Tennessee football: Vols WR corps is deceivingly deep

There’s not a lot of experience at the Tennessee football wide receiver position. But the Volunteers are much deeper there than you might think.

In 1998, Tennessee football lost record-setting wide receiver Marcus Nash along with Peyton Manning. Vols fans wondered how they could replace such a talented target.

The next year, Peerless Price stepped in and became the greatest playmaking receiver in school history. The loss of Nash only meant the emergence of Cedrick Wilson.

The Vols are in a similar situation this year. Losing a nearly 1,000-yard wide receiver and huge playmaker in Josh Malone leaves many Tennessee football fans concerned about the wide receiver situation for the 2017 season.

After all, the Vols are breaking in a new quarterback, so they’d like to have a variety of go-to guys to help out Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano.

And if you just take a look at who is proven, only one name pops up…converted quarterback Jauan Jennings. Jennings would be the Price for this class, although it’s unfair to have expectations on him to be that productive. Price was one of a kind.

Still, Jennings is the elite target, and everywhere else supposedly has questions.

But a closer look at the unit shows that it can be very deep. The players are just unproven.

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In the slot, you have Josh Smith, who was a reliable safety blanket in 2015. He took a step back in 2016, largely due to injury, but also because freshman Tyler Byrd emerged.

That means the Vols enter 2017 with two slot guys they should know they can rely on. So in reality, the only question surrounding the team is the No. 2 wideout.

With Jennings on one side, we’ve covered at length the debate on who will start on the other side. In addition to the competition between Smith and Byrd to start, we have that No. 2 wideout spot on our list of top 10 position battles for fall camp as well.

This may be where the questions are, but there is a lot of raw talent.

Obviously, Marquez Callaway has been the breakout star, and this recent article by Blake Morgan of SEC Country reaffirms that.

Still, behind Callaway, you have a 6’6″ target in Jeff George, who was once a four-star junior college transfer, and you have Brandon Johnson, who was also a four-star. Both have shown potential to be very good.

And to top it all off, Jones praised Josh Palmer specifically after Tuesday’s practice. A three-star member of the 2017 Tennessee football recruiting class, Palmer has been a surprise late-bloomer.

That means the Vols right now have five wideouts that they could have faith in along with two slot receivers.

And speaking of slot receivers, LaTrell Williams also impressed coaches throughout the offseason as well. Once a two-star recruit, he’s a speedy target who could be used on gadget and trick plays.

So with five wideouts and three slot guys vying for playing time, it’s hard to really say that the Vols are thin at wide receiver.

They are thin on experience, but losing Malone from last year has only opened the door for other guys to shine at the position.

Must Read: Tennessee football 2017 depth chart projections

Until last year, Jones liked to run a deep receiver rotation in his system. Whether or not he goes back to that with Larry Scott as new offensive coordinator remains to be seen. However, if Tennessee football’s offensive system does run a deep rotation, the bodies are there. The Vols have a lot of talent that just needs a chance to prove itself.

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