Josh Heupel expresses confidence in Tennessee receivers

As Tennessee gets set to begin its 2023 season against Virginia on Saturday, coach Josh Heupel goes in quite confident in the Tennessee receivers.

The Volunteers will need their weapons to step up to ease the transition to new starting quarterback Joe Milton. The good news is the group seems ready to roll.

“We’ve had a lot of guys that have played really good football for us,” Heupel said. “Ramel (Keyton) played really the last eight, nine weeks of the season for us on the right side. Bru McCoy‘s played at a really high level. Squirrel White when we gave him the opportunity last year played extremely well. Dont’e (Thornton)‘s continued to come on, then the two young guys that I’ve talked about, Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod.”

That’s a good deal of production returning. The top three returning receivers collectively averaged more than 500 yards last year.

McCoy logged 667 yards and four touchdowns, Keyton accounted for 562 yards and five touchdowns, and White racked up 481 yards and two touchdowns.

Throw in the younger players that Heupel mentioned and the Tennessee receivers have plenty of different options to throw at opponents.

“We feel really confident about the growth that they’ve had inside the program, their ability to go play at a high level,” Heupel said.

Tennessee and Virginia are scheduled for a noon ET kickoff on ABC.

How to watch, stream and listen

Kickoff Time: Noon ET

Location: Nissan Stadium (69,143)

TV: ABC (Joe Tessitore – Play by Play, Jesse Palmer – Color Commentator, Katie George – Sideline Reporter)

Streaming: ESPN App

Radio: WIVK-FM 107.7 and WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast (Bob Kesling – play-by-play – Pat Ryan, analyst – Brent Hubbs, analyst – Jason Swain sideline) can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee. 

Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Channel 135 or Channel 191. SiriusXM App Channel 962.

Tennessee-Virginia at Nissan Stadium sold out

The Nashville Sports Council announced on Tuesday that Saturday’s Tennessee-Virginia game at Nissan Stadium is officially sold out. 

Saturday’s game is Tennessee’s third regular-season home game played at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. The Vols beat Bowling Green 59-30 in 2015 and Wyoming 47-7 in 2002. Virginia last played at the stadium against Minnesota in the 2005 Music City Bowl.

Tennessee drew 69,489 fans in the 2021 Music City Bowl when the Vols faced Purdue in Nashville, a new record for the bowl game. 

“(Our) entire team and program are excited to kick off the season here,” Heupel said on Wednesday. “Unique that we get a chance to kick off in a neutral-site game, but it’s in inside of our home state here. 

“A lot of our alumni, fans reside over there in Nashville in the mid-state, so excited to have the opportunity to go play a really good Virginia football team over there. And training camp has been really good. The week so far of game prep has been really good. Great energy and focus from our players. Getting close to being time to just go kick it off and see where we’re at.”