How Jalin Hyatt’s impact is still being felt with Tennessee’s wide receivers
The picture was dated October 16, roughly 24 hours after Tennessee’s 52-49 walk-off win over Alabama at Neyland Stadium. It showed Jalin Hyatt, through the glass in the Anderson Training Center, catching footballs from a JUGS machine.
After setting a school record with five touchdowns against Alabama, catching six passes for 206 yards in the thriller, Hyatt was back to work.
“Stay greedy, build habits, and reap the rewards,” Tennessee wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope wrote on social media on Monday, posting the picture of Hyatt putting in extra work after the game of his life.
This photo was the night after scoring 5 tds. Stay greedy, build habits, and reap the rewards @jalinhyatt pic.twitter.com/wH2JyzEQwK
— Kelsey Pope (@CoachKelseyPope) July 31, 2023
Hyatt became Tennessee’s first Biletnikoff Award winner after his breakout junior season, after he caught 67 passes for 1,267 yards, setting another program record with 15 touchdowns. Now he’s making plays in NFL training camp with the New York Giants, after getting picked at No. 73 overall in the NFL Draft in April.
But his work ethic is still being felt back in Knoxville.
“Whenever you see someone have the success that they had on the field,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said of Hyatt during his press conference on Tuesday, “whenever you can engineer that backwards and see why … what changed from Year 1 to Year 2 for Jalin, it was completely the way he approached the game.”
‘It’s rare to be in the building and not see Ramel in there’
That same approach can be found in senior wide receiver Ramel Keyton. He had his own breakout year in 2022, filling in for an injured Cedric Tillman and setting career highs in catches (31), yards (562) and touchdowns (5).
“It’s rare to be in this building and not see Ramel in there on some form of the JUGS machine,” Halzle said, “catching deep balls, short (balls) and crossers. He is in there all the time getting his stuff in.”
Halzle noted that Keyton has put in that kind of work in the past, but there’s a different sense of urgency this time around. Both Hyatt and Tillman are off to the NFL while the Vols overhaul their wide receiver group with Keyton, Bru McCoy, Dont’e Thornton and Squirrel White, among others.
“I think (Keyton) feels an opportunity, and to me, he’s trying to mirror what Jalin did,” Halzle said. “He had an opportunity when Velus (Jones Jr.) left, so he took the most of it.
“Now with some guys leaving the program, I think Ramel feels like he has that opportunity, and he’s putting in the work so he can try and take it.”
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