Tennessee has played a lot of bodies so far. Will it continue?
Going into the season, you had to feel pretty good about Tennessee’s wide receiver room. Kelsey Pope returned veterans Bru McCoy, Dont’e Thornton and Squirrel White, while adding big-time transfer Chris Brazzell from Tulane. Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb also returned after seeing their first significant playing time the year before.
On top of all that, Tennessee brought in five-star prospect Mike Matthews and four-star speedster Braylon Staley. The only question was simply this — how do you play them all? Josh Heupel notoriously hasn’t rotated his receivers much since taking the Tennessee job, but through a few games this season, that has seemingly changed.
The one caveat being that the Volunteers have played in three blowouts, along with a game in Norman where they simply sat on the ball in the second half. All of that to say, the rotation aspect of that room really hasn’t settled in just yet, but that’s about to change as SEC play really ramps up.
“I think, man, it’s a lot like basketball,” Pope said of his decision on who to play and when. “You’ve really got to identify what type of game it is and, if you’ve got a hot hand, you’ve got to feed it. That’s really my mindset. He got a bunch of snaps last game — Bru, as well — because they were the hot hand, so when you’ve got a room like that, you’ve got to be in tune and you’ve got to be intentional with how the game’s going, who’s rolling, who’s hot right now. And I think that helps you.”
McCoy has been consistent for Tennessee all season long, catching 12 passes for 200 yards so far. He caught four passes for 92 yards against Oklahoma, including that big one down the sideline.
Squirrel White has settled back into his slot role, while Chris Brazzell and Dont’e Thornton have sort of split time outside so far. Heupel and Pope have also worked in snaps for Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb. One potential wildcard here is Mike Matthews, who has already flashed this season.
“I’ve been impressed with his maturity,” Pope said of Matthews. “He’s grown up a ton from a football and knowledge standpoint. He wants to be a sponge. He’s always asking questions. He’s always in the building. He’s a guy that, going down the stretch, he’s going to continue to make plays for us because he’s a guy that we’re going to need to make plays on the outside.”
Will Tennessee need a full night of a passing attack against Arkansas this weekend? They haven’t just yet, but it’s going to be interesting to see who gets the call when the game is on the line.