Tennessee special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler has his kicker, punter and kickoff specialist back from last season, but his punt returner and kickoff returner will have to be replaced.
Of course, Velus Jones Jr. handled both returning chores a year ago, and he handled them quite well.
"We've got a lot of guys who are capable," Ekeler said Wednesday in a news conference. "I'm really excited about it. Velus is a hard guy to replace, and we're going to do it by committee."
Jones, who was a sixth-year senior last season before becoming a third-round pick of the Chicago Bears, averaged 27.3 yards on kickoff returns a year ago and 15.1 yards on punt returns. His average on kickoff returns ranked second in the Southeastern Conference, while his average returning punts ranked second in the nation.
Ekeler revealed that senior safety Trevon Flowers and junior cornerback Dee Williams are among those vying to return punts and that junior receiver Jimmy Holiday, freshman running back Dylan Sampson and junior safety Doneiko Slaughter have worked at kickoff return. He was asked about the selection process on punt returns, in particular how to choose between those who can excite and those who are reliable.
"We're kind of greedy. We want both," Ekeler said. "We want a guy who can strike up 'Rocky Top.' That's the objective. If we get a pitch to hit, we want to hear our fight song.
"We work so much with these guys in the offseason and during the season with ball security and catching the ball that we feel like we can get the best of both worlds, and we're going to."
Leading the way among Tennessee's returning specialists is fifth-year senior punter Paxton Brooks, who averaged 44.04 yards on 45 punts last season, placing 18 inside the 20-yard line and having 11 attempts of at least 50 yards. Brooks was an All-SEC preseason third-team selection last month.
Sixth-year senior kicker Chase McGrath is back for his second season in Knoxville after beginning his career at Southern California. McGrath was 12-of-16 a year ago on field-goal attempts and made all 66 extra-point tries to set a single-season school standard.
Toby Wilson, a fifth-year senior, handled 81 of Tennessee's 89 kickoffs last year, taking over the role from Brooks early in the season. Both remain options at that spot.
"We didn't have any returns on kickoffs our last six games of last year," Ekeler said. "Toby did a great job."
One of Tennessee's most impressive stats last season was allowing just 14 yards on seven punt returns all season, a 2.0-yard average that ranked fourth nationally. Ekeler said many of this season's units are overrun by newcomers, listing Sampson, Williams, Elijah Herring, Kalib Perry, Squirrel White, Jourdan Thomas and Chas Nimrod as examples, and he is not about to place any limitations on the months ahead.
"We've got a chance to be special," he said.
Odds and ends
Tennessee held its 14th preseason workout Wednesday and will have Thursday off. ... Ekeler, who also coaches the outside linebackers, described Joshua Josephs as "more seasoned" than fellow freshman James Pearce but believes both have the potential to play this year.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.