Braylon Staley transformed from overlooked freshman to SEC Freshman of the Year, dominating defenses and rewriting expectations for Tennessee's offense.
There were a lot of rumblings in the preseason for Tennessee football after a few transfer portal moves left the team without a clear path for how the receiver room would look in 2025.
One of the few receivers to remain on the roster from the 2024 season to the 2025 season was redshirt freshman Braylon Staley.
Staley, a 6-foot, 190-pound wideout from Aiken, S.C., was still a mystery after his redshirt first year with the Vols. In a filled-out receiver room that then included guys like Dont'e Thornton, Squirrel White and Bru McCoy, as well as Chris Brazzell II and Mike Matthews, there was not a lot of room for a guy like Staley to get many touches.
Yet Staley remained patient, and after the dust settled in the offseason and the rosters became set, Staley was planned as the team’s third wideout, playing behind Brazzell II and Mathews, to start the season.
“I just had to keep working hard at practice,” Staley said. “You know, coming to the game with a mindset I came in with this past season, just to kill.”
The redshirt freshman quickly cemented himself as not only a key player for the 2025 team, but for next-season’s team as well. Staley burst onto the scene against Syracuse in Week 1 with 95 yards over four receptions, along with a touchdown.
To Staley, this wasn’t a surprise, but rather something he targeted and prayed for -- a chance to make his mark on the biggest stage. His role continued to take shape after dropping 97 yards on nine catches against a tough Georgia defense.
“Young guys don’t have the time to be young,” Staley said. “That mindset was instilled inside our heads so much. We’d come out to practice like we were older guys, to be honest. And I think the accolades are a blessing, but we've got to move it to the past and get back to work.”
He continued to make progress through the season, and Staley only continued to get better. He posted a career high 109 yards receiving against Arkansas on Oct. 11, before following up that performance with 92 and 105 yards in the next two games.
While his production tailed off in the final two games of the season, his impact can still be felt on the entire season as a whole. The success of Staley took a lot of pressure off the rest of the offense, including quarterback Joey Aguilar.
Staley finished second on the team in receiving yards with 806. He also tallied a team-high 64 receptions while hauling in six touchdown receptions.
Staley finished his redshirt-freshman season with a hefty haul of awards, along with the impressive numbers, earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors, as well as earning a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team and the Freshman All-America Team.
“The goal for me, honestly, was All-SEC,” Staley said. “It wasn’t freshman of the year, but you know, I think again getting Freshman of the Year is a big step for me. then again, I don’t really look at that all too much.”