An expected area of strength for the Tennessee Vols in 2024 turned out to be a weakness and must be overhauled
The Tennessee Volunteers' 2024 season went up in smoke in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday night in the Vols' 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff. A not-so-unfamiliar sight played out during the game that hamstrung the team for the majority of the contest. Tennessee's wide receivers struggled to […]
The Tennessee Volunteers' 2024 season went up in smoke in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday night in the Vols' 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
A not-so-unfamiliar sight played out during the game that hamstrung the team for the majority of the contest. Tennessee's wide receivers struggled to get separation and get open down the field, and the passing game faltered as a result.
That's not something new. That's an issue that the Vols have struggled with throughout the season. And it's not something you would have expected to see back before the season started.
Per Josh Heupel back in April after the spring game, this was supposedly the deepest unit he'd had. Chris Brazzell II said back in August that he saw NFL talent throughout the unit. Unfortunately, that clearly turned out to not be the case.
Instead, Jermod McCoy and the rest of the Tennessee defense got an up close and personal look at a player who will unquestionably be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft whenever he comes out in freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith. The Buckeye standout was on another level from Tennessee's defense, as well as his positional counterpart on wearing orange and white.
Now, the question presents itself for Josh Heupel and his staff: how do we get one of those types of guys? It's not easy, and, in reality, you don't have to get a guy quite that good to win.
But there's no doubt they have to get better than what they had this year and must improve upon what's coming back. Bru McCoy and Donte' Thornton, Jr. will be gone. Brazzell has underwhelmed. Squirrel White is a junior, but he's not quite managed to make a big impact over the last two seasons. Mike Matthews has seemed like the future, but he hasn't gotten the opportunity one would have imagined a player of his caliber would have gotten, especially with the general struggles of the WR group. Same for Braylon Staley, who did log a couple of catches on Saturday night in just his second game of the season.
Tennessee has some youth coming in at WR headlined by 4-star Travis Smith from Atlanta. That will help replace the 4 receivers lost to the transfer portal earlier this month. Heupel will also surely be active in the transfer portal looking for someone with experience who can hit the ground running and make a quick impact.
And he doesn't have much choice. Because what the Vols got from this group in 2024 simply won't be good enough in 2025.
Josh Heupel has two major issues to address that fall squarely on him after Tennessee Vols’ blowout loss to Ohio State
It was more of the same for Tennessee in a couple of areas on Saturday night
