Tennessee’s receivers were expected to be a team strength this season.
They certainly haven’t disappointed, but they haven’t always been the stars of the show, either.
“I think our best is still out there,” receivers coach Kelsey Pope said this week in a news conference. “I really do, and I think there is a responsibility piece to that. We will continue to prepare, and we will continue to see these guys grow and progress.
“I think we’ve had some success, but is it our max potential? I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that.”
The No. 5 Volunteers will take a 4-0 overall record and a 1-0 mark in Southeastern Conference play to Arkansas for a Saturday night showdown (7:30 Eastern on ABC) against the Razorbacks (3-2, 1-1). Tennessee leads the nation in scoring offense with 54.0 points per game and ranks third in total offense with 565.8 yards a contest, with a rushing attack leading the way with its 290.0 yards per game ranking fourth nationally.
Tennessee’s average of 275.8 aerial yards a game is 33rd nationally by comparison, placing it higher than the 243.2-yard clip from last season but behind the program-record pace of 326.1 two years ago.
“I think it’s gone good so far, and I think we still have a lot left on the table as far as what we’re trying to accomplish,” sixth-year senior receiver Bru McCoy said. “We’ve had guys all over the field making plays, and we’ve been able to do a lot more on offense and rotate a lot more, which keeps guys fresh coming off the sideline.
“It’s a slight change from how we’ve operated the last couple of years that I’ve been here, and I think it affords us the chance to make more big plays on the field.”
In Tennessee’s two biggest wins this season, the 51-10 rout of North Carolina State and the 25-15 downing of Oklahoma, receivers took a secondary role due to the way those games were played. The Vols used two tight ends a lot against the Wolfpack and pounded their way to 5.7 yards per carry, and they milked the clock during the second half against the Sooners with a 19-3 lead and without the services of starting tackles Lance Heard and John Campbell Jr.
McCoy leads the Vols with 12 receptions, and he has collected 200 yards for a 16.7-yard average but has yet to reach the end zone. Tulane transfer Chris Brazzell II is next with 11 catches that have yielded 140 yards for a 12.7-yard average, and he has scored once.
Dont’e Thornton, who is in his second season at Tennessee after transferring from Oregon, has only seven catches but has racked up 242 yards for a whopping 34.6-yard average and has three touchdowns. Thornton had a 66-yard touchdown reception at Oklahoma that put the Vols ahead to stay at 10-3, while McCoy had catches of 38 and 42 yards.
Those three chunk plays were huge in providing the necessary cushion against the Sooners.
“It’s a lot like basketball, because you really have to identify what type of game it is,” Pope said. “If you have a hot hand, you have to feed it. That’s really my mindset. Dont’e got a bunch of snaps in our last game, and Bru did as well because they were the hot hands. When you have a room like we do, you have to be in tune and you have to be intentional with how the game is going or who’s rolling.
“Obviously, every guy is going to get an opportunity to get time, but that’s something you definitely have to be in tune with.”
Squirrel White, who led the Vols last season with 67 catches for 803 yards, ranks fourth this year with eight for 121, which helps reflect the deepest receiver contingent of head coach Josh Heupel’s four seasons.
The Tennessee receiver who would love to break through Saturday night is Chas Nimrod, a redshirt sophomore who has three catches for 41 yards. Nimrod is the Vols’ only player from Arkansas, with his Bentonville hometown less than 30 miles from Fayetteville.
“Obviously, there is a little bit more juice, a little bit more focus and attention there because he’s going back home,” Pope said, “but I think as long as he continues to prepare the right way, I think he ultimately will get the stuff that he wants.”
Third-down warriors
Tennessee has converted 31 of 63 third downs this season for a 49.2% success rate that ranks fifth among SEC teams.
The Razorbacks under first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino have been even better, converting 41 of 74 for an eye-popping 55.4% clip that leads the league.
“Coach has done a really good job for a really long time on the offensive side of the football,” Heupel said Wednesday during the SEC’s weekly Zoom call. “He’s been able to subtly tweak what he’s seeing from the structure on the other side of the football, and he puts his guys in a position to be successful.
“They’re playing smart football right now.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.