Vols Freshman WR Jalin Hyatt Standing Out During Week 1 of Preseason Practice
Jalin Hyatt came to Tennessee as one of the fastest players in the country, regardless of position. Entering his Freshman season, Hyatt was known as a guy who had hit in the low 4.3 forty-yard dash times and had touched the 4.2's on a laser.
However, he is much more than just a speed guy. He capped a tremendous career at Dutch Fork High School with a walk-off, game-winning catch in the state championship.
Hyatt finished his career at Dutchfork with 3,624 yards and 57 touchdowns, both of which were school records. The intriguing thing about Hyatt's statline is that he did not play in the second half of multiple games throughout his career, as Dutchfork consistently held a lofty lead.
Hyatt is already turning heads early during Tennessee's pre-season practices. "We have a lot of young receivers and one thing about all of them is they can run. They're really fast. Jalin is a guy that is very polished," Pruitt said during Friday's media availability.
He continued by saying, "He's had three really good practices, and he's got to continue to do that. He's got to work on ball security. It's a little different in this league because everybody plays in your face. In high school, very few teams probably played him that way, so he's got to continue to work really hard at the line of scrimmage, at the top of routes, and he's a guy that can play really all three spots at wide receiver."
Hyatt committed to Tennessee over the summer last year, and he stayed true to that commitment, despite late pushes from teams like Alabama and Georgia.
He is expected to be a key piece of Tennessee's offense this fall, and it seems more and more likely that he will be in the starting lineup, when he returns to Williams-Bryce Stadium on September 26th.