There was plenty of buzz surrounding the quarterbacks during the Orange and White Game, and rightfully so with top contenders Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano combining to go 14-of-15 for 161 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
But that wouldn’t have been possible without strong efforts from the receivers and tight ends.
Tight ends coach Larry Scott clearly didn’t forget about his position as he becomes the team’s play-caller. Scott dialed up six targets for the tight ends: Three for Ethan Wolf for 28 yards, one for Eli Wolf for 19 yards and a touchdown and two for Jakob Johnson, one of which was caught for six yards.
That was a good sign for Tennessee’s offense. So was the play of some of Tennessee’s less-proven receivers.
With Josh Malone, Preston Williams and others both moving on in the past year, the Vols will lean heavier on the likes of Tyler Byrd, Marquez Callaway and Latrell Williams in 2017.
That trio on Saturday combined for three catches for 53 yards with all three moving the chains on third down. It was certainly a limited sample size in a game that only lasted one half due to weather concerns, but it was a solid conclusion for a group that needed a big spring.
Jarrett Guarantano moves the chains with a nice pass to Latrell Williams pic.twitter.com/3VcJExIPyC
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) April 22, 2017
“I think Marquez Callaway had as good of a spring as anyone on our football team,” Butch Jones said on Saturday. “He was consistent. He practiced (in practices) 1-15, and he continued to grind and get better. We asked a lot of him in terms of reps. He had the highest rep count on the team. Latrell Williams is growing up right now, so for him to get the valuable reps during (practices) 1-15 was very critical.”
The dependable Jauan Jennings (3 catches, 23 yards, TD on Saturday) will be the go-to guy, and more help is coming in the summer and fall. Josh Smith and Brandon Johnson will return from injury, while three newcomers – Jordan Murphy, Joshua Palmer, Jacquez Jones – will also join the mix.
“It will be great to get Brandon Johnson back in June,” Butch Jones added. “I think he adds another dynamic to the receiving core. Getting Josh Smith back will help us as well. I think that entire group continued to grow and get better, but we will be extremely young there.”
“It’s a lot of young guys out there,” Callaway added. “So Jauan and Josh Smith, although he’s hurt he is still out there helping, so we do have older guys and receivers in other positions, but the older guys are always pushing us. So even though we are young, we think young doesn’t mean anything. We go out there and show them that we can do it, and that we can play with anybody in the SEC.”
They don’t have to be among the best in the league, but finding some dependable targets will go a long way towards helping the quarterbacks, and this offense, out in 2017.
