Assistant Kelsey Pope turns Tennessee WRs into stars, here's who might be next

Kelsey Pope loves a before-and-after picture.

It’s helped the Tennessee assistant become one of college football’s best wide receivers coaches. He has created quite a reputation for taking raw receivers from Point A to Point B in one year, and the latter destination has put those players among the league’s leaders.

From Jalin Hyatt to Braylon Staley, one of the SEC’s best receivers for four straight seasons has been a first-year starter for Tennessee.

Pope’s latest challenge is to turn sophomores Radarious Jackson and Travis Smith into second-year success stories. So far, he likes where they are between those “before” and “after” markers.

“We try to always pull video evidence of where it got started and where they are now. We had one of those sessions (where we) singled out those two from a year ago to now,” Pope said. “Both of them are playing fast. They’re both urgent. They’re both competitive. Both their bodies are changing a lot.

“They look like completely different people than a year ago.”

Jackson and Smith are the leading contenders to fill the vacant third starting spot in the wide receiving corps. They entered spring practice ahead of five-star freshman TK Keys, who is learning the offense and recovering from a knee injury. Their competition could stretch into the 2026 season.

Staley and Mike Matthews are returning starters and among the most productive receivers in the SEC. The question is whether a new starter, probably a second-year player, can have a breakout season to complement them.

Fortunately, that is Pope’s specialty.

These new starters turned into instant stars under Kelsey Pope

Pope was promoted from offensive analyst to wide receivers coach in 2022. Since then, he has had a streak of turning first-year starters into breakout stars.

Here’s a quick look at recent examples in his tenure.

• 2022: Hyatt won the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s best receiver in his first season as a starter. He had 1,267 yards and 15 TDs.
• 2023: First-year starter Squirrel White led the team with 803 yards receiving and ranked fifth in the SEC with 67 catches.
• 2024: First-year starter Dont'e Thornton led the team with 661 yards receiving and six TDs, and his average of 25.4 yards per catch led the conference.
• 2025: Chris Brazzell went from part-time starter to full-time. Staley and Matthews were first-year starters. Statistically, it was the most productive receiver trio in UT history. Brazzell was an All-American. Staley was the SEC Freshman of the Year. Matthews had 813 receiving yards.

Jackson and Smith are hoping to replace Brazzell, who’s headed to the NFL. Pope said he wants to see separation from those young wide receivers from spring practice to the preseason.

How Radarious Jackson, Travis Smith 'look like SEC guys'

Those first-year starters who excelled under Pope were all second-year players in UT’s offense.

Hyatt went through growing pains in coach Josh Heupel’s first season before exploding in Year 2. Thornton (Oregon) and Brazzell (Tulane) broke out as second-year transfers.

White and Matthews went from freshman contributors to sophomore starters, just like Jackson and Smith are trying to do. Similarly, Staley played little as a freshman, then broke out as a redshirt freshman.

These things just take time.

“It’s way different (from freshman to sophomore year). Trying to get adjusted to this playbook, I wouldn’t say that’s easy,” Jackson said. “But this year I’m more comfortable with the offense and the playbook. Now I’m just focusing on the little details to get better.”

Smith and Jackson played only 100 and 93 offensive snaps, respectively, as freshmen. Smith had three catches for 29 yards. Jackson had nine catches for 90 yards. Both missed time due to injuries.

If one of the two wins the starting job, he’ll be the biggest wide receiver on the field for the Vols. Smith is an agile 6-foot-3, 210-pounder. Jackson is a strong 6-2, 210-pounder.

“Those guys got a lot of length, big frames and they look like SEC guys,” Pope said. “(Jackson) brings the tenacity and the physicality that you can’t coach. He reminds you of the old-school wideouts back in the day when there were no rules.

“(Smith) is a bigger athlete, but he’s so fluid for his size. The things that he can do with his size are special because of his hips and the way that he’s loose.”

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Radarious Jackson, Travis Smith want to be Kelsey Pope's next Tennessee WR stars