Tennessee wide receiver Bru McCoy wore the red non-contact jersey for the first eight practices of the spring camp schedule but was not wearing it on Sunday. McCoy was instead wearing the traditional white practice jersey that his non-limited offensive teammates have been wearing.
It was the first time this fall we had seen McCoy out of the red non-contact threads on the practice field. It’s unclear how limited – or not limited – McCoy was during the Vols’ scrimmage on Friday but Heupel didn’t note anything of concern after the event.
In what the media was able to see during Sunday’s practice, McCoy didn’t look to be limited as he went through routes with the quarterbacks on the outdoor field. McCoy also looked to be in great spirits during the warm-up lines as he was mixing it up with Dont’e Thornton and Chris Brazzell.
“For him, it’s just giving him the big picture,” Kelsey Pope said of McCoy on Aug. 8. “Our plan for him, kind of our workload plan for him, not getting back in there too soon and putting a bunch of volume on. He’s done a good job of trusting that he’s done an amazing job of leading his room.”
More from RTI: Tennessee Football Practice Highlights From Sunday Morning
McCoy suffered a season-ending ankle injury during the South Carolina game on Sept. 30, forcing him to undergo surgery before the recovery could begin. The veteran wideout worked hard to return to the field for Tennessee throughout the offseason and is “anxious to go play and compete,” according to Pope last week.
“For Bru, you can tell just walking out the football field from him today at practice it was a big day for him,” Heupel said of McCoy on the first day of training camp. “Everything that’s gone into, from the injury, to the rehab, from mentally and physically, getting back to the point where you’re ready to go compete. We’re gonna control his volume and availability as we go through training camp.”
McCoy has been limited throughout camp but has been ramping up his production. McCoy did not go through routes on or one-on-one during the Vols’ first practice but did partially go through the drills during the second practice. By the third or fourth practice, McCoy was usually a consistent participant on the field.
“McCoy is a player that continues to look better and better,” RTI’s Ryan Schumpert wrote in practice observations from Aug. 5. “It’s obvious he spent his rehab getting physically stronger in his upper body and I don’t think I’ve been him drop a pass through the first five days of practice.”
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee football news as camp rolls on.
