Tennessee football: Ranking position groups in Vols 2020 recruiting class with grades

2. Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: A

Number of commitments: 5

• Dee Beckwith (Athlete)

3-star; 6’5″ 215 pounds; Florence, Ala.; Florence High School

• Jimmy Calloway 

4-star; 5’11” 165 pounds; Morrow, Ga.; Morrow High School

• Jimmy Holiday (Athlete)

3-star; 6’1″ 180 pounds; Flora, Miss.; Madison Central High School

• Jalin Hyatt

4-star; 6’2″ 170 pounds; Irmo, S.C.; Dutch Fork High School

• Malachi Wideman

4-star; 6’5″ 190 pounds; Venice, Fla.; Venice High School

National Signing Day made this unit so great. Tennessee football lost two wide receivers in Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway. They will lose to more this year in Josh Palmer and Brandon Johnson. But Johnson took a redshirt because of how loaded the roster was anyway last year, so combined, it’s like they really only lost three bodies.

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How did Jeremy Pruitt respond? He signed two four-star wideouts, which immediately replaces Jennings and Callaway. Then he got an athlete in Dee Beckwith who is likely to play wideout at 6’3″ 215 pounds. Finally, there’s Jimmy Calloway, another four-star who finally allows Pruitt and Jim Chaney to add the slot component to their passing game.

So by effectively losing three receivers and actually losing four in 2019 and 2020, Pruitt brought four in for the 2020 class alone, three of whom are four-stars. Jimmy Holiday, a three-star, is almost certain to move to receiver as well if he doesn’t work out at quarterback, giving Pruitt even more insurance.

USC Trojans Velus Jones Jr. doesn’t factor into here since he will be gone after 2020 anyway. However, Miles Jones, a Nebraska Cornhuskers transfer who will be a walk-on, is a different story, as he will at least have two years. So that’s another body, and he was once a four-star. But for this class, Pruitt clearly got the bodies and the quality, so he’s even built up more depth.

Now, he didn’t get any tight ends, and Dominick Wood-Anderson just left while Austin Pope will leave after this year. But similar to defensive tackle, previous recruiting classes addressed that issue. Jackson Lowe, Sean Brown, Jacob Warren and Princeton Fant are all waiting in the wings to make an impact there. So there was no need for a replacement, meaning this group still gets an A.