Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel elected to not release the Vols’ depth chart until Saturday morning before their season opener against Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
While Tennessee not releasing its depth chart isn’t a big deal, it does leave one particular area of the roster uncertain. Who will return kicks and punts for Tennessee this season? And particularly this Saturday in the season opener against Syracuse?
When it comes to punt returner, the big question is about Boo Carter. The sophomore defensive back is clearly Tennessee’s best punt returner if he’s active. Carter returned 12 punts for 198 yards during his freshman season, showing big play ability with the ball in his hands.
Carter’s status with the team has been uncertain but progressing in the right direction throughout fall camp after missing a number of summer workouts. Heupel told the media earlier this week that he anticipates Carter playing but didn’t guarantee it. If Carter’s role is limited against Syracuse, it makes sense for him to still return punts.
Carter is also the only clear punt returner on Tennessee’s roster. Squirrel White and Jermod McCoy were the other players that returned punts last season, but White transferred to Florida State over the offseason and McCoy will miss the opener with a knee injury.
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The Vols worked on fielding punts just once in front of the media during fall camp. Carter, McCoy, Mike Matthews, Edrees Farooq and DeSean Bishop were the ones fielding them that day. With Tennessee’s lack of depth at receiver, it seems unlikely that they’d risk Matthews suffering an injury while returning punts. Freshman running back Daune Morris is another possibility.
Kick returner is less important because Tennessee usually instructs its kick returns to fair catch, allowing the offense to begin drives at the 25-yard line.
A season ago, Tennessee listed DeSean Bishop and Cam Seldon as its starting kick returners. Seldon is off to Virginia Tech but Bishop is back. Running back Peyton Lewis also returned kicks last season during the month Bishop was out due to injury. Again, Morris is another possibility at kick returner. Especially if Tennessee doesn’t want to risk injury with one of its top three running backs.
Special teams is always an underrated and important part of football. But returners are all the more important with shaky offenses and Tennessee could be just that this season with its offensive turnover and questions.
