Today we finally make it to the top ten of the Class of 2009 with Marsalis Teague. Here's his pre-UT Flash profile along with his 2009 stats:
| Games Played |
Rushing | Receiving | ||||||
| No | Gain | Loss | Net | TDs | No | Yds | TD | |
| 13 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 147 | 2 |
A four-star, nine-jar guy who turned down offers from Alabama, Michigan, and Florida, Teague came to Tennessee amid great expectations. He played in all 13 games in 2009 despite being grouped in with a corps of receivers including upper classmen Gerald Jones, Denarius Moore, and Quintin Hancock. He also had touchdowns against Western Kentucky and Georgia, as you can see in this clip:
Other than that, though, Teague was a bit quiet. His story is really pretty much the same as that of Zach Rogers: they both had the challenge of playing behind Jones and Moore in 2009 and have another challenge in 2010 playing behind the same guys while also being chased from behind by the supposedly stellar group of receivers that make up the 2010 class. All of which makes it difficult to gauge their performance. Will called Teague a significant contributor yesterday, and I'd have to agree, and to me, the fact that his contributions came not because of need or garbage time but because he earned it means that Teague lived up to his high expectations in 2009. After all, Tennessee fans don't often see 147 yards from a true freshman receiver.