As a freshman, Marquez Callaway played in just six games, but left an impression with a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown. As a sophomore, Callaway erupted for 115 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions in the season-opener against Georgia Tech, catching a couple of jump balls and breaking them off for big gains.

Fast forward to 2019, Callaway is now a senior who’s averaging 16 yards per reception.

Heading into his final college campaign, Callaway is like every college player. He’s bigger, faster, and stronger than ever before. The Georgia native has never been thought of as a burner, but a second straight offseason with Tennessee’s strength staff and the 6-2, 205-pound wideout believes he’e changing that narrative.

“Coaches always tell us that speed kills. That’s the next step to going to the next level. Everything is about speed. Coach Fitzgerald and the rest of the strength staff have tried to do what they can whether it’s strength, speed, mobility or whatever to try and get us ready.”

Callaway believes the increased speed has come from a variety of things.

“ A little bit of mobility,” Callaway said. “Being more flexible. Coach tells us all the time to be more flexible and that will increase your speed right there. Technique is part of it but you run how you run. And a lot of squats. Coach Fitz loves squats.”

So the burning question less than a week into fall camp is just how fast is Callaway? He says fast enough, declining to talk forty times. He’s fast enough for receivers coach Tee Martin, who can compared him to a former USC receiver and current NFL All-Pro.

“Marquez has a skill set that is very similar, to me, like JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was very intelligent. He did everything on special teams. He can do anything on offense. He can play inside and outside. He’ll play hurt. Anything you ask the young man to do. I didn’t know Marquez when I came here, but he was always eager to jump in and do whatever you ask him to do and he loves the game,” Martin said.

“This is his last year and he ran a 4.40 flat over the summer. He has gotten faster since a season ago and that is something I challenged this group with. They all went into the weight room. They all had better times when they tested a couple weeks ago. So now, we just got to take that work and put it onto the field, and I think he has the potential to be one of the best receivers in SEC. And I'm not just saying that because he's here at Tennessee, his body of work to this point speaks for itself. If he just continues to take his game to the next level I think he could be one of those early round guys.”

Callaway smiled when asked about the comparison to Ben Roethlisberger’s top target, but his focus is on this month and his role in Jim Chaney’s offense.

“Everyone knows that coach Chaney is a great OC. He works with what he has,” Callaway said. “That’s either moving us around to spots that fit us and not just putting us in a system that we have to adjust to. He does a great job of putting us in situations to win. We are doing a great job of trying to learn. We bug him. We bug the quarterbacks. We bug coach Martin all the time about how we can get better and how to learn so that we can eliminate MA’s (missed assignments) this season.

“You have to be a football player. You have to study the playbook. It’s not going to come to you in a day. You have to take time outside of meetings. You have to put the work in on your own and whether we do that is up to us. If we don’t then that’s on us too.”

Callaway and his receiver teammates are the mainstays of the Vol offense. They have the most experience and production of any position group which means they are going to be heavily counted on.

“I think they're a competitive group of guys that take a lot of pride in their role. I think that they're going to be a big part of what we're trying to get done this year," offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. "We're gonna have to use those guys on early downs, probably a little more than I have in the past. I look forward to those older guys making plays for us, but I think they're competitive. I think they can make plays.”

Plays that start with a veteran receiver who’s faster than ever and has impressed more than ever.