The Tennessee Vols usually don't have more than three wide receivers on the field, but they'll essentially have four starting wide receivers in 2023. 

While it remains to be seen how those four will be used this season, it's clear after UT's fall camp that Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton, Dont'e Thornton, and Squirrel White will all essentially serve as starters for the Volunteers this fall. 

Matchups and the flow of the game will likely determine which wide receivers see the most snaps on a week to week basis, but it will undoubtedly be those four that see the bulk of the playing time for Tennessee in UT head coach Josh Heupel's third season. 

Injuries, of course, are always a possibility — Cedric Tillman's ankle injury last season, for example, forced Keyton into a larger role — which means the Vols need some solid options behind their top four wide receivers. 

Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle told reporters last week that he thinks the Vols have five or six wide receivers that they feel comfortable playing. 

"We've got five or six guys we feel really comfortable rolling with," said Halzle when asked about UT's wide receiver rotation.  Keeping guys fresh, similar to my conversation with the running backs, roll guys through, let guys keep playing. We feel really confident with that whole core."

So who's next after the top four of McCoy, Keyton, Thornton, and White? 

Last week, Heupel offered a hint at who the top two "backup" wide receivers could be this fall. 

Heupel was asked about the wide receiver position and he singled out two redshirt freshmen — Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb — that have impressed him during camp. 

"The two younger guys inside of our building, Chas and Kaleb, they've taken great strides all offseason," said Heupel. "But this training camp they were a different player than they were in spring ball too — in a positive way. Love what those guys are doing. That's on the offensive side of the ball, it's also on special teams." 

Nimrod and Webb each appeared in a couple of games for the Vols last season, but neither recorded any stats. 

Webb, a Georgia native, was rated as four-star wide receiver coming out of high school (No. 35 overall wide receiver in the 2022 recruiting class). 

Nimrod, an Arkansas native, was rated as a three-star recruit coming out of high school. 

Both wide receivers are 6-foot-3 and they both ran track in high school, so the speed and athleticism is certainly there. 

Tennessee will be hoping that everyone stays healthy and Webb/Nimrod can wait until 2024 to burst onto the scene. 

But it should be a good feeling for Vols fans knowing that if another unfortunate injury occurs, Tennessee has the wide receiver depth to get by without (presumably) missing a beat. 

Josh Heupel should forever be a legend for what he did during a team meeting before Vols’ win against Alabama

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel should forever be a legend for what he did during a team meeting before Vols’ win against Alabama

Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK