Bru McCoy talks decision to return to Tennessee, recovery from injury on Knoxville radio

Tennessee redshirt senior wide receiver Bru McCoy was a guest on ‘Tyler & Will’ on 99.1 WNML-FM in Knoxville on Wednesday, discussing his decision to return to the Vols for the 2024 season, his comeback from the leg injury that ended his season in September and his role as a leader in the Tennessee football program:

His road to recovery after suffering the season-ending ankle injury in Tennessee’s win over South Carolina in September

“Yeah, I mean, from that day, I got to say a huge shout out to all the training staff and the doctors, nurses, everybody that helped me get to where I’m at today. Four surgeries, about 10 days in the hospital and here I am now, Rhab has gone great. No setbacks. Out of the boot. I wear shoes every day. I walk around normal. I can lift like a normal guy. I can live my normal daily life. Now I’m taking the step into becoming Bru McCoy the football player. 

“And my goal is to take this time that I have to rehab and make myself … I don’t want to come back and be less of who I was as a player. I want to be better. So my goal is to kind of, in my head, I’m like (thinking) show everyone that this wasn’t a setback, it was just the change. It was adversity that you grow from and you come back better. And that’s my goal. And that’s where I’m at right now, I’m on that journey of getting back to being who I was before I got hurt.”

What it was like trying to remain a leader of the 2023 Tennessee football team while sidelined with a serious injury

“It’s tough. You miss out on a lot of the things that you want to be there for. The pregames, the hotel the night before, being able to talk up your guys, the ones that you go to work with every day. But it also gave me a chance to look at things from a different perspective. When you’re kind of on the outside looking in, you see things that you don’t really see on the inside looking out. So that was an opportunity for me to just talk about things I saw that I usually didn’t see watching film and still keep a great relationship, watch guys step up and have to do things they weren’t usually doing.  So as much as I didn’t enjoy it, it provided me information and an opportunity.”

If he considers himself a leader for the Tennessee football program, considering how much his teammates talk about him as one

“I mean, it’s a tough question. Do I consider myself a leader? I would leave that up to my peers to decide because if they think so, yeah. As long as they think so and they continue to do so, then I can agree with them. But really, to me, being a leader is just doing the right thing. It’s not too difficult. It’s not being the loudest guy in the room. It’s not pointing to yourself and saying, I want the ball when the game is on the line. That should be implied. If you’re doing the right thing every day, if you show up the way you’re supposed to, people start to realize like, hey, this guy just shows up, goes to work every day and shuts up and goes home. 

“It’s not about like the glitz and the glamor to me. Some guys are into that and there’s nothing wrong with it for sure. But to me, I’m kind of traditional football (guy), that’s how I was raised and grew up. So leadership is not, I’ve never been the guy that’s wanted to be in the front. I’d rather be in the back making sure nobody’s falling behind. And that’s kind of been my leadership mantra. You don’t need to be the one being recognized or pointed out. Just be the guy that someone could be consistent. Show up every day, let your teammates see it and try to emulate it and then hold each other accountable. 

“And if I slip, I expect my teammates to be like, hey, you’re not doing what you used to. So that’s the type of guy I want to be for the team and whatever come with it, comes with it.”

His view of the Tennessee football program’s culture under head coach Josh Heupel 

“Granted, I’ve played for other coaches and I’ve been in other systems and stuff like that. So the biggest difference for me was like, everybody’s working towards a common goal here. You don’t really feel like everyone’s compartmentalizing their job and not really thinking about (it individually). Everyone’s pulling the rope in the same direction here. Coaches want what’s best for the players and the players, because of that relationship, are more willing to go have a better output in their day-to-day. Strength staff has a great relationship with the players, so players want to pour into the weight room. It’s all about relationships and caring about one another, and then obviously work. So when you have a great relationship with your boss, essentially, right, which is what it’s becoming, you’re more, it’s easier to show up every day.  And some other places you feel like, it’s almost like people are climbing the corporate ladder of the sport and it’s cutthroat. But here it feels like a home and a family. So that for me, when I got here, I was shocked. I was still kind of like, this seems weird. Is this how it actually is? And then being here, I’m like, wow, this is special. And I think guys take notice of that. A lot of the older guys that came into college 2019, 2018, we saw a different side of it. We see this side now and it’s a blessing.”

His decision-making process when it came to his extra year of eligibility and ultimately deciding to come back to Tennessee for another season

“Yeah, fortunately, but unfortunately, it kind of came through an unfortunate circumstance, I’ll say. For those who don’t know, I went home for a long time. My grandfather got sick and passed away recently, but when he was in hospice care, all the family has flown home, we’re all taking our turns, taking care of him. And I don’t know if it was my sister or my mom, but when it was my turn to go in and say my peace, he had a Tennessee blanket draped over the bed. So I was sitting there visiting and the time after (the injury), at this point I was walking, I was healthy. I knew that whichever way I chose to go, I could do it. I would be betting on myself regardless. But before he passed, he spoke so highly about Tennessee and my time, all that stuff. So it was just a great, like, it kind of was like God made the decision for me and he placed it in front of me. And I knew. I didn’t decide for another three weeks after that, but I knew in my heart and I was like, this place is special to me. It’s home, it’s family, just like I’m home with family now. So that was, that was the day I decided.”

His work with Huddle for Hearts, the initiative for AED devices that he helped found working with the Peyton Walker Foundation

“I think you kind of hit the nail on the head when you said anything could happen. For me, it was important to give back in a way that I could affect what I do … so when the opportunity kind of presented itself, I spoke with somebody from the Payton Walker Foundation. They do similar to what my Huddle for Hearts Foundation does. That’s important. Providing AED, CPR education, it’s sudden cardiac arrest. So like I was educated to always say there’s separation between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, right? Like this, the AED machine is not going save a heart attack, it will save sudden cardiac arrest. But nonetheless, started fundraising, crowdfunding to be able to buy the machines and just give it to local schools in Knoxville. And then, fortunately, I started reaching out to some other schools and universities and other players started picking it up. And lo and behold, a year after we started it all, the lady that had introduced me to it, she’s fully quit her job and she works full-time for the foundation.  So she’s growing it bigger than I ever thought. I just wanted to give back to Knoxville. Honestly, that was, in my head, what I was going to do. And now it’s growing nationally. So I’m just really grateful to be able to kind of kickstart something cool like that.”