” Jean-Mary said. “Youth always equals mistakes and we just want to limit the amount. The thing with Arion is that he plays so hard, fast and is a great athlete so he’s able to overcome some of those mistakes that maybe other people can’t. We are not going to spoon-feed him. We are going to keep force-feeding him and putting him in difficult situations so he learns from them and if he does it right, he can explain why he did it right
“I think he’s right where he was and I think he’s probably a little further ahead than where he was in the spring. Obviously, we are expecting big things from him the rest of this camp.
Part of what has helped in Carter’s transition is the experience Tennessee has at the position.
Beasley is back for his fourth season after leading the team in tackles a year ago and Pili was a two-time captain at BYU before transferring to Tennessee last spring. Even underclassmen Elijah Herring and Kaleb Perry made contributions last season.
