Tennessee Football: Vols Need WRs to Step Up Against Iowa's Vaunted Pass Defense

When Tennessee coach Butch Jones announced redshirt sophomore Jason Croom would miss the TaxSlayer Bowl after suffering a knee injury in Sunday's practice that will require surgery, receivers coach Zach Azzanni had to be thinking, "Again?"

Wide receiver injuries have come at a rapid-fire pace for the Vols this year.

Way back when camp started, reserve Cody Blanc was lost for the season. Then, Von Pearson suffered a high ankle sprain in the second game of the year against Arkansas State and missed a swathe of the season.

Star sophomores Marquez North and Josh Smith have injuries that cut their seasons short. Now, Croom does, too, and his is reportedly going to be a lengthy recovery.

Considering the Vols are facing the nation's eighth-ranked pass defense in Iowa with seven healthy receivers (and without three of their top five playmakers), UT needs those available to step up.

"Well, we can kind of wallow in it, wallow in our misery having four season-ending surgeries or we can (say), 'Next man up' and coach 'em real hard," Azzanni told Volquest's contingent of writers (subscription required). "It's a good opportunity for some other guys to step up. That's how we've got to look at it."

The one constant who has elevated his game with all the wounded teammates surrounding him is Pig Howard. A study of official statistics on UTSports.com shows Howard averaged 3.75 catches and 36.5 yards per game during the season's first eight games.

In the final four, he caught 5.5 balls per game, and his yards-per-game average skyrocketed to 74.25.

Still, Howard is more of a glue guy than a home-run threat. He's only reached the end zone on one catch and two rushes all season.

The game-breakers who've not really blossomed yet for the Vols are Pearson and freshman Josh Malone.

Are the Vols asking too much of a couple of first-year players? Probably. But that's just where the program is right now. The bottom line is UT must get more production from the tandem.

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Pearson is a potentially dangerous weapon in the open field. He doesn't run the best routes and hasn't proven to be a capable threat on the deep ball, but offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian must find ways for Joshua Dobbs to get the football to Pearson in space and let his athletic talent do the rest.

Malone, on the other hand, is a huge X-factor. He's long, lean and fluid with the football. Yet, while battling through injuries during the last half of the season, he's managed just three catches in the past five games. During three of those games, he was shut out in catches.

After his five-catch, 75-yard performance against Ole Miss, many thought Malone was about to turn a corner. Instead, he turned off production.

Malone told The Daily Times' Grant Ramey he injured his groin right before the game against Alabama, and it affected him throughout the stretch run of the season. After the time off, Jones has praised one of his prized freshmen:

"Coming out today, Josh Malone looked like the Josh Malone that we saw in training camp and the middle of the year," the coach said this week. "I think he’s really benefited from the extra time off. He's done a great job also in the training room."

Another pair of freshmen will now be counted on, too.

Iowa defensive coordinator and secondary coach Phil Parker is highly regarded, and his unit allowed just 175.8 yards per game and very few big plays. The Big Ten Network's Tom Dienhart listed Parker as one of his top assistants in the conference.

The numbers for that group are extremely impressive, but a closer look suggests the Hawkeyes defense is far from elite. IsSportsWeb's Austin Kreber noted in his season review of Iowa's defense:

"

The defense isn’t bad, it isn’t good either. They dominate the horrible offenses in the Big Ten, and get dominated (well, scored on a lot) by the offenses that have at least some talent, like Nebraska, Maryland, Minnesota, and Indiana (yes, Iowa held them through the air but that was because they were playing an athlete at quarterback).

So in conclusion, this year’s defense wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t great. Iowa benefited by playing some weak offensive teams, as well as some teams with injuries at important positions like quarterback and running back.

"

Tennessee has gotten consistently strong play from running back Jalen Hurd, and its offense has been on an uptick since Dobbs took over at quarterback. But the Vols still have to generate some yardage downfield, something that has been nonexistent in the absence of North.

With Howard, Wharton and Jenkins being mostly slot players, the onus will fall on Pearson and Malone.

There's so much for UT to work on between now and the date with Iowa on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, but near the top of that list must be finding some playmakers downfield that can loosen up a defense and keep the Hawkeyes from stacking the box.

Iowa isn't good at stopping the run, but if it doesn't have to worry about Dobbs' arm or any of the weapons around him, the Hawkeyes can focus on making UT's offense one-dimensional.

The Vols can't let that happen, and the only way for that to occur is Malone and Pearson living up to their billing as top playmakers. They're never needed more than now.

All stats gathered from CFBStats.com or UTSports.com, unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.