Tennessee’s new-look wide receiver room has been an ongoing topic of conversation throughout the winter and spring, but Josh Heupel is seemingly pleased with the early progress he has seen through the Vols’ first spring scrimmage on Monday night.
Tennessee returns Chris Brazzell, Mike Matthews, and Braylon Staley from the previous season. Still, the turnover in names and numbers also creates opportunity for guys such as Alabama transfer Amari Jefferson and some of the Vols’ incoming freshmen.
“Yeah, I saw some big plays down the football field tonight,” Heupel said after UT’s scrimmage on Monday night. “Young wide receivers, I thought, did a good job in their first opportunity in a scrimmage environment. Went and made plays. So I like what I saw on that tonight, but in early part of spring too.”
We’ve mentioned the breakout potential for Matthews and the injury-recovery storyline for Jefferson this spring, but one player that we haven’t talked about yet is freshman wide receiver Travis Smith Jr.
The 6-foot-3, 207-pound prospect was a four-star recruit in the 2025 recruiting class who committed to Tennessee from Westlake High School in Atlanta, GA. Smith was a big win on the recruiting trail last summer and ended up being the Vols’ fifth highest-ranked commit and the top-ranked receiver in the 2025 class.
“He, like our freshman class, the mid-year guys in January, just really mature,” Heupel said about Smith Jr. after the scrimmage. “He’s handled himself extremely well. Accountable in his competitive makeup, how he approaches every single day. Did a great job in the offseason, continuing to grow his body.”
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While Smith doesn’t project to be your run-of-the-mill freshman, he’s still in the earliest stages of his Tennessee career in his first spring camp. Heupel says that Smith is handling the process “extremely well,” though.
“And then for a young player, has handled what we’ve installed already in the early part, which is a lot,” Heupel continued on to say. “He’s handled it extremely well. And so when you understand what you’re doing, now you can attack how I need to play from snap to the whistle. And he’s got great size, great length, competitive to the catch. And you saw that tonight.”
Smith gives Tennessee a high-upside rotational receiver who can use his size and physicality to his advantage on the field. Whether sooner or later, it’s not hard to imagine Smith being a playmaker for the Tennessee offense at some point down the road.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee football postseason coverage this month.
