What Tennessee wide receiver Bru McCoy said after Thursday's practice

Tennessee senior wide receiver Bru McCoy spoke to reporters following Thursday’s practice as the Vols sit just nine days away from the season-opener.

During the media appearance, the veteran spoke on a number of topics involving Nico Iamaleava, his injury recovery, the wide receivers, offense overall and much more. The following is a written transcript from Tennessee’s Bru McCoy.

Transcript: Tennessee WR Bru McCoy

You talked back in July, you said you wanted to go through everything in camp, you wanted to get hit, you wanted to get everything done to get ready for, for the season. Have you accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish this camp and how pleased are with where you are? 

Yeah, throughout the camp I came in ready to do whatever I’d be asked to do and they had a good plan for me and we were able to set some goals throughout camp and we knocked ’em all down. 

Coach Halzle said that you have been acting like a mentor on and off the field for Nico. The last year that he is, been here. What have you done to try to help grow him in the game of football and obviously in the offense?

Just a lot of helping him try to manage pressure and dealing with a lot of expectations. He’s done a great job in how he’s carried himself, how he’s been a leader on the team. So I just tried to kind of help show him in an easier path not making similar mistakes to myself and just creating good habits and setting like daily things. Things that have helped me since I’m just an older guy, so kind of trying to get him to skip some steps and learning lessons.

Did you, did you know Nico at all like when you were growing up, when before you came to Tennessee, you’re older than him, but did you know of him? 

I knew of him, like you said, I was older, so by the time he was kind of doing his thing, I was getting into college. So I mean, I would hear about him, but we didn’t have a personal relationship.

Describe what it was like kind of catching those first few initial passes from Nico being able to go out there and route run and then maybe how that connection has grown since those early catches?

You start to build your confidence back. You start to build a connection with them. They start to understand how you run routes, how you come out of the top of a route, your decision making process. And so those irst few is just like the beginning of starting to build a foundation of confidence and then you have an entire camp to just keep building on that. And then now with mock game week and then another game week to just keep going. 

Coach Halzle in a minute ago talked about receivers, you guys that have been injured, kind of seeing that date when you can get back and attacking it to get back sooner. What’s that process like or what was it like for you? When did you kind of realize that you were getting healthier and quicker than expected? 

As we went through spring, you obviously push rigorous rehab throughout spring and you kind of got the motivation of the fact you’re watching your teammates go out there and practice every day. And then as spring was kind of wrapping up, I was able to do more football based movements, things of that nature. You start getting involved by catching footballs and slow down route running. And when I was able to do that at a higher level, then I started to kind of seeing like, okay, I’m doing this a lot earlier than I anticipated, so you know, come camp I wanna be a hundred percent. 

So you kind of move your goals back a little bit closer and you just push the needle even more. You wanna be available for a guy like Nico, especially since I didn’t get the opportunity to get that spring, get those reps in with him. So it was really just, it was more motivation for me to just keep pushing it. 

I was wondering if you could give an evaluation separately of two of your wide receivers? First Chris Brazel and the other Squirrel White? 

Chris, he’s got this particularly special talent, like he’s extremely fluid route runner. He’s got a high football iq, he attacks the ball, he’s a jump ball, go get it guy. He can also run down any ball down the field and he’s a catch everything guy kind of guy, really good hands, contested catch guy. And then squirrel. I think we’ve all seen what he can do, but I think one of the undervalued aspects of squirrel is his ability to make catches in traffic and I think as an undersized guy to go across the field as much as he does and be able to make contested catches and like the catch he made against Alabama that’s extremely hard to do. 

So his skill set is, has grown a lot since I’ve been here and he’s a really good receiver. Both of them are gonna be fun to play with him. 

You were part of that ’22 team that put up crazy numbers, even that team didn’t have, I think the depth that this team has on the offensive side of the ball. What do you like about this year’s group when you look at the tight ends, when you look at the wide receivers, all of that overall? 

Yeah, like you said, depth. I think in ’22 it was a high demand of volume on every game. You’re playing 80, 85 plays week by week by week, and that’s, a lot as a receiver, especially when you have to block in the running game as well. So the depth affords this opportunity to get other guys touches, to get them comfortable in the offense. And then also it from a competition standpoint, it really pushes everybody when you’ve got a guy behind you that’s trying to take your spot essentially, it pushes the needle. 

I think when you add depth to a room, especially like you said, the tight end room, it’s really driven everybody throughout this camp. There can’t be any sort of complacency or anything in that regard. 

What have you learned about yourself the last 10 months and how much have you thought about this first game being back in the stadium? 

I just learned thatbI can really do anything I put my mind to. I’m pretty hardheaded and resilient and when I set out to do something, I’m gonna track it down. I’m gonna find a way to get it done and I’ve definitely made myself a little bit proud in going through this process and getting done what I was able to get done, but obviously it all leads up to what’s coming up here in a week and a half. 

Have you thought much about that?

I mean, yeah, I just think about the opportunity to get back in front of it the crowd in the environment to do what I love and really just being able to play free and not worry about being an injured guy anymore. 

You said you’ve been reflecting on kind of your path back. What was maybe the hardest part or did you encounter some obstacles and tough days along the way? How do you think those helped you kind of push through and get to where you are now? 

Yeah, you come across some of those days. They’ve warned you as you go through the process, there’s gonna be days that you could consider a setback. And I think that I struggled with that and I couldn’t progress certain days if I had to take it a little bit easier if I had to maybe make it a day where I’m just focusing on getting the swelling down and things of that nature. It was a struggle in that regard. But really the mental aspect of it not being involved, not being able to do the things you normally do. Like really being, having a bone wheel and not being able to be as active as you are just as an athlete, that part’s hard, but from the physical side it is not as hard as it is mentally. 

I’m not sure that there was a single moment, but if there was, at what point during your recovery did, did you become convinced that I can be exactly what I was before or better? Was there a time where you thought, okay I’m definitely gonna be all right with this thing? 

I wouldn’t say one singular moment, but that was kind of the goal I had in my head the whole time. I want to get in the best shape humanly possible. I want to give myself every bit of opportunity to get back healthy so I can come back a better player and continue to chase my dreams as I’ve been doing for so long.