Von Pearson Could Be Playmaker The Vols Have Lacked

Oct 19, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Members of the Tennessee Volunteers football team celebrate with fans after defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 23 to 21. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

With all due respect to Marquez North and his fantastic freshman season, the Vols never really had a go-to guy last season.

A lot of that has to do with the inconsistent play from the quarterback position.

Most of it, however, was due simply to lack of talent.

North, as talented as he is, went through some growing pains and was expected to be a go-to guy fresh out of high school.

That’s typically not the best way to break in a wide receiver, but Butch Jones and the Volunteers had no other choice.

This season the Vols will have the luxury of bringing in a wide receiver that appears to be SEC ready — Von Pearson.

Pearson is a 6’1″/180 lb JuCo transfer that is already drawing rave reviews after just two days of practice.

Keep in mind that Cam Sutton, the defensive back that Pearson was “abusing”, was a freshman All-American in 2013 and a lot of folks believe he was the best defensive player on the team.

It’s obviously still early, but it’s easy to understand why Pearson reminds fans of former Vol wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.

Both are guys that came to Tennessee after playing at the JuCo level.

Pearson, much like Patterson, appears to have a knack for making people miss in the open-field.

Despite the similarities between Pearson and Patterson, there is one area where Vol fans hope they’re completely different — staying in school.

Patterson bolted for the NFL after one season at Tennessee.

Hopefully for Vol fans, that won’t be the case with Von Pearson.