Josh Malone is certainly a game-changer for Tennessee football at wide receiver, and he showed it again on Saturday. But Jauan Jennings is the playmaker for the Vols at the same position.
Jennings and Malone are both team guys and very accepting of each others’ success. That showed on Saturday, and Joshua Dobbs made sure they both got their due in the final home game of the season.
While Malone gave the Vols breathing room, Jennings was the guy to jump-start the offense. He had a 10-yard catch for a first down on the first play of the game. Then, after the Vols fell behind 6-0, he got the offense started with a 49-yard touchdown reception.
Jennings wasn’t done, though. He caught a five-yard touchdown pass in the second half to give the Vols a 28-20 lead. When it was all said and done, Jennings finished the game with four receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
And both of his touchdowns came when it was still anybody’s ball-game. Being a clutch playmaker like that, as he has been all year, has to count for something. And it does.
That’s why Jennings gets to join Malone, and as a result, two Tennessee football wide receivers were Smokey Points winners in the same game. Looks like Butch Jones really has returned the Vols to Wide Receiver U status.