Jalin Hyatt praises Cedric Tillman, Bru McCoy for their value in Tennessee receiver room

After his own big game over the weekend, Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt discussed two of his teammates who are making a big impact on the Vols. Hyatt praised his fellow receivers Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy for their role in the Vols’ offense through Week 2.

Although Tillman had a couple drops early in the season, he finished the game versus Pitt with nine receptions for 162 yards and a score.

“Confidence, with Ced, I really believe, in his mind, that he believes he’s the best receiver in the country, and he needs to think that,” Hyatt said. “Everybody is going to make mistakes… but we all know what he can do. He’s our leader in the receiver room. We all look up to him.”

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Tillman exploded onto the scene last season with 64 catches for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns.

As for Bru McCoy, the USC transfer had four catches for 58 yards and a score on Saturday, bringing his season total up to an even 100 receiving yards.

“I’m very proud of Bru with all the things he had to go through when he got here, he had some injuries,” Hyatt said. “Just seeing what he’s done, what he’s accomplished so far, it just shows what hard work can do for you.

“He stayed in the facility, learned the playbook, learned what he needs to do and I think he’s learning what type of player he is and understanding what he wants to do in this offense.”

Josh Heupel reveals Jalin Hyatt put himself in position to succeed

Hyatt has impressed in Tennessee’s first two games of the year, already showing a huge leap of improvement compared to last season, which head coach Josh Heupel attributed to his evolved preparation and maturity.

“Huge symbol of the things that we talk about paying off, and you guys heard me talk about Theo Jackson a lot last year and how mature he was, and how he competed, and it resulted in the way that he played,” Heupel said.

Hyatt recorded 21 catches for 226 yards and two touchdowns last season and is on pace to shatter those numbers this season. In his first two games this season, he already has 13 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Hyatt’s play hasn’t only been great for the Vols on game day, but a great example to the team on the results of hard word and consistency according to Heupel.

“Jalin on the back third of last year and certainly this entire offseason, just a different individual in the way that he approaches every day and his process to getting himself to be ready to play during the course of the game week and all offseason” Heupel explained. “Those examples go a lot further than just me talking about something inside of the team meeting room and everybody inside of our program, talking about our players, can see the difference in that guy. And you guys, when you see him walking down the hallway can see a difference in him too.”

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.