Tennessee football should be able to offset loss of Josh Palmer

The Tennessee football Volunteers wide receiver confirmed he is entering the NFL Draft.

Over a month after Brandon Johnson announced his intention to transfer, Tennessee football lost its other go-to wideout on the year. Josh Palmer, the Vols leading receiver in 2020, confirmed he’ll enter the NFL Draft.

Palmer, a three-star prospect from Canada, was a major development story. He was UT’s No. 3 receiver for two years before starting alongside Johnson in 2020 and caught 33 passes for 475 yards and four touchdowns. A better offense would have meant elite numbers for the 6’2″ 210-pound receiver.

Although he could have returned for an extra year, Palmer decided to follow fellow Tennessee football senior Trey Smith and junior Bryce Thompson, giving the NFL Draft a shot. He confirmed the move on his Instagram profile by thinking Rocky Top for all the memories and also referring to himself as an NFL Draft prospect.

So where do the Vols go from here? Well, even without Johnson and Palmer, they shouldn’t have much to worry about. Assuming everybody else stays in the program, and that’s a big if given the state of the program right now, UT should have a collection of elite options at receiver.

Velus Jones Jr. is the most obvious option, and he has elected to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility by returning to Rocky Top, which he announced on Twitter Jan. 4. The 6’0″ 200-pound transfer from the USC Trojans actually became the Vols’ top receiver at the end of the season after Jarrett Guarantano was benched.

For the year, Jones had 22 catches for 280 yards and three touchdowns. However, 195 of those yards and all three touchdowns came against the Florida Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores. It’s likely he just needed time to pick up the system, and as UT’s primary kickoff returner, he could be the top playmaker on the team next year.

Beyond Jones, though, Jeremy Pruitt recruited an elite collection of receivers in 2019 and 2020. Ramel Keyton and Cedric Tillman both showed flashes last year, and Keyton was once a four-star. Don’t count him out.

Among the freshmen, Jalin Hyatt had 20 catches for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He could be destined for a breakout season alongside Jones next year as well. Don’t forget that Jimmy Calloway and Malachi Wideman were both four-star recruits in the 2020 class as well.

Simply put, Tennessee football has enough talent and enough proven production to find guys who could offset the loss of Palmer. The only issue, assuming Pruitt and Jim Chaney stay on board, will be finding the right quarterback to run the system.

Right now, the best guess would be that Keyton will become the top wideout as he’s the tallest guy, at 6’3″ 195 pounds, with any sort of proven production. Jones or Hyatt, though, will be the top overall receiver with one playing in the slot and one being the No. 2 wideout.

It may be hard to recreated what Tennessee football had with Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings in 2019, but the Vols have plenty of talent if we are to believe anything about the recruiting rankings. Losing Palmer and Johnson should just open the door for that talent to be able to thrive.