Tennessee football: 15 potential dark-horse Vols for 2019 season

Just behind Tyler Byrd is another speedy four-star receiver who is meant to play the slot and committed to Butch Jones a year later. After one reception for 12 yards as a freshman, Jordan Murphy showed the different ways he could be effective as a sophomore in 2018, catching 11 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown and getting two carries for 58 yards.

This year, at 6’0″ 180 pounds, Murphy is not even listed on Tennessee football’s depth chart. That indicates that he is taking a redshirt, which is smart since he could then have two years to play in the future. However, even with him redshirting, we are keeping him on this list as a dark-horse Vol who could explode onto the scene.

If one or two injuries happen, the Vols could turn to Murphy in the slot to stretch the field with speed. Again, they have three wideouts starting in Marquez Callaway, Josh Palmer and Jauan Jennings. One of them going down could immediately turn Murphy into a major playmaker.

At this point, Byrd is probably the favorite to take that spot. But Murphy could potentially do it and does bring some versatility and athleticism to the position that Byrd might not have. So unless we find out he is no longer on the team, he is going to be on this list, even with a redshirt.