Tennessee football: Vols in serious trouble with Jauan Jennings wrist injury

Tennessee football wide receiver Jauan Jennings is expected to miss up to 12 weeks due to a wrist injury. The Volunteers are in serious trouble without him.

Tennessee football got very lucky in their 42-41 win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Monday night. They needed two missed field goals, two crucial penalties, two fumbles and a series of coaching blunders by Paul Johnson to come away 1-0.

But amidst all of those errors, there was some good news with Quinten Dormady‘s efficient play, John Kelly‘s hard running, and the emergence of Marquez Callaway. In fact, Callaway’s arrival may cause fans to feel like they don’t have to worry about the loss of wideout Jauan Jennings.

After all, the sophomore had over 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns against an elite secondary, and all of his catches were amazing.

But don’t kid yourself. The Vols are in trouble without Jennings. The junior receiver suffered a dislocated wrist and is likely out for 12 weeks. That’s devastating because Callaway is highly unlikely to keep up what he did on Monday.

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Callaway’s exploits caught everybody by surprise, which was a huge advantage to him. When the Vols released their depth chart last week, they listed Callaway as a bench player.

Meanwhile, Jennings was clearly the go-to receiver, and Brandon Johnson and Josh Palmer were potential starters on the other side. So when it came to focusing on wideouts and preparing for them, Callaway was an afterthought.

Do you honestly think Georgia Tech, with no film of him to go on, would have let him dominate like that had they been able to hone in on him more? There’s no way they give him a chance to make that deep catch in the middle of the field. And there’s no way they don’t look out for that fade pattern that got his first touchdown.

Look what they did to Tennessee’s passing offense before Jennings’s injury. There wasn’t much going on. Why? They had prepared for Jennings and the other guys.

Now, with Jennings out, teams can focus in on Callaway. So he’s not likely to be as good going forward. And that puts a lot of pressure on Johnson, Palmer and eventually Jeff George to step up.

After all, with Jennings out, Callaway is the only proven playmaker at wideout now. And he only did it for one game when teams hadn’t focused on him yet.

It’s going to be a lot tougher for him to do it when SEC play starts. That’s especially true with Jennings out.

Next: Grading the Vols in their win vs. Georgia Tech

So yes, Callaway is good. But Tennessee football is in serious trouble without Jennings. Now, they have no way to keep the defense off-guard and honest unless more proven receivers outside of Callaway step up. After Monday’s game, that doesn’t look too promising.

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