After entering the NCAA transfer portal in May, a former Virginia Tech tight end has decided to return to his hometown and play at Tennessee. Cody Duncan, who played at Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic High School, recently joined the Vols as a preferred walk-on and started spring-semester classes at Tennessee last week.
The 6-foot-1, 231-pound Duncan also was a walk-on for the Hokies during the first two seasons of his college career before leaving Virginia Tech last year following the spring semester. He sat out the 2022 season because of an injury, but he’s now enrolled at Tennessee and ready to team up with his younger brother, Vols signee Trevor Duncan.
The younger Duncan, who was a two-way lineman at Knoxville Catholic, signed with Tennessee last month during the Early Signing Period. He’s planning to join the Vols in late May after graduating from Knoxville Catholic, and he expects to start off on the defensive line at Tennessee.
Cody Duncan last played with his younger brother in 2019 during his senior season at Knoxville Catholic, where he played inside linebacker and running back. Trevor Duncan was a freshman for the Fighting Irish at the time.
“I had some options to play FCS ball — Austin Peay, Murray (State), Western Carolina,” Cody Duncan said. “But Tennessee gave me the option to come in spring and, with my brother committing and signing, I don’t think I could turn that opportunity down. We’ve always pushed each other, so it wasn’t too hard to decide.”
The younger Duncan said he has known “for a few months” that Cody Duncan would be joining him in playing for the Vols. Trevor Duncan said he “didn’t really know for sure” when his brother entered the transfer portal in May that they would have an opportunity to play together, “so it is kind of nice that he did decide to go there.”
Trevor Duncan said he’s looking forward to being his brother’s teammate again, this time at the SEC school in their hometown.
“That’s going to be a lot of fun,” Trevor Duncan said. “I already have the chemistry with him, and just playing with your brother is always a lot of fun.”
Coming out of high school, Cody Duncan was a two-star prospect in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, where he was ranked the No. 187 inside linebacker in the 2020 class and the No. 109 player in his class from the state of Tennessee. He was also rated a two-star prospect by 247Sports.
Before choosing to walk on at Virginia Tech, he received scholarship offers from UT Martin, Eastern Illinois, Butler, Centre College and Virginia-Wise. He also had preferred walk-on opportunities from Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee State and Austin Peay coming out of high school before committing to the Hokies.
Trevor Duncan said he and his brother are “super competitive” with one another. He expects that to add to the fun once he arrives at Tennessee this spring, particularly when he gets a chance to line up opposite his brother on the practice field.
“We’re definitely going to push each other — probably get after it a little bit at practice,” the younger Duncan said. “He’ll be a tight end, so I’ll be going against him.”
Cody Duncan is expected to give the Vols some additional depth at tight end, a position where they currently have only three scholarship players: senior Jacob Warren, UC Davis transfer McCallan Castles and freshman Ethan Davis, a Top247 prospect from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga. Tennessee’s walk-on tight ends also include fifth-year senior Hunter Salmon, former UCF transfer Charlie Browder and redshirt freshman Titus Rohrer.
Duncan said he’s “not too sure about my opportunity yet,” but he “will be playing tight end right now, or whatever they want me to play to succeed in the future.”
“I played on special teams my second year at Tech,” he said, “but I’d like to make the most of it with three years left.”
