Josh Heupel breaks down Tennessee's status at wide receiver

It’s never easy losing your star quarterback and the Biletnikoff Award winner in the same offseason. But that’s the position Josh Heupel is in after Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt decided to take their talents to the NFL.

Heupel has been forced to regroup and has found his QB1 for the year in Joe Milton — and now it’s time for the Tennessee head coach to find Milton’s go-to wideout this season. It’s safe to say, that’s been a learning curve to this point and Heupel has opted fall back on continuously rotating the cast of wide receivers currently at his disposal.

“I think the rotation piece is gonna be a little bit fluid with all of those guys. Some of our young guys continue to grow and make some real strides to — Chas Nimrod, Kaleb Webb,” Heupel said, via VolQuest. “The four older guys (Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton, Dont’e Thornton and Squirrel White) continue to push and compete. I like what they’ve been doing.

“They’ve operated really efficiently in what we’re doing offensively and within the scheme of what we’re doing. I think they’re playing with great fundamentals and techniques, so all in all, like what they’re doing. The back half the training camp — we’re essentially at the halfway point as far as pure training camp before we get into school — back half of it will be really important too.”

McCoy leads the returning group, having been Hooker’s No. 2 option last season having caught 52 passes for 667 yards and four touchdowns. Keyton opted to return to college for another season and looks to add to his 31 receptions, 562 receiving yards and — aside from Jalin Hyatt’s 15 touchdowns — had the most receiving touchdowns on the team with five. White is another option having returned after hauling in nearly 500 receiving yards last season.

Tennessee’s lone transfer — former Oregon Duck Dont’e Thornton — hasn’t been used to his potential through two seasons in the college ranks. Electing to leave Eugene and head to UT, the former top-100 recruit looks to be one of Milton’s top targets this season.

The depth chart can also be shaken up by three freshman — redshirt freshman Kaleb Webb, a former top-200 recruit in 2022, has been on fans radars since he committed. He’s finally ready to burst onto the scene in his second year, and it seems Heupel is high on Chas Nimrod. All could play a role in Heupel’s up-tempo offense in 2023.