Pro Day Q&A: Jalin Hyatt talks process leading up to NFL Draft, feedback from teams

Everything Jalin Hyatt said while meeting with reporters after Tennessee’s Pro Day on Thursday, discussing the hamstring tightness that slowed him down at the NFL Scouting Combine, his performance at Pro Day and his meeting with NFL teams leading up to the draft:

The NFL pre-draft process so far

“I had to go to Fort Lauderdale for a couple weeks, just training on the three-cone (drill), shuttle, some routes. At the same time, eating habits, making sure I’m eating. So glad I did it for that process. Came out here and weighed in at 184. That was my goal weight weighing in. That three-cone, shuttle, routes went perfect. So everything was smooth for me. Definitely has a blast out here seeing my teammates, seeing my brothers again. I definitely had fun for sure.”

The feedback he’s been getting from NFL personnel

“Some feedback I got is very good. Very good. I’ve been talking to a lot of teams. And not only that, I have by top-30 visits coming up. So I’m going to be everywhere. But definitely I’ve been hearing good feedback. Just excited about the process and what’s next. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

How he felt he performed at the NFL Combine, given his hamstring issue 

“My hamstring got a little tight before I ran the 40-yard dash and the routes. I think it got tight after the vertical (leap) we did. I felt it. But at the Combine, I felt like I did pretty good. There were some times I wish had a better time on some things, but that’s just what it is, how it is. As far as the Combine, what I did there, I felt like I did pretty good.”

If considered running the 40 at Tennessee’s Pro Day after having the hamstring issue at the Combine

“Just from the feedback I was hearing, didn’t feel like we had to run it. I felt like if I had to run, it would definitely be in the 4.3s. Felt good today. Hamstring, no issue. Felt loose. I felt very good. Was thinking about running it, to be honest. Just thinking about going out there and running the 40. But just from the feedback I’ve been hearing from GMs and coaches, they’re ok with my 40. So we’re onto the next thing.”

How comfortable he’s been in the interview setting with NFL teams

“You know, I talked to maybe 15-20 teams. Some of them, really most of them, all the coaches are in there, all the GMs are in there. They’re asking everything about you, what type of player you are, what you do, this or that. But I felt like I did pretty good. I can talk about football 24/7, just based off Coach Heup, Coach Pope, what they taught me just in this offense. So it was easy. It’s easy during this interview process. Especially being around guys like Hook (Hendon Hooker). So it makes it easy.”

Up Next: NFL Draft, April 27-29, Kansas City

If the meetings with NFL teams include looking at his Tennessee game film 

“Really most of the meetings I’ve been to, we definitely brought up the Bama film. They love talking about it. But I think the reason why they bring it up is based off what we did. How we game-planned, what we did, what type of plays we ran and what we hit them with. They were very impressed. My film speaks for itself. A lot of good things in there. But at the same time, there were some plays where they would show me my bad plays. And that’s just what it is. They want to see how you react, what type of player you are when things don’t go your way. Interview process, and everything with that, it went smoothly so far.”

If he feels there’s a perception that he’s just a slot receiver because he played a lot of it at Tennessee

“There are some teams that think I should just play slot, in that slot area. But I believe I can play everywhere on the field. I have some outside reps, I’ve played outside before. I know what to do on the outside. All of that. Just playing receiver comes easy to me. At the same time, you’re still a receiver and you’re still going out there and making plays. It doesn’t matter where I’m at. Wherever the coaches think I can play at, or wherever they think I feel comfortable at, I just can’t wait to get on the team. Can’t wait to just go out there and play.”

Hendon Hooker’s leadership

“A guy that, he’s the first one in the building, the last one to leave. A guy that actually cares about his teammates. A brother. He’s one of my very, very close friends. So we’re very close. We were close before football. I met him through basketball, AAU when he was playing for Team Felton. I have so much respect for that dude, what he’s done here and what he has accomplished here. I hope he goes down as one of the all-time greats here for sure.”