Kelsey Pope says all Tennessee wide receivers are available for South Carolina game
Kelsey Pope on Monday had no concerns about the health of Tennessee’s wide receivers for Saturday night’s game against South Carolina. The Vols’ second-year wide receivers coach told the Knoxville Quarterback Club that his wideouts will all be ready to go.
Bru McCoy left Tennessee’s 45-14 win over UTSA on Saturday in the first half and Ramel Keyton left the game in the second half after landing hard on a deep route. McCoy jogged on the sideline in the first half, but never returned.
Pope noted that injury updates are usually left up to head coach Josh Heupel, but as for his group, they’re ready to go.
“All the receiver are available for Saturday,” Pope said. “Everybody’s good. Coach Heup, I’m sure will address the injury report. But yeah, we’re all in good shape.”
No. 21 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) hosts South Carolina (2-2, 1-1) on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff (TV: SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.
Squirrel White led the Vols in catches against UTSA with four for 29 yards. McCoy caught three passes for 30 yards before exiting the game and Keyton caught one pass, a 48-yard touchdown in the first half.
“Everybody’s good,” Pope reiterated. “That’s kind of always the thing in the receiver room. Those guys do a lot of running. But, man, we’ve been fortunate. The good Lord’s been looking down on us this year, and we’ve got a bunch of guys in slots who are ready to play.”
With Keyton and McCoy sidelined against UTSA, Kaleb Webb and Chaz Nimrod filled the vacancies. Webb caught two passes for 22 yards, including an 11-yard touchdowns.
Nimrod nearly had a long touchdown catch but the pass from Joe Milton III was just out of reach of his outstretched arms.
“We’ve got some young guys, man, who can step up,” Pope said. “A couple guys that last week played big minutes and made some things happen with their opportunity, so we’re in good shape right there.”
Keyton and McCoy are Tennessee’s two leading receivers. Keyton leads the team in yards, with 205, and touchdowns, with three. McCoy leads in receptions with 15.
Webb and Nimrod were popular names during fall camp, with Pope, Heupel and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle praising the progress the young players had made.
Heupel talked the pair up more during his weekly Monday press conference.
“Saturday was a great opportunity for those guys to get more reps than they had early in the season,” he said. “I think I said it last week that we had planned on playing those guys some more. I really like what they did. There’s a little bit where we can be a little bit better between quarterback end and wide receiver on some of the downfield plays and we’re close on it.
“We gotta go hit those things this week. But I like what they did. Competitive, played with fundamentals and technique, played hard.”
