Jalin Hyatt explains where breakout play vs Alabama ranks among his all-time games

Tennessee‘s 52-49 upset win over Alabama was headlined by a breakout performance by Volunteers wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, who ended the day with six catches for 207 yards and a whopping five touchdown catches. Hyatt was asked after the game if he’s ever had a performance quite like the one he had on Saturday, as he gave a lot of the credit to his teammates and coaching staff.

“This is personally probably my best game just as far as everything, but how I look at it it’s just a little different,” Hyatt said. “It just goes with the o-line, the quarterback, the play calling, it’s a lot of things that go into it and like I said I’m just blessed to be up here.”

With the help of his team, Hyatt not only helped secure the Volunteers their first win over Alabama in 15 games but earned himself SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors, as his five touchdown catches tied an SEC and school single-game record.

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Hyatt remained humble after his outstanding individual performance, giving credit to his quarterback Hendon Hooker and his head coach Josh Heupel not only for leading them to victory on Saturday, but helping build their program up to what it is today and what it could be if they can keep the ball rolling.

“I’m blessed that we have a quarterback in Hook, a leader in Hook, and a coach in Heup, you can just see it, I know y’all see it. It’s a different team from three years ago, or two years ago, or one year, it’s just a different team and I think we’re finally on the right path as far as what our goal is and we have to execute that,” Hyatt said. “So we’re back going to work on Monday.”

Jalin Hyatt reveals what worked so well for him in breakout game vs Alabama

Saturday night in Knoxville will go down as one of the most memorable nights in school history, as No. 6 Tennessee defeated No. 3 Alabama in a 52-49 upset victory. One of the most memorable individual performances of the day was by Volunteers wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, who had a monster day catching six passes for 207 yards and a school and SEC-tying record five touchdowns. Following the game, Hyatt pulled back the curtain on his historic performance and why he was so effective against the Crimson Tide.

“There’s a lot of things, the looks that they were giving us, me and Hook (Hendon Hooker) were on the right page as far as what we were looking at, and not only that, just him trusting in me,” Hyatt explained. “Like I said I’m just blessed, this is what we needed, it’s been a while since we beaten Bama so I’m glad we got the win.”

Tennessee’s quarterback Hendon Hooker and Hyatt clearly had a connection on Saturday, as all of Hooker’s touchdown passes on the day were to Hyatt and over half of his passing yards. Even Hyatt himself didn’t expect to have such an outing, as he became the first player to register three or more touchdowns and 100-plus receiving yards on Alabama during the Nick Saban era, helping snap a 15-game losing streak against the Tide for the Volunteers.

“To be honest I didn’t know I was gonna have five touchdowns, that’s a lot. But it was just the looks, what they were showing us, what we came to the sideline and what we thought would work against their defense,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt may attribute his big day to their offensive scheme, but his execution was undeniable, as his five touchdown grabs Saturday were more than he had his entire two previous seasons with the Volunteers. His performance earned him SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors and Tennessee a No. 3 ranking in the latest AP Poll, their highest ranking since 2005.

“It’s a lot that goes to it as far as we game plan, how we prepare, we knew we could execute on big plays. We knew that coming into the game we had to if we wanted to win this game, and like I said I’m just proud of everybody in the locker room man and we’re on to the next,” Hyatt said.