Vol welcomed newly signed three-star receiver with a………more

Vol welcomed newly signed three-star receiver with a………more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Tennessee Volunteers’ passing regression in 2023 owes itself to performance decline in every aspect of passing the football, including at receiver.

 

Except for Squirrel White.

 

Josh Heupel and his staff have done well with inherited receivers and transfer receivers but so far in three seasons have no standouts to speak of among those they’ve recruited out of high schEver since Annie Jean Mitchell saw a squirrel pick a tomato out of her garden in Birmingham, Ala., and saw her baby great-grandson Marquarius Malik White move just like the squirrel as it bolted away, she decided to call him “Squirrel,” and everyone embraced and enjoyed the nickname.

 

Except for Squirrel White.

 

“Eventually I was just like, ‘Whatever,’” he said.

 

The Tennessee sophomore receiver is small, at least for his sport — listed at 5-foot-10, 165 — and he’s quiet. It’s easy to forget about him, even with that glorious nickname. It’s easy to take him for granted. But he’s big for TenThat will be true Monday against stingy Iowa in the Citrus Bowl as the most reliable target — a guy with twice as many catches as anyone else on this team — for freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava in his starting debut. It will be true for the rest of 2024. White looms large as a playmaker, as a sign of UT’s evaluation and development, as a symbol of and advocate for what Heupel is trying to build in Knoxville.

 

“Coach Heupel is an amazing coach, an amazing dude,” White said of Heupel, who is 26-12 entering the finale of his third season. “I just love being around him, love being coached by him actually. … He’s just a real person, he’s straight on for it. He tells you what you need to hearWhen White was a prospect coming out of Clay-Chalkville High near Birmingham, those words were literally: “I need you.”

 

“Nobody else said those words to my child,” said White’s mother, Shatonja Mitchell. “That stood out to me.”

 

She liked Kirby Smart as well, for the record, and Georgia made a late run at White. But Tennessee did what needed to be done to win the recruitment. This included inadvertently requiring his family to dodge water bottles on his official visit..”nesseeool.