Tennessee football: Projecting two-deep depth chart for 2021

Wideout

1. Cedric Tillman

In addition to the receivers, there will always be one guy lining up permanently at wideout as the big, go-to target on the outside. Cedric Tillman, who has eight catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns in his career, stood out in that role during spring practice for Tennessee football. As a result, he’s in line to be the No. 1 wideout for the Vols this year.

Tillman, a redshirt junior, stands at 6’3″ 215 pounds. Josh Heupel needs one guy whose size makes him difficult to guard, and Tillman has been overachieving on the field since he arrived. Look for him to be a starter this year and use his size and hands to make big plays.

2. Ramel Keyton

The arrival of Jalin Hyatt changed Ramel Keyton’s role last year. After four catches for 104 yards in 2019, he had nine catches for 76 yards in 2020. However, Keyton is a bigger target at 6’3″ 195 pounds, so he makes much more sense as a deep threat specifically.

Although he was recruited with much more hype than Tillman, Keyton didn’t perform at the same level Tillman did during spring ball. That’s why we have him as the No. 2 wideout, and of the five receivers we named, he’s the fifth most likely to see the field. However, Heupel runs lots of receivers at different times, so he’ll still see plenty of action.