Off The Hook Sports continues its 2022 Tennessee football preseason preview on the top 25 impact players for the Vols this upcoming season.
Coming in at No. 21 is redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jimmy Calloway.
Past Performance
Everyone remembers one play above all else from receiver Jimmy Calloway’s sophomore season.
Tennessee trailed Florida by 10. The Vols stumbled into halftime down just three and gave up a touchdown in the first few minutes of the second half. Tennessee was far from out of it, though.
Not yet. Quarterback Hendon Hooker drove the field and put the Vols in position to convert a short-yardage, fourth-down play in Gator territory. The call from Heupel was perfect – a wide open shallow cross intended for Calloway that was executed perfectly until it went right through his hands.
Tennessee turned in over on downs, gave up a touchdown the next drive and all but buried its chances of an upset win in The Swamp.
Calloway didn’t see action after that, redshirting the remainder of the year. He finished with three games played and five receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown.
His freshman year, after signing with the Vols as a four-star receiver out of Georgia, saw little production as well. He caught just two passes for 20 yards.
Despite his lack of overarching success at Tennessee, Calloway has perhaps the most potential of any returning receiver not named Cedric Tillman. Calloway is wicked fast and sneakily athletic – he was a quarterback for his high school the No. 9 rated athlete in the country in the class of 2020.
His best game as a Vol came just a few before that drop against Florida. Calloway caught three passes for 59 yards an a touchdown in a late comeback bid against Pitt.
Opportunities
It’s fitting for Calloway that head coach Josh Heupel’s sophomore season on Rocky Top will require a WR2 and WR3 to step up for the losses of Velus Jones Jr and JaVonta Payton from last season’s receiving corps.
The obvious candidate to fill that role is junior talent Jalin Hyatt or USC transfer Bru McCoy, but don’t count out Calloway for a breakout year in 2022. Calloway’s speed alone makes him an easy target for Hooker and could fill the void that Payton left upon graduation.
Calloway has been lighting up the field in spring practice, too. He took a swing pass from Hooker, reversed field and scored six on the other end – a 93-yard play that felt much longer.
Calloway is showing growth, and that’s what makes his potential that much more interesting for this Tennessee squad. He’s entering his third year on Rocky Top and with the room of talented receivers behind him, it’s getting to be about time to make his move for a legitimate starting role.
Hear it from…
Heupel has noticed Calloway’s recent strides in spring practice. After his 93-yard scamper in April, Heupel had this to say.
“Today was probably his best day on the grass,” Heupel said. “You want that in those competitive situations, for them to rise to their best performance. Jimmy is so talented.”
“He’s a guy that inside our program we have high expectations for. He’s going to continue that growth, and it was great to see him perform today.”
What will be interesting to see from Calloway is not necessarily his ability to make the big plays – it’s to be able to recover when he does not. The athleticism has always been there with Calloway, but that same athleticism is a trait shared by many in this season’s receiving corps.
What’s more, can Calloway be the leader Heupel and newly hired WR coach Kelsey Pope expect him to be? How will competition mold his game with talented young receivers such as Squirrel White and Kaleb Webb on the waiting list? Wasting Calloway’s potential to be a great weapon could come back to haunt Tennessee fans were the aforementioned to lap him.
In many ways, it is that potential that Tennessee would miss that is most intriguing when concerning how Calloway will stack up with the other players on this Top 25 list. Tennessee would not be in major trouble were Jimmy Calloway to not play this season, but his ability to play the game at a high level has shown in spurts throughout his career – and if Tennessee is to build back to where it once was, it’ll need that second punch at receiver from somebody.
