JaVonta Payton

Senior wide receiver for Tennessee. 2021: 18 catches, 413 receiving yards, 6 TD.

WR · Tennessee · Sr. · #3

6′1″ · 180 lb · Nashville, TN

CFB Index 42 · #271 of 468 WRsHigh confidenceTennessee 2021 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 609 nationally · Signed with Ole Miss

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for Tennessee. 2021: 18 catches, 413 receiving yards, 6 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Ole Miss in 2017.
Transferred from Mississippi State to Tennessee in 2021.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Three seasons at Tennessee, 785 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 3 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

2017

Signed with Ole Miss3-star out of Hillsboro

201913 games

Signed with Mississippi State3-star out of Northwest Mississippi C.C.

202110 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#609 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2019–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2019–2021

2 coaches

2019–2020

Jeremy Pruitt

Tennessee

2021

Josh Heupel

Tennessee

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Jeremy Pruitt → Josh Heupel. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Mississippi State6-7HC: Joe Moorhead · Run-heavy

2020Mississippi State4-7HC: Mike Leach · Pass-heavy, fast tempo

2021Tennessee7-6HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy, fast tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

42Rotational starter #271 of 468?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (99th percentile). Strength: td rate (97th percentile). Concern: catch rate (2nd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#7 / 655 · 99th pct

23.0

TD rate#21 / 655 · 97th pct

16.7%

Explosive rate#112 / 655 · 83rd pct

19.4%

EPA / target#324 / 655 · 51st pct

0.65

Catch rate#642 / 655 · 2nd pct

50.0%

Box-score rates (7)

Yards / catch#7 / 557 · 99th pct

22.9

Long catch#41 / 557 · 90th pct

Rec TDs#71 / 557 · 84th pct

Rec yards#265 / 557 · 52nd pct

413

Rush TDs#57 / 273 · 40th pct

Receptions#419 / 557 · 23rd pct

Rush yards#245 / 273 · 10th pct

-2

Season trend

EPA / target— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Catch rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

TD rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Yards / catch— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	1.5	20.7	14.4	0.3
Road4g	1.8	63.5	36.1	1.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	1.7	38.0	24.9	0.7
Weeks 8+4g	1.5	37.5	20.4	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

42 · #271 of 468 WRs

Three-star recruit. Now #271 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	Tennessee	18	413	22.9	6	--
2020	Mississippi State	19	225	11.8	1	--
2019	Mississippi State	9	147	16.3	0	--
Career		46	785	17.1	7	--

Season	Team
2021	Tennessee	1	-2	--	--	--
2020	Mississippi State	--	--	121	--	--
2019	Mississippi State	1	11	82	--	--
Career		2	9	203	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2021

W 45–42

at Kentucky

-2 rush yds (1 car)

Edged out Kentucky on the road in a shootout.

With H. Hooker — 316 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · QBR 76.6 · 41 rush yds (11 car) · V. Jones Jr. — 5 rec · 100 yds · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 4 · Florida · 2&7 · Q2 · EPA +6.53Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 75 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 10 · Kentucky · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +6.08Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 75 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 8 · Alabama · 2&5 · Q1 · EPA +4.84Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 57 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 6 · South Carolina · 2&7 · Q1 · EPA +3.59Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 39 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 5 · Missouri · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.97Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 35 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 3 · Tennessee Tech · 2&6 · Q1 · EPA +2.96Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 29 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 4 · Florida · 4&5 · Q3 · EPA +2.70Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 7 yds to the Fla 35 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Tennessee Tech · 4&4 · Q2 · EPA +1.78Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 10 yds to the TnTch 20 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Purdue · 3&3 · Q1 · EPA +1.25Hendon Hooker pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 24 yds to the Prdue 12 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Kentucky · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA -1.19JaVonta Payton run for a loss of 2 yards to the Tenn 30

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 38-6vs Bowling Green	2	14	7.0	0	10
Wk 3	W 56-0vs Tennessee Tech	3	46	15.3	1	29
Wk 4	L 14-38@ Florida	2	82	41.0	1	75	Season-high 82 yds
Wk 5	W 62-24@ Missouri	1	35	35.0	1	35
Wk 6	W 45-20vs South Carolina	1	39	39.0	1	39
Wk 7	L 26-31vs Ole Miss	1	12	12.0	0	12
Wk 8	L 24-52@ Alabama	2	59	29.5	1	57
Wk 10	W 45-42@ Kentucky	2	78	39.0	1	75
Wk 11	L 17-41vs Georgia	1	8	8.0	0	8
Wk 13	W 45-21vs Vanderbilt	1	5	5.0	0	5
Total		16	378	23.1	6	75

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology