Is Tennessee's WR Room Deep Enough

[njvols]

Very good breakdown. The WR room may make or break our season. I love the talent. The lack of experience is a little concerning, but the depth or lack thereof terrifies me. We are a few injuries away from catastrophe.

Hopefully I'm just jumping at shadows

Thing is though most all teams are more razor thin now on depth, bc of transfer portal, so I think most all teams w talented wr groups are in the same boat. Lack of experience is concerning, but WR tends to be the position where it’s easier to excel early

 

[VAVol85]

There are three, plus Jefferson, plus the WRs in the 2025 class. My expectation is that the three very talented freshmen WRs will earn playing time this season. One cannot really know how new players will perform in games, but I have confidence in all three and look forward to seeing them play. That would be a total of seven. Add Boo Carter. Not too shabby.

WR is one of the positions where talented freshmen can contribute.

 

[Big Orange Captain]

I don’t understand why Heup didn’t work the portal more for WRs.

 

[LittleVol]

I don’t understand why Heup didn’t work the portal more for WRs.

He got Jefferson and they already like their PWOs. Weary, Winton, the kid from Catholic that is super quick are good athletes.

Not to mention they want to use the TEs more, and they have guys like Bishop, Morris and Thomas who can all catch very well and can line up in the slot as a RB.

 

[TNinSC]

kaleb webb should've stayed.

 

[Sudden Impact]

On paper, doesn't look stellar, but better than pedestrian. Glad the sports world has speculated enough to identify a potential "non problem". It always looks bad. We have quite a bit of time and talent to fix it before the season. The problem most writers face, is not identifying the real issues because of limited access.

 

[savannahfan]

There are three, plus Jefferson, plus the WRs in the 2025 class. My expectation is that the three very talented freshmen WRs will earn playing time this season. One cannot really know how new players will perform in games, but I have confidence in all three and look forward to seeing them play. That would be a total of seven. Add Boo Carter. Not too shabby.

How often do we see freshman WR do anything for us. Every year around the SEC and other leagues you see freshmen really lighting it up. No so UT. Which brings me to a question; what the hel- happened to Braz? I understand he had some injury problems, but I expected more from him>

 

[UTodd01]

We have a million WR's lmao

 

[bpalmer28]

Yall can worry yourself sick if you want but I like those guys. They’re inexperienced but breakout years are fun. The trio of Matthews, Staley, and Smith Jr. will go down in history as one of the best trios we’ve ever had - That is unless Tristen Keys shows up and kicks someone out the club.

Also… let’s be honest and fix the list

 

[OffTackleVol]

Yeah you’re right. Who’s responsible for winning 30 games over the past three seasons?

I think somebody took Cav's lunch money back in the day..........

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Maybe heupel is conceding a little on this year, allowing the incoming 5*s at WR to fill the role (including the 2 FR he already has) while he relies on a really good TE room this year. If he pays guys to come in this year, he'll either have to continue to play lesser talent or let them walk (like Nimrod and the other guy). I just hope injuries don't pile up and the walk on is playing.

On the other hand he might like 2 or more walkons as well as the portal options. Weary and Wilton both excite me. Then there is the BOO factor to mix in. I also expect more passes to backs to reduce WR targets.

Hoping we go back to pace and let the ground game and quick short pass game get more guys in the box to free up impactive down field shots. So many of our receivers are twitchy. Don’t know if we can max our potential, but it is clearly there.

 

[Hank Bukowski]

Very good breakdown. The WR room may make or break our season. I love the talent. The lack of experience is a little concerning, but the depth or lack thereof terrifies me. We are a few injuries away from catastrophe.

Hopefully I'm just jumping at shadows

I’m not that concerned. We did fairly well the last two seasons relying primarily on our running game and our defense.

 

[vegasvolfan]

Deep at TE and we have versatile backs. Freshman Duane Morris can be used as a receiver out of the backfield.

Walk ons Trey Weary has been in the system 3 years. Tommy Winton is in his second year here, made plays at ETSU and is a former 3 star. Probably don’t want either to start but both can fill in.

Ultimately our WR configuration is not ideal, but I also don’t think it’s as tragic as it’s being made out to be.

Im hoping the former Oklahoma OC can provide some creative input. Plus I trust in Heupel to make adjustments.

Boo Carter too.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

And who's responsible for that? Yeah, we all know.

The same guy who has this program at its highest point since the late 90s.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

We'll go to battle with what we have.

 

[zjcvols]

One fix is some Ethan Davis or DeSaahn Braame in the slot, which could open up some things offensively. Running that with 12 personnel could be a lot of fun.