Tennessee football: 5 questions the Vols must answer in 2020

4. Who steps up in the Tennessee football wide receiver room?

For as many quality options as the Volunteers will have at quarterback in the 2020 season, the wide receiver room is largely the antithesis of that. Last season, Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway, two veterans of the program, led the team in receiving yards with 969 and 635 yards, respectively, while Jennings notched 59 receptions with eight scores and Callaway had 30 grabs and six touchdowns.

Jennings and Callaway, however, are both gone from the program and heading into the professional ranks. That leaves a major question as to who will fill their shoes because, outside of those two pass-catchers, there were not many players of consequence in the wide receiver corps a season ago.

The top returning pass-catcher for Tennessee will be Josh Palmer, but he only had 34 catches for 457 yards and one touchdown last year. In fact, no one on the Vols outside of Jennings and Callaway had more than one receiving touchdown in the 2019 campaign. Palmer should play a bigger role but the question is who else can step up and help out the offense.

Frankly, the best options might be freshmen Jalin Hyatt and Malachi Wideman, two touted recruits. However, the Vols will have options with sophomores Ramel Keyton and Cedric Tillman along with transfers Deangelo Gibbs and Velus Jones. They have plenty of candidates but someone needs to emerge from this group for the offense to be competitive in the SEC.