Tennessee added several potential receivers this offseason with the likes of Jalin Hyatt, who is already garnering plenty of preseason buzz, four-star prospect Jimmy Calloway, and elite athletes Dee Beckwith and Jimmy Holiday (both of which may play multiple positions on Rocky Top).

While all of those players have potential, according to Tennessee receivers coach Tee Martin, freshman Malachi Wideman may have the best potential out of all the new players he has to work with in Knoxville.

If you don’t follow recruiting, the Florida native was rated as a four-star prospect, the No. 22 receiver in the nation in the 2020 recruiting cycle and signed with the Vols over scholarship offers from Florida State, Oregon, Ole Miss and Washington State.

Here is what Martin had to say about Wideman during his Wednesday media availability.

“He has probably the most upside of everyone because he’s coming in probably the most raw of them all,” Martin said of Wideman.

Martin went on to explain that Wideman’s history suggests the receiver has only begun to stretch the surface of what he can accomplish on the football field.

“Jaylin Hyatt has lined up at wideout his whole career. Jimmy Holiday was a quarterback, so there’s some development there but he was a quarterback so he’s very familiar,” Martin continued. “With Malachi’s a kid, for three years, young man played on a Wing-T offense and was a basketball player during the offseason. Rarely went through spring practice, wasn’t on a big-time seven-on-seven circuit type of guy and would just show up and play football and just kind of go off natural skills.”

While he may have focused his efforts on basketball for much of his prep career, Martin says those skills can translate to the football field and made it easier for the freshman to standout during Tennessee’s ongoing camp.

“You see basketball transfers to his football game, where he plays above the rim, he’s tough, he’s physical,” Martin added. “He knows how to body people up, you know, just like rebounding the basketball. Sometimes you take contact and you initiate contact that gets separation, those skills have carried over for Malachi on the football field.

“He is a bright young man and just needs a lot of reps. He’s one of those young players that the more reps he gets, the more you start seeing him shine more and more every day.”

Photo credit: Tennessee Athletics