Tennessee football held its first intrasquad scrimmage on Monday night in Neyland Stadium as a part of its Spring practice.
Josh Heupel praised the young group of wide receivers, which isn't typically common in Heupel's system. The younger players often focus more on learning the system, but that could change this year with Tennessee's lack of depth at wide receiver.
Heupel spent some time post-scrimmage praising the young wide receiver group, including some first-year players looking to make an immediate impact in Heupel's offense, which is built to create big plays offensively.
"Young wide receivers, I thought, did a good job in their first opportunity in a scrimmage environment," Heupel said after the scrimmage. "Went and made plays. So I like what I saw on that tonight, but in the early part of spring, too."
It is unfortunate that more teams in college football will have to rely on young guys with little to no experience at the college or Power 4 level, but that hasn't held back the young guys on Rocky Top.
"As your roster turns over, your young guys got to be ready to learn it, earn it, and go take a job. And once they prove that, our job is to put them in a place where they can go have success," Heupel continued as he praised the young receivers.
"Those young guys have approached it the right way. We're a long ways away from where we need to be, but if they continue to chop wood every single day, you got a chance."
Mike Matthews and Brandon Staley didn't receive much playing time as freshmen last season, but they are going to be big players in this year's receiver group as sophomores.
Heupel mentioned post-scrimmage that they have progressed well throughout the offseason and during spring practice and have matured from freshmen to sophomores.
"Those guys have been really mature in the way that they've approached everything that we're doing inside of our program. Just year one to year two, we've talked about that with quarterbacks in the past, but it's true for everybody. They got a great understanding," Heupel praised Staley and Matthews.
"They understand how to take care of their bodies. They've competed extremely hard every day in practice, consistent in what we're getting from them. Those are two young guys that have maturity that are gonna have to take a leadership role inside of that wide receiver room as well. Not just in how they play, but bringing that entire group along."
Tennessee will continue its spring practice schedule as it prepares for the 2025 Orange and White Game on April 12.