Tennessee football has gotten terrific play from outside wide receiver Chris Brazzell this season. Heading into the Vols’ clash against Arkansas, he was on track to have one of the best seasons in UT’s storied history at the position.
However, in the 34-31 win over the Razorbacks on Saturday, Brazzell wasn’t much of a factor in the box score. He caught just one pass for five yards while being targeted four times.
A big reason the ball didn’t go his way much was the way Arkansas wanted to cover him. The Razorbacks seemingly decided that they were going to make other receivers step up and make plays instead of Brazzell. To limit him, there were double teams, brackets and a concerted effort to make Joey Aguilar go elsewhere.
Slot receiver Braylon Staley stepped up in a big way due to this. He caught six passes for 109 yards to pace the team in both categories.
“(Staley) and Mike (Matthews) and Brazzell just came in and worked,” Aguilar said. “Today, they tried to take Brazzell out of the game. Kind of double-teaming him and playing super soft. Braylon stepped up and when he got the ball he produced pretty well.”
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Moves Up In Coaches Poll Before Heading to Alabama
Vols head coach Josh Heupel also noted the few attempts to go Brazzell’s way that didn’t pan out. Tennessee took a shot to him early, but it fell incomplete. It also targeted him in the red zone, but a tough play wasn’t made with solid coverage also hindering the attempt.
Throw in the questions about what Arkansas’ defense was going to look like given the coaching change, and it was a bad recipe to get him the ball.
“A little bit, just didn’t come his way because of the coverage,” Heupel said. “Missed a deep one early in the football game, too. One in the red zone on a back shoulder throw where we’re not able to come down with it between quarterback and wide receiver. I felt like early in some ways we were just a little bit off, but there were a lot of unknowns too coming into this one, what you were going to see and how to attack it.”
Tennessee is going to either need Brazzell to get back in the fold or for the other receivers to step up again next week, though. The Vols head to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on ABC.
