KNOXVILLE — Tennessee’s wide receivers unit lost its top two players from last season in Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings.
The Vols, however, return play-makers within the wide receivers unit.
Sophomore Ramel Keyton and senior Josh Palmer have brought excitement to their position coach Tee Martin. During the Vols’ third week of fall training camp, Martin met with media to discuss the wide receiver duo as they prepare for the upcoming season that kicks off Sept. 26 at South Carolina.
“I’m so excited about how they’re playing,” Martin said of Keyton and Palmer on a Zoom call with reporters. “The retention from last year, you know you don’t have a spring and you really have an abbreviated and modified training camp, so there’s a lot of teaching that you would normally have as a receivers coach in training camp that we’re not able to do because they’re in school and you’re on the 20-hour rule, so the time is cut a little bit. You’re having to lean on their experience, and ultimately their intelligence.”
Martin mentioned the duo are “two of the most intelligent receivers that I’ve ever coached.”
“Both of them are having to be moved around,” Martin continued. “One thing about operating under COVID is week-to-week you can have a different lineup at any position. If someone is out because of tracing, because they may be positive, and injuries. So, the approach I took as a receiver coach was to teach every receiver every position, because you may line up a week playing a different position because of whatever reason.
“Ramel has shown the ability to do that. Josh has shown the ability to do that. Both of them are surehanded guys, both of them are great route runners, both of them play above the rim – those so called 50-50 balls that you put in the air. If you noticed last season, Josh made great catches down the stretch for us on those 50-50 catches where he played above the rim, outjumped a guy and pulled the ball in. Ramel, you saw him kind of emerge towards the bowl game, big catch in the red zone, jumping in the air and playing above the rim. Both of those guys can jump, they can run, they’re smart, and you’ll see them being used in a lot of different ways this season.”
