Tennessee, Josh Heupel receive good news of returning star player

Wide receiver Cedric Tillman, the Tennessee Volunteers’ leading target this year, announced on Twitter on Thursday that he will return to Knoxville for the 2022 season.

Tillman, a redshirt junior, could have decided to enter the 2022 NFL Draft. Coming off the best season of his Tennessee career, however, he instead decided to return to the Volunteers next season. His announcement came just over a week after quarterback Hendon Hooker made the same decision, announcing his return in 2022.

“Since I arrived at Tennessee in 2018, it’s been an amazing experience, and Vol Nation is second to none,” Tillman said on Twitter. “The 2021 season has been a blast with these boys, and we are fired up about finishing this year in Nashville at the Music City Bowl. We are constantly striving for improvement — as a team and in everything we do. While I have made significant strides in my game this year, I feel like I have much left to prove in the Orange & White. Therefore, I will be returning for my 2022 senior season in Knoxville. LET’S RUN IT BACK!”

A 6-foot-3, 215-pound wide receiver, Tillman in 2021 had 57 receptions, the most of all Tennessee Volunteers. His 931 yards and nine touchdowns also lead the program, as Tillman averaged 16.3 yards per reception in his career-best performance.

Throughout the season, Tennessee’s offense improved week after week, and so too did Tillman. Once the Volunteers made the switch from Joe Milton to Hooker under center, Tillman’s productivity improved tenfold. Moreover, against Alabama, he went for seven receptions, 152 yards and a touchdown, then eclipsed 100 yards with at least a touchdown in three of the next four games. His best performance of the season came against Georgia, in a 41-17 loss, when Tillman had 10 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown.

Tillman in ranked second in the FBS with 535 receiving yards against AP Top 25 opponents, and he had a touchdown in each of his last six games. In the process, he became the first Tennessee player to score a receiving touchdown in six consecutive games since Joey Kent in 1995.

In four seasons, including one redshirt year in 2018, Tillman has 65 receptions for 1,055 yards and 11 touchdowns; nearly all of those stats came during his 2021 campaign, a tally he hopes to eclipse next season.

Tillman is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada where he prepped at Bishop Gorman. Coming out of high school, Tillman was tabbed a three-star recruit via the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 241 wide receiver in the 2018 recruiting class, and the No. 11 prospect in the state of Nevada.