Freshman receiver standing out through first week of fall camp

Few coaches on Tennessee’s staff are facing as tough of a challenge this fall camp as associate head coach and wide receivers coach Tee Martin.

Martin is tasked with replacing nearly 70% of the receiving production from last season following the departures of Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway and Dominick Wood-Anderson. This year’s group of pass-catchers must also replace 16 of the 19 receiving touchdowns from 2019.

Luckily for the Vols, true freshman Jalin Hyatt is already impressing during the first week of fall camp. Hyatt looks to have positioned himself well to contribute early.

“Jalin (Hyatt) is a guy who is very polished,” Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt said Friday evening following practice No. 3 of fall camp. “He’s had three very good practices and he has to continue to do that.

“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. He has to continue to work really hard at the line of scrimmage, at the top of routes. And he’s a guy that can really play all three spots at wide receiver.”

Hyatt signed with the Vols as a four-star prospect out of Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, South Carolina. He capped off his stellar senior season and his record-setting high school career with seven catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns in the state title game. The championship is Dutch Fork’s fourth-straight title, and Hyatt finished his high school career with a 55-1-1 record in his four years with the Silver Foxes.

Hyatt finished his senior season at Dutch Fork with 66 receptions for 1,361 yards and 26 touchdowns. Hyatt caught a total of 57 touchdowns in three seasons with Dutch Fork and amassed over 3,500 receiving yards in that same span.

Tennessee signed five wide receivers in the 2020 recruiting cycle. Hyatt was the second-highest ranked receiver signee for the Vols, as he was ranked the No. 198 overall player in the country according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Malachi Wideman was the highest-ranked receiver signee at No. 117 overall. Jimmy Calloway (No. 210), Dee Beckwith (No. 396) and Jimmy Holiday (No. 538) were the three other wide receivers to sign with Tennessee.

“We have a lot of young receivers,” Pruitt said. “One thing about all of them is they can all run. They’re really fast.”