The Daily Hatch

A college football program that once fancied itself as Wide Receiver U. has looked more like Wide Receiver Who? in recent years.

In the last 10 NFL drafts, Tennessee has had only four wide receivers selected. Just one of them, Robert Meachem in 2007, was picked in the first round. Only one other was drafted in the first four rounds.

Based on what transpired at the Georgia Dome in UT’s 35-21 conquest of North Carolina State on Friday night, the Vols are getting back up to speed at wide receiver.

The injection of junior-college transfer Cordarrelle Patterson into a talented rotation at wideout makes the Vols particularly dangerous on the perimeter, especially with Tyler Bray directing things at quarterback.

It’s too early to compare these Vols with some of the top receiver classes in school history (the 1980 and ’90 groups were exceptional in terms of top-tier talent and depth), but this is a collection capable of making serious inroads against SEC defenses.

“I think we can be really, really good, and we’re just getting started,” said UT’s Justin Hunter, who had nine receptions for 73 yards in his first game back from major knee surgery.

Patterson hit the ground running with a 41-yard touchdown reception and a 67-yard scoring run on a reverse. Even he was surprised by his immediate impact on the big stage.

“I didn’t think it would go like this,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff thrown at me but I think I handled it pretty good.”

And he’s just getting started. Imagine what he’ll be like once he gets his helmet around the playbook.

“I need to get the routes better and continue to learn the offense,” he said.

Indeed, Patterson’s knowledge — or lack of same — of the UT offense is an issue. According to coach Derek Dooley, he may have run the wrong route on the long TD pass that opened the scoring.

“That’s the beauty of Bray,” Dooley said, shaking his head. “You run the wrong route and he rewards you by throwing you the ball.”

On the play in question, Patterson blew past All-America cornerback David Amerson and caught Bray’s pass in stride.

Asked if Patterson had ad libbed on the play, Bray shrugged his shoulders and said: “I don’t remember.”

Although Patterson said he ran the play as it was drawn up (“Coach is tripping. Of course it was the right route,” he said with a smile), it’s pretty clear he’s finding his way.

“He came to me before the play even started, asking me what to do,” Hunter said. “I was like, ‘Man, you’ve got to get better than that.’

“It was a real ugly route. … It happens more than you’d think, guys running the wrong routes and stuff like that. You’d be surprised.”

As good as UT’s wide receiver corps looked against N.C. State, it could have been better. Much better. Da’Rick Rogers, who led the SEC in receptions last season, was dismissed from the team one week earlier after failing a drug test. Slot receiver DeAnthony Arnett, who caught 24 passes as a freshman in 2011, transferred to Michigan State.

N.C. State Coach Tom O’Brien noted that Rogers would have given the Vols a third big, strong, fast threat on the perimeter if he had stuck around.

“Holy cow if they would’ve had him out there,” O’Brien said.

But even without Rogers, it looks like Wide Receiver U. is back in session.