‘You just don’t see many guys do that’ — Todd McShay was wowed by under-the-radar moment by Chris Brazzell II in Georgia game
The VFL had a huge game, but it was a singular moment in a lesser moment that caught his attention.
Tennessee wide receiver Chris Brazzell II had one of the most impressive performances in one of the most memorable games in all of college football last season.
In Tennessee’s 44-41 overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, Brazzell turned six catches into 177 yards and three touchdowns. He had touchdowns of 56 and 72 yards, including one where he flat-out mossed a defender for the ball and scored.
But despite the highlight-reel scores, it was a play that was off the radar for most that caught the attention of NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay. McShay spoke this week on his podcast “The McShay Show” about second-round prospects to know ahead of the 2026 NFL Combine, and on the receiver front, Brazzell came up.
McShay talked some about how Tennessee receivers’ recent lackluster history in the NFL, but then he talked about how well Brazzell moves for his size (6’5, 200 pounds) and that no one has the “urgent movement” in and out of breaks like Brazzell does. To illustrate, he talked about one catch that Brazzell made on an out route against the Bulldogs.
Todd McShay says Chris Brazzell II’s footwork on an out route in Georgia game showed he could be different
“The next knock is gonna be, ‘but he only ran nine routes’ (verticals). There’s one — I think it’s against Georgia — there’s an out route that he runs against Georgia, and everyone is like, there’s the two-hand top catches that he takes for touchdowns, and everyone’s going to focus on that in their highlight packages for the NFL Draft.
“The route that he ran, an out route on the right side when he kind of turned the defender around and absolutely obliterated him and ankles’d him, as the kids would say, with his ability to just stop, dime, corner on rail. No wasted motion. No gearing down. You just don’t see many guys do that.”
A well-documented common perception when it comes to Tennessee receivers is that their route tree is limited in Josh Heupel’s offense. That they’re tied to the vertical ball with a limited ability to run all the necessary routes that the NFL requires — or at least that they haven’t shown that they can. And a lack of breakouts by Tennessee wide receivers in recent years not named Jauan Jennings (who was pre-Heupel anyways) has further fueled that argument.
But not all players are created the same, and Brazzell in 2025 looked like one of the very best players in college football. And not just in the plays that everyone remembers, but with the route running and ball skills, the latter of which McShay also talked about Brazzell improving upon as the year went on.
Brazzell is likely a Round 2 pick, but whoever gets him will get a physical specimen who has the talent to develop into a solid player on Sundays. We’ll find out who and where that is when the NFL Draft gets started on April 23 in Pittsburgh.
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