#34

McCallan Castles

Senior tight end for Tennessee. 2023: 22 catches, 283 receiving yards, 5 TD.

TE · Tennessee · Sr. · #34

6′5″ · 252 lb · South Lake Tahoe, CA

CFB Index 49 · #57 of 137 TEsMedium-low confidenceTennessee 2023 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

TE recruit

No. 393 nationally · Signed with California

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 tight end for Tennessee. 2023: 22 catches, 283 receiving yards, 5 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to California in 2018.
Transferred from UC Davis to Tennessee in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Two seasons at Tennessee, 298 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

2018

Signed with California3-star out of South Tahoe

202312 games

The role got bigger.

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#393 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2018–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2018–2023

2 coaches

2018

Jeremy Pruitt

Tennessee

2023

Josh Heupel

Tennessee

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Jeremy Pruitt → Josh Heupel. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2018California7-6HC: Justin Wilcox · Run-leaning

2023Tennessee9-4HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

49Rotational starter #57 of 137?

Medium-low confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: td rate (90th percentile). Strength: rec tds (87th percentile). Concern: catch rate (7th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#64 / 639 · 90th pct

12.1%

Yards / catch#287 / 639 · 55th pct

12.6

EPA / target#311 / 639 · 51st pct

0.76

Explosive rate#547 / 639 · 14th pct

6.1%

Catch rate#595 / 639 · 7th pct

63.6%

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#14 / 160 · 87th pct

Yards / catch#47 / 160 · 71st pct

12.9

Long catch#47 / 160 · 71st pct

Rec yards#66 / 160 · 59th pct

283

Receptions#76 / 160 · 51st pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home9g	2.0	28.3	16.0	0.4
Road3g	1.3	9.3	7.3	0.3

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	1.4	20.3	16.4	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	2.4	28.2	10.2	0.6

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

49 · #57 of 137 TEs

Three-star recruit. Now #57 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	Tennessee	22	283	12.9	5	--
2018	California	1	15	15.0	0	--
Career		23	298	13.0	5	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2023

W 20–13

vs Texas A&M

2 rec · 24 yds

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With J. Milton III — 100 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 63.1 · 34 rush yds (8 car) · J. Ross — 40 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 49 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 2 · Austin Peay · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +3.35Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 43 yds for a TD (Charles Campbell KICK)
Week 8 · Alabama · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +2.82Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 6 yds for a TD (Charles Campbell KICK)
Week 1 · Iowa · 2&8 · Q4 · EPA +2.82Nico Iamaleava pass complete to McCallan Castles for 18 yds for a TD (Charles Campbell KICK)
Week 13 · Vanderbilt · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.80Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 10 yds for a TD (Charles Campbell KICK)
Week 10 · UConn · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.60Nico Iamaleava pass complete to McCallan Castles for 19 yds for a TD (Josh Turbyville KICK)
Week 7 · Texas A&M · 3&5 · Q3 · EPA +2.49Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 13 yds to the TA&M 41 for a 1ST down
Week 13 · Vanderbilt · 3&7 · Q3 · EPA +2.37Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 8 yds to the VAN 43 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · UTSA · 3&14 · Q3 · EPA +2.03Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 14 yds to the TENN 35 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Florida · 3&9 · Q3 · EPA +2.00Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 11 yds to the FLA 27 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Texas A&M · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.90Joe Milton III pass complete to McCallan Castles for 11 yds to the TENN 41 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 49-13vs Virginia	1	16	16.0	0	16
Wk 2	W 30-13vs Austin Peay	1	43	43.0	1	43
Wk 3	L 16-29@ Florida	1	11	11.0	0	11
Wk 4	W 45-14vs UTSA	2	19	9.5	0	14
Wk 5	W 41-20vs South Carolina	2	11	5.5	0	11
Wk 7	W 20-13vs Texas A&M	2	24	12.0	0	13
Wk 8	L 20-34@ Alabama	2	12	6.0	1	6
Wk 10	W 59-3vs UConn	4	56	14.0	1	19	Season-high 56 yds
Wk 11	L 7-36@ Missouri	1	5	5.0	0	5
Wk 12	L 10-38vs Georgia	2	21	10.5	0	12
Wk 13	W 48-24vs Vanderbilt	3	47	15.7	1	29
Bowl	W 35-0vs Iowa	1	18	18.0	1	18
Total		22	283	13.8	5	43

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

McCallan Castles

2018

202312 games

2023 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Complete TE

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