KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The nation’s most elite receiver sounds like one of the most unassuming, but he may be carrying a grudge on Saturday.
Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt, who made 11 of his nation-leading 14 TD catches in the past four games, was reportedly bypassed in recruiting by then-South Carolina head coach and current UGA co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.
According to an ESPN story, Muschamp told a rail-thin Hyatt entering his junior season in high school that, “Man, you’re fast, but you need to eat more peanut butter.”
Hyatt weighed just 153 pounds coming out of Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, S.C., but he’s now listed at 6-foot, 185.
“Even with the weight I’ve put on,” Hyatt said, “sometimes when I go out there I feel weightless.”
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Whatever his height and weight, Georgia will identify where No. 11 is on every snap and have a plan for him when Tennessee plays the Bulldogs at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Hyatt, likewise, knows what type of game to expect.
“One thing for me that stands out with Georgia is how physical they are,” Hyatt said this week. “They are a big physical team, a physical defense.
“They like to put hands on you, and that’s something we have to prepare for and be ready for on Saturday.”
Hyatt indicated Tennessee has a pretty good idea of what they’ll see in the Georgia secondary, too.
“We do everything off matchups,” Hyatt said. “We see their tendencies and we game plan that during the week.
“We see what safeties are what, and how they play: Are they flat-footed? Do they get out of their breaks? What coverages are they mainly in?”
Coach Kirby Smart explained that the wide splits Tennessee’s offense utilizes enable Hendon Hooker to get a read on how the defense is playing.
“It pulls you away from the box, there’s no half-in, half-out, you’re either all in or you are all out,” Smart said of corresponding defensive alignments, in terms of how many defenders can line up near the line of scrimmage.
“It doesn’t allow you to hide and disguise some things, and it makes you play a certain way.”
That way would not be to follow Alabama’s lead. Hyatt tied a program record with 5 touchdown catches amid his six receptions for 207 yards in Tennessee’s 52-49 win over the Tide last month.
Still, there are only so many different ways defenses can defend Heupel’s attack, and Hyatt said the Vols essentially have the field covered.
“We prepare for all the coverages we think we’ll see,” Hyatt said. “And, even when we do get surprised and they do change it up on us, we come back to the sideline and adjust.
“That’s one of the things we do that’s way better than last year.”
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Hyatt is one of many success stories on a Tennessee team that has far exceeded most expectations, as the Vols were not even in the preseason Top 25.
“I’d say what everybody was missing is we’re a hard-working team,” Hyatt said. “We don’t let the outside noise correlate to what we do in the building, that’s one thing Coach Heupel preaches in the team meetings.”
