Vols WR Coach Burns Shares First Impression, Expectations for Tennessee's Receiver Room

Vols WR Coach Burns Shares First Impression, Expectations for Tennessee's Receiver Room

Following the firing of Gus Malzahn at Auburn, Kodi Burns was quickly tabbed to coach receivers at UCF by Josh Heupel. Shortly after, Heupel was named Tennessee's next head coach and Burns followed him to Knoxville and back to SEC country to coach receivers in Knoxville. Burns, a former standout at Auburn, is fresh off a season where he mentored two of the SEC's most dynamic receivers in Anthony Schwartz and Seth Williams, both are now headed to the NFL Draft. 

As Burns settles into his new role at Tennessee, he has had a chance to look at his receivers room and shares his first impression with the Tennessee media on Wednesday. "When I first looked at the numbers, the first impression is very inexperienced. We lost of couple of guys the last few years that were very productive. We're going to be young and very inexperienced once again for this league, but there's also potential. So, we have to just continue to grow and develop these guys into what we want them to be for our team and offense. So, it's going to be a challenge, and I'm excited about that challenge to truly develop these guys and get those guys to play at a high level to what we think we need to win," Burns said of his new unit.

Burns knows what he wants in a receiver and will expect from Tennessee's young, yet talented group of pass catchers moving forward. I think the No. 1 thing in evaluating a wide receiver is ball skills. In this league and the SEC, you have to have to the ability to make competitive catches. So, I think everything starts there. How naturally does he track the ball? Can they adjust? Also can they make catches in traffic really is where it starts to me. With everything off that, there's speed, change of direction and the ability to get extra yards with the ball in your hands. So, there's a lot of different things you look for in a wideout, but I think obviously the No. 1 thing for me is ball skills because that's where it starts at it catching the ball," he said.

He inherits a room that brings back key contributors Jalin Hyatt and Velus Jones, in addition to Cedric Tillman, Malachi Wideman, Ramel Keyton, Deangelo Gibbs, and newcomers Walker Merrill and Andison Coby.

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