Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 63-6 win vs. Akron

3. Slot wide receivers took over the passing game.

Cedric Tillman got banged up early, and Bru McCoy had just one catch for nine yards. However, Hendon Hooker was still elite, completing 14-of-18 passes for 298 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. This time, the slot receivers were the ones who made the difference.

Everybody is going to talk about Jalin Hyatt, and for good reason. he had five catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns, one in which he burned the defender and another in which he caught a pass over the middle and just outran everybody. However, Hyatt wasn’t actually the only slot receiver to shine for Tennessee football in this game.

Squirrel White had a 47-yard catch. Walker Merrill had two catches for 46 yards and a score. Jimmy Calloway had two catches for 20 yards, but how long he lasts is up in the air given the fact that he threw multiple punches in the second half at an Akron defensive back and got ejected.

You could extend this to slot receivers and tight ends, as Princeton Fant had two catches for 23 yards, and Jacob Warren had a 17-yard catch. Altogether, the Vols didn’t rely on the wideouts. To be fair, in mop-up duty, Joe Milton III threw a beautiful 57-yard strike to Ramel Keyton for a score, a good sign of things to come, but before then, the stars went beyond the wideouts.