NFL Draft Profile: Princeton Fant, Tight End, Tennessee Volunteers
#88
Pos: TE
Ht: 6012
Wt: 238
Hand: 0958
Arm: 3138
Wing: 7678
40: 4.75
DOB: 3/11/1999
Hometown: Nashville, TN
High School: LaVergne
Eligibility: 2023
Princeton Fant
Tennessee Volunteers
One-Liner:
Move tight end with solid blocking and receiving traits but minimal upside.
Evaluation:
Athlete with experience playing attached, offset, and in the slot. Used in a variety of different blocking schemes in kick-outs, down blocks, and screens. Shows solid confidence in his hands attacking the ball and coming back to it on drive throws. Moves very well laterally when pass protecting, being able to find work on either edge. Plays with solid burst at the release, emphasizing to get upfield before stemming any direction. Does a good job leaning to create momentum to separate in his routes. Limited route tree but has good footwork at the top of his routes. Has poor effort blocking between the tackles, specifically when he’s attached to the offensive line. Can bring some pop when he is blocking but rarely latches on and drives defenders. Can stop his momentum before contact when wrapping on gap schemes. Blocking technique is lacking with hand placement and putting his head down coming off the line. Limited action as a pass-catcher in college and frame doesn’t give much hope for a jump ball upside at the next level. Not a lot to offer after the catch. Move tight end with solid blocking and receiving traits but minimal upside. Splitting snaps about 50/50 with Tennessee’s other Tight End, Fant does his best work for his offense as the sniffer. He brings good force with his blocks for someone who isn’t the tallest tight end. He’ll pop defenders in space when wrapping on counter or clearing the sidewalk with outside runs. Fant is best when doing this as he can use his speed to out-leverage C and D gap defenders. On the contrary, Fant isn’t a great finisher, as he’ll often fail to latch on at all and will allow his defender back into the play. His effort on some of these blocks probably cost his team extra yardage. In the passing game, they use him as a decoy on screens and in the flats most often. He has some fancy footwork at the top of his routes but isn’t asked to do too much in terms of completing the route tree. He has solid hands with the occasional concentration drop but doesn’t have the twitch or agility to really make any moves after the catch.
Grade:
UDFA
Background:
Princeton Fant is coming into 2022 after having a tremendous 2021 season where he set several career highs in receptions, receiving yards, and yards per catch. In his previous three seasons, he made contributions to Tennessee's offense. He was a three-star prospect coming out of LaVergne High School in LaVergne, Tennessee, and was a captain all four years there. In December of 2021, Fant earned a Sociology Degree from Tennessee.
