KNOXVILLE - With Tennessee's passing game inconsistent through the first four games this season, it could have been easy to forget the Volunteers have a pair of NFL-caliber receivers on their roster.
Against third-ranked Georgia, Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings gave everybody a nice reminder.
Each senior went over 100 yards and had a touchdown catch in Tennessee's 43-14 loss last weekend, and they will try to make a similar impact Saturday when the Vols (1-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) host Mississippi State (3-2, 1-1). Kickoff is set for noon and SEC Network will televise the game.
Callaway and Jennings have also stepped up as leaders, though in different ways.
The week after the season-opening loss to Georgia State, Jennings told reporters he "was the leader" of the team and would ensure effort and emotion would be present the rest of the way. He leads the team in receptions (26), receiving yards (395) and touchdown catches (five), and his 79 receiving yards per game rank sixth in the SEC.
His best play of the season may have come last Saturday, when he hauled in a 21-yard reception and dragged defenders while picking up a first down.
"We're playing ball," safety Nigel Warrior said this week. "When I saw that, I was like, 'We're really out here playing football.' We're playing as one. We're playing as a team. Everybody's playing their heart out and playing with some passion. Those things like that, that you really don't see, those are the things that really get everybody up and out of their seats."
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Tennessee wide receiver Marquez Callaway makes a 39-yard touchdown catch against UTC on Sept. 14 in Knoxville.Callaway is less vocal with his leadership, but he had also been quiet on the field through the first four games, totaling 10 catches for 154 yards.
That changed on Tennessee's second possession against Georgia as he hauled in a 73-yard catch-and-run touchdown on a pass from freshman Brian Maurer. Callaway finished with 105 yards on three catches for only the second 100-yard receiving game of his career - his first was in the 2017 opener against Georgia Tech.
"They're always keeping the tempo up, the energy. Jauan and Marquez are the best duo I've ever seen," freshman offensive lineman Wanya Morris said. "They keep the energy up at practice, games, workouts, and you can always count on them to keep your head up."
With six consecutive losses to FBS opposition, Tennessee's rebuilding project continues in Jeremy Pruitt's second season as coach. The Vols have preached patience in recent weeks - multiple players have used their Twitter accounts to ask fans to give the program time - and need their experienced players to lead them as younger ones develop.
No position on the team is as experienced - and perhaps as talented - as receiver.
Pruitt believes the team is growing and learning, though, and that behind its leaders, the best is yet to come.
"Going back and looking at our football program from the first day I walked into the building, we are a lot closer today than we were then," he said. "I see a bunch of guys that are hungry to have success and are willing to do what it takes to have success. Also, I see a lot of young guys. So, when you have a lot of young guys, you are looking for somebody to figure out how to do something.
"I know for me, when I have tough situations that happen in my life, who do I call? I talk to my mom, I talk to my dad, I talk to people who have wisdom. People who have kind of been down that road before. So you kind of do that as a football player, too. You want to seek out somebody who has been there, done that before. Unfortunately, for a lot of our guys, we just don't have a lot of older guys that have. Our team is really a young group of guys, so they are kind of searching and trying to figure it out as we go and trying to kind of find their way."
While Pruitt said his players "are getting there," he acknowledged the Vols' record reflects their imperfections.
"Is it because we lack effort and toughness? No, but we lack a little bit of execution," Pruitt explained, "so we have to find a way to get there."
One way is to continue getting the ball to Callaway and Jennings.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.