KNOXVILLE - Tennessee's new quarterback won't have the benefit of a veterans receiving corps to lean on next season.
The winner of the offseason competition to be the new starter instead will have to rely on a group of wide receivers featuring eight first- or second-year players, including three additions from the 2017 signing class.
Jauan Jennings, Tennessee's leading returning receiver, caught 40 passes for 580 yards and seven touchdowns during a breakout junior season, but the other five returning players for receivers coach Zach Azzanni - Tyler Byrd, Marquez Callaway, Jeff George, Brandon Johnson and Josh Smith - accounted for 37 receptions, 432 yards and one score in 2016.
While the Vols may be short on experience on the perimeter of the offense, the coaching staff believes there's talent.
"Coach Azzanni's got a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and it's really up to him now," director of player personnel Bob Welton said last week during the official signing day show Tennessee streamed on its website.
Tennessee signed four wide receivers in 2016 - Callaway, junior college transfer George, Johnson and Latrell Williams, who redshirted his first season - and Byrd, one of the nation's top athlete prospects, also wound up on offense.
The midseason transfer of Preston Williams last fall and Josh Malone's decision to enter the NFL draft after his breakout season increased Tennessee's need at the position, and the Vols signed Jacquez Jones, Jordan Murphy and Josh Palmer.
Murphy was one of the biggest risers in the final rankings of many recruiting services after he blew up during his senior season to the tune of 78 catches for 1,695 yards - he had 321 in one game - and 21 touchdowns.
"His whole year's a highlight tape," Welton said. "It really is, and any time you turn that thing on, it's just game after game (he's) making great catches. He's a special athlete. His ball skills, what he can do in the air, he just knows how to get open - he's a dynamic, dynamic football player."
Murphy played at the same high school (Hattiesburg, Miss.) as Tennessee running backs coach Robert Gillespie, who said Azzanni "sealed the deal" with Murphy as the Vols held off a late push from Ole Miss to hold on to the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder.
Jones was one of Tennessee's earliest commitments. The Vols used tight ends coach Larry Scott's connections to the Clearwater-Tampa, Fla., area, where he's from, to land Jones last May.
"We watched this young man's tape early and offered him early and got in and got going and got him on a visit in the summer, and he loved it," Azzanni said at a recruiting celebration in Knoxville last week.
"He's got more energy than he knows what to do with. That one took a village to recruit. He comes from a rough background. He had a lot of people take care of him, and we kind of picked up that baton."
Welton said Jones, who totaled nearly 2,000 receiving yards and caught 18 touchdown passes during his junior and senior seasons at Clearwater High School, brings the kind of speed the Vols need.
"The kid's electric," Welton said. "He can fly. He's one of those guys that can take a hitch and go 90 (yards) without anybody blocking for him. He's that fast, and we felt like, especially in this receiving group, we had to get faster, and we certainly did. This kid, he's a great punt returner. He could be a kick returner.
"He's one of those guys you're going to have a hard time keeping off the field next year just because of what he brings."
Palmer was the final addition to Tennessee's class, but he's one of the most exciting, particularly for coach Butch Jones, who raved about the player's story. Prior to his junior year, Palmer decided to move from the Toronto area to Florida, where he lived with family and faced a one-hour commute to Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, a three-time state champion that produced nearly 20 Football Bowl Subdivision signees this cycle, including defensive tackle Kivon Bennett for the Vols.
"I think he's going to be one of the bright spots of this class," Azzanni said.
Tennessee was one of the programs pushing for the longtime Syracuse commitment in January, and the Vols used one of their few remaining spots on Palmer, who also was courted by UCLA and Penn State among others.
"This kid is unbelievable," Welton said. "He's got size, he's got speed and he's competitive. The best thing about this kid is he really knows how to get open, and when the ball's in hand, he knows what to do with it. It was a great job to get this kid late by Coach Azzanni and was a great pickup. He could be really special."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.