True freshman Jimmy Holiday has made the transition from quarterback to wide receiver, Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced on Monday evening after practice.
Tennessee signed Holiday as an athlete with a vision of him eventually playing wide receiver. Holiday enrolled early and was given the opportunity to begin his career at quarterback, however, which is the position he played in high school. The experiment lasted just three practices, as spring practice was canceled just after it began due to COVID-19.
Holiday was working with Tee Martin’s wide receivers when fall camp began Monday.
“Jimmy is going to play wide receiver this fall,” Pruitt said Monday. “It is something that he wanted to do, he felt like he would have the opportunity to get on the field faster there.”
Following the graduation of Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway, Tyler Byrd and starting tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson, the Vols must replace nearly 70 percent of their receiving production in 2019 — and 16 of 19 touchdowns.
Despite the move to receiver, Pruitt added that Holiday will still be taking some practice reps as a signal caller.
“He is a guy that you obviously can jump in at quarterback and he’s still taking snaps there,” Pruitt said. “He is going to take most of his snaps at the wide receiver position this fall.”
The 6-foot, 190-pound Holiday arrived in Knoxville by way of Madison Central High School in Madison, Mississippi where he was a three-star quarterback prospect with offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Memphis and TCU. Holiday was previously committed to Gary Patterson and TCU before flipping to Tennessee during the early signing period on Dec. 18, 2019.
According to 247Sports, Holiday was rated as the 26th-best athlete in the 2020 class and the No. 15 overall recruit in the state of Mississippi in the 2020 class.
As a senior in 2019, Holiday led Madison Central to a 9-3 finish and a Mississippi Class 6A State Playoffs appearance as well as the Class 6A Semifinals in 2017 and 2018. At quarterback, Holiday tossed for a total of 3,507 yards and 37 touchdowns while posting 3,568 more yards and 51 touchdowns on the ground in three seasons at Madison Central.
