Could Chris Brazzell II Be Tennessee Football's Jordan Gainey?

The expectations for the Tulane transfer WR are going to be very different in 2025.

Mar 10, 2025

Happy Monday, folks. Thank you for checking out SRM. Every day, you’ll find in this jam-packed newsletter my Tennessee Volunteers column of the day, what’s new with ‘The Chase Thomas Podcast’ and ‘SRM’, interesting Vol media nuggets, how to keep up with everything I’m doing each day covering the Vols and much more.

If you’re a Vol fan, please subscribe below so you never miss an issue.

None of the wide receivers who started for Tennessee on the road in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 12 of the 2024 college football season will be starting for Tennessee on the road in Atlanta against the Syracuse Orangemen in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season. Indeed, Bru McCoy, Squirrel White, and Dont’e Thornton Jr. are all gone. McCoy and Thornton Jr. are off to the NFL, and White entered the transfer portal and is now a Florida State Seminole. The lone upperclassmen in wide receiver coach Kelsey Pope’s position group is former Tulane transfer wideout Chris Brazzell II.

With so much youth in that room right now, it would be a surprise for Brazzell II not to be one of Tennessee’s three wide receiver starters in the opener against the Orangemen at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I wrote extensively about one of those other starters yesterday in redshirt freshman slot receiver Braylon Staley. The other is former five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews, the other crown jewel at wideout in the Vols’ 2024 recruiting class.

With so much excitement and intrigue surrounding Matthews and Staley as Vol breakout players in 2025, the same excitement and intrigue isn’t there for Brazzell II. In a way, Thornton Jr. had the kind of impact for the Vols in 2024 that many folks anticipated Brazzell II would have. Thornton Jr. excelled as the lone wideout with elite YAC production. The former Oregon transfer led all college football wideouts in average yards per reception at 25.4. He totaled six touchdowns on 26 receptions. In the Vols’ three losses last season, Thornton Jr. had zero touchdowns, two receptions, and 56 yards.

At Tulane, Brazzell II had nine games in 2023 where he hauled in a pass that went for 20-plus yards. He totaled five touchdowns on the season, three of which came in the final two regular-season games for the Green Wave. Brazzell II was a very productive, consistent receiver on a Tulane team that went 12-0 in the regular season. It was a surprise that he only accounted for 29 receptions and two touchdowns in 2024 for the Vols. He did, however, reel in maybe the biggest touchdown reception of the season against Alabama on that third Saturday in October. It was, all in all, an odd first season for Chris Brazzell II on Rocky Top.

However, with so much attention on Matthews and Staley, Brazzell II will not go into the 2025 season with the sky-high expectations he was saddled with going into the 2024 season. For Tennessee, the Vols don’t need Brazzell II to be Cedric Tillman or Jalin Hyatt. They need him to be what Jordan Gainey has been for the Tennessee men’s basketball team this season – a solid, reliable, older role player. Thornton Jr. was Tennessee’s best wideout in 2024, but the Vols were 94th in passing offense in conference play. Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel has to find the trio of production that head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes has found with Gainey, Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier. The Vols’ offense lives and dies with this trio, and the result has been a team on the cusp of a No. 1 seed in the men’s NCAA Tournament. It’s not a coincidence, I don’t think, that in Tennessee’s two seasons where they were top-10 in scoring nationally under Heupel, the Vols got consistent production out of their trio of wideouts.

You don’t have to squint that hard to see a scenario where Brazzell II thrives as the No. 3 target for Tennessee next season. Similar to Gainey, maybe the best-case scenario for Brazzell II in Year 2 in Heupel’s scheme is simply being more consistent and finding a way to swing a couple of key games as Gainey did against Illinois and Florida. Where would the Vols have been without Thornton Jr. against Vanderbilt or Alabama? Maybe that’s Brazzell II against Georgia and Oklahoma this season. Like Gainey, Brazzell II had a difficult first year on Rocky Top as a transfer who moved up a level in competition. Like Gainey, Brazzell II can thrive as the No. 3 option for the Vols this season. If he can be Payton from ‘21, Ramel Keyton from ‘22, or Thornton Jr. from ‘24, or some combination of the three, that’s a great place for Brazzell II to be at Tennessee. Gainey has never been Tennessee’s best guard this season, but he has always been one of the three guards Barnes can rely on all season long. Brazzell II may never be one of Tennessee’s best wideouts, but if he can settle in as one of the three wideouts Heupel can rely on all season long, like Gainey, he can become a fan favorite on of the best teams in college football next season.

LATEST EPISODE OF THE CHASE THOMAS PODCAST

Chase Thomas is the Sports Renaissance Man, Atlanta Sports Guy & VFL. On today's program, Chase is joined by fellow University of North Georgia alumni Matt Green to talk about Georgia & Tennessee spring practice players to watch, CFB rule changes in 2025, which SEC football schedule is the toughest between Georgia and Florida, and the state of the Oklahoma Sooners program right now. Then, Greeneville Green Devils head football coach Eddie Spradlin joins the program to talk about the offseason (75:00), revisiting the 2024 season, Alcoa moving up to 4A in 2025, overlooked players from last year's team and spring position battles to know and much more.

Host: Chase Thomas

Guest: Matt Green

Listen via Apple l Spotify l iHeartRadio l PodLink l Download l RSS l YouTube

APPLE

SPOTIFY

*NOTE: If you have not already done so, please consider leaving the podcast a five-star rating and writing us a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify or however you get your podcasts. It helps other folks find the show and helps this very show continue to grow.

As always, you can get in touch with the show by emailing me at chasethomaspodcast[at]gmail.com.

The SRM Daily Column Schedule

Each day, I write a different column over here on SRM on the Tennessee Vols all year long.

MONDAY- 48 Hours After Tennessee Vols Recap

TUESDAY- Terrific Tennessee Spotlight

WEDNESDAY- Tennessee Vols Wednesday Wonder

THURSDAY- Know The Foe Vols Game Preview

FRIDAY- 3 Thoughts & 1 Prediction For The Tennessee Vols

SATURDAY- Instant Reaction To Latest Tennessee Vols Game

SUNDAY- Stock Report For The Tennessee Vols

Give a gift subscription

The Chase Thomas Podcast Lineup

There are a lot of different ways to stay locked in on all the Tennessee Vols podcasting coverage I’m putting out every day.

Below is my weekly podcast lineup, so you always know what’s coming down the pike each day on the program. (Note: There are always surprise special Tennessee Vols guests that pop in throughout the week as well. Some examples include Volquest’s Brent Hubbs, Tennessee CF Hunter Ensley, 99.1 The Sports Animal’s Tyler Ivens, GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan, Tony Basilio, Sports Source’s John Pennington, and many others.)

Share Sports Renaissance Man

MONDAY - A Pod Divided w/ Fellow University of North Georgia Alumni Matt Green

TUESDAY - Tennessee Vols Sports Guys w/ Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert, Saturday Down South’s Ethan Stone and Omaha Production’s Jack Foster

WEDNESDAY - More Important Issues w/ Landon Raby & Caleb Mitchell

THURSDAY - Vols Hoops Hour w/ Vol Report’s Ryan Sylvia

FRIDAY - Vols Best Bets & Tennessee Baseball w/ Omaha Productions’ Jack Foster