There's a lot to be excited about if you're a Tennessee Vols fan when it comes to Tulane transfer wide receiver Chris Brazzell.
For starters, Brazzell, who transferred to Tennessee earlier this offseason, has elite size at 6-foot-5/200 lbs. His long strides allow him to get down the field quickly. Brazzell also has great body control, which is evident in some of the highlight-reel catches that we've already seen from him while wearing orange and white.
Brazzell's best attribute, however, is his competitiveness (a trait that Vols head coach Josh Heupel values highly). The dynamic wide receiver badly wants to win games -- that's all he cares about on Saturdays.
"I'm just hopefully able to win some games for the team," said Brazzell earlier this spring. "I feel like all of the receivers better each other. We got a lot of dogs on the team."
That wasn't just lip service from Brazzell. Comments from Vols secondary coach Willie Martinez on Monday seem to confirm that Brazzell is indeed an elite competitor who brings fire and energy on every rep.
"Everyday," said Martinez with a laugh when asked if Brazzell challenges the defensive backs in practice. " His speed, his competitiveness. Braz is very competitive and plays with a lot of fire and energy. We better do that on our side of the ball, right? I mean, you gotta have great energy and stuff like that. But a very competitive, high-level player, so that’s only gonna make us better . We got a great group of wide receivers that, they’re gonna be playing on Sundays. So it’s easy for my job to just tell the kids, ‘Hey man, you want, you want a great resume? Put it on video. Put it on video against these guys that are gonna be playing on Sundays'. And Braz is one of those guys. Highly competitive, physical player. Not very quiet, kind of cool. That’s how we like it, you know, but he’s making us better .”
It sounds like Brazzell has that dog in him -- much like beloved former Vols wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
A team needs a roster full of those types of players to win a championship. And it sounds like Tennessee has that.
Guys like Brazzell, Boo Carter, Bru McCoy, James Pearce, Arion Carter, and Dylan Sampson, among others, are bringing a mindset to Tennessee football that's been lacking at times over the years. And it's in large part because of that mindset that the Vols are legitimate championship contenders (regardless of whatever the national media is parroting these days) entering the 2024 season.
Related: Former Vols OC Alex Golesh gets candid about taking over a tough situation at Tennessee in 2021
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