Tennessee football: Brandon Johnson redshirt offsets Vols attrition at WR

By taking a redshirt, Brandon Johnson helps Tennessee football’s future at wide receiver. The Volunteers can reload at the position in 2020.

This was always a concern. We keep hearing about how young Tennessee football is and how much they need to rebuild under Jeremy Pruitt, but the Vols would have to replace all of their top receivers next year as they got better everywhere else.

Such a drop-off at one unit can be devastating. Just look at what the defensive line has been going through this year. That would have happened at receiver next year were it not for one genius move that Jeremy Pruitt made this week.

Pruitt said Wednesday that senior wide receiver Brandon Johnson, who has only played in four games this year, will take a redshirt. Johnson is stuck behind Callaway, Jennings and Josh Palmer. For the year, he has two catches for 31 yards. In 2018, he had 14 receptions for 132 yards. His only touchdown the past two years is a blocked punt that he returned.

So it makes sense to redshirt Johnson. And the good news for Tennessee football is we know what Johnson can do. Amidst a disastrous 2017 season that saw the Vols go 4-8, Johnson still managed to lead the team in receiving with 37 receptions for 482 yards. At 6’2″ 195 pounds, he’s a proven wideout who can play.

By taking a redshirt, he and Palmer will be able to once again make up an experienced cast of wideouts next year, as Palmer certainly isn’t leaving early for the NFL given his numbers so far. That’s a drop-off from Jennings and Callaway, but it’s not as major of a drop-off as the defensive line was this year.

Add in the potential of Ramel Keyton, a four-star commitment in the 2019 class, and UT has players who can produce at the position for the future. They’ll be able to reload and not just rebuild with the losses of Callaway and Jennings.

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Another way to dramatically help this, though, would be if Tyler Byrd took a redshirt. Once a four-star recruit, Byrd has been buried in the depth chart since he’s been on Rocky Top. But at 5’11” 201 pounds, he’s got the speed and agility to play in the slot, and he has proven what he can do with the ball in his hands at limited times.

Since he has only played in two games this year and is also a senior, him taking a redshirt would be a huge deal. Tennessee football is lucky enough to be able to use him for two more games this year to fall within the four-game redshirt rule.

But how great would it be for the Vols to have two fifth-year seniors and another senior in their three-receiver rotation next year, all of whom have experience producing for them? That’s exactly the situation they could end up being with Johnson and Byrd both taking redshirts. Johnson has them halfway there.

And if you want to know why this was meant to happen, we’d like to point out that Johnson’s touchdown this year off a blocked punt return came after Byrd blocked the punt. Palmer, Johnson and Byrd would make a great experienced rotation to somewhat offset the losses of Jennings and Callaway, and Johnson redshirting is another step toward that happening next year.