Bru McCoy explains how he learned about Florida-Tennessee rivalry

If you live in the South, the Florida–Tennessee rivalry is probably familiar to you. Always an early season SEC East showdown, both fanbases are passionate about getting a win over one another. Neutral observers can appreciate the matchup as well.

But for somebody from Southern California, it’s not a pressing topic when discussing football. Not until his high school recruitment did wide receiver Bru McCoy really understand the rivalry between Florida and Tennessee.

“Growing up in Southern California, you don’t hear too much about rivalries,” McCoy said during Tuesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “I would say more so, I definitely heard about Auburn–Alabama. But I think once I got to high school and started getting recruited by Tennessee and Florida that I heard about the long, ongoing rivalry and the continued beef between Tennessee and Florida.”

McCoy technically started his college career at Texas before transferring to USC. He will close things out with the Volunteers, being in the midst of his redshirt senior season. Over his two years in Knoxville, there has been some education on which games matter more than others.

Whether it’s fans vocalizing their opinions on social media or coming from inside the building, McCoy knows Florida is an opponent Tennessee needs to be beating.

“Our fanbase is so out there,” McCoy said. “They’ve got such a huge voice that a lot of it came from social media. I would read tweets and stuff that people put out leading up to games. And then in the building, you get some education from your coaches and former players or former coaches that come and speak to the team. They’ll bring the rivalry and what it means to them. You kind of learn through them and then you kind of buy into it yourself.”

McCoy enjoyed plenty of success against rivals last year, going 3-0 against the program’s most disliked foes. Of course the win against Alabama at Neyland Stadium will always standout, breaking a 15-year drought against the Crimson Tide. Florida was also a home win, while the in-state rivalry against Vanderbilt wound up being 56-0 in favor of Tennessee.

Hype may build around the week leading up to the game on the outside but McCoy keeps everything the same when preparing. There might be slightly more attention to detail but there are no dramatic changes on his end.

“It’s not like we wake up and say ‘Oh, this is just any other game.’ The mentality and preparation aspect — you don’t do anything beyond the realm of what you have been doing,” McCoy said. “But definitely the intentionality, the intensity of it. That’s all going to go up just knowing the opponent and how much it means.”

McCoy had a great day against Florida last year, catching five passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. At the time, it was considered a career performance.

Saturday will be just another chance to terrorize the Gators’ secondary and the chance to go out with a 2-0 all-time record in the rivalry.