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Tennessee football: Jalin Hyatt is playing like the best WR in the nation

Ethan Stone

By Ethan Stone

Published:

On Oct. 8, Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt caught the eye of former NFL great Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.

Johnson was in Baton Rouge for his daughter’s track visit to LSU when Hyatt decided to go nuclear. At that point in the season, Hyatt had accumulated 325 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. In a 40-13 win over the Tigers in Death Valley, the junior receiver added 63 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns to his total. And there was plenty more where that came from.

Johnson was originally looking for an LSU player to keep an eye on. That changed quickly.

Few would blame Johnson for not knowing about Hyatt at that point in the season. He was expected to be WR2/WR3 in the preseason for a team that went 7-6 last year. But Hyatt has shifted into a different gear in October, and he is now playing like one of the best wide receivers in the nation.

In the past 3 games (against LSU, Alabama and UT Martin), Hyatt has accrued 444 receiving yards on 17 receptions for 9 touchdowns. In other words, about 53 percent of Hyatt’s receptions in October have gone for 6.

Those are numbers that the vast majority of college receivers don’t see in an entire season. Hyatt did it in 3 games.

Hyatt has a laundry list of superlatives through Week 8. His 12 touchdowns on the year leads FBS, with the next closest being Marvin Harrison Jr. at Ohio State with 10. He also leads the SEC in receiving yards (769), receiving yards per game (109.9) and receptions per game (5.7).

He’s doing it against strong opposition as well. Hyatt has 7 touchdown catches against Top 25 opponents. No other receiver has more than 3.

Hyatt is making unsuspecting defensive backs look silly with his clever route-running and ridiculous breakaway speed. That speed has been helpful on plays like this:

Best of luck stopping that. Hyatt is the fastest guy on the field at all times, and he knows it.

The above is one of Hyatt’s 9 touchdowns on the season of more than 20 yards. He leads that category across FBS as well — by 4 touchdowns.

Hyatt stepping up in Cedric Tillman’s absence has done a couple of things. For one, he has shown he has what it takes to be a true WR1. For another, Hyatt has solidified himself as a 1st rounder in the NFL Draft and made himself a lot of money.

Tillman will always be Tillman — a big-bodied receiver who will bully you for the football and catch anything in sight. For Hyatt, Ramel Keyton and Bru McCoy to come in and make a receiver group missing its top talent look this dangerous? I’m not sure there’s a better receiving corps in the SEC. Only Ohio State’s unit of Harrison, Emeka Egbuka, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Julian Fleming holds a candle to what Tennessee’s receivers are producing.

Hendon Hooker has a lot to do with that, of course. In the above play, for example, Hooker realized there was nobody but Hyatt on the field who was going to make that catch. A spectacular throw from Hooker demanded an even greater reception by Hyatt.

Hyatt, and by extension Tennessee, is making very good defenses look silly. Pitt, LSU and Alabama all rank within the top 35 in the nation in yardage allowed per game. Hyatt totaled 21 receptions for 343 yards and 7 touchdowns against those 3 combined.

No other receiver is producing on that level right now. If these numbers hold, the Biletnikoff should be Hyatt’s to lose. Plain and simple.

It’s another reality that Tennessee fans just wouldn’t have guessed heading into this season. Josh Heupel has the Vols playing like a top-5 team, Hooker is a Heisman candidate and now Hyatt, who has been itching for this kind of breakout year for some time, is getting his, too.

Ochocinco will be in Knoxville this Saturday as Tennessee looks to improve to 8-0 against No. 19 Kentucky. His daughter has an official Tennessee track visit scheduled.

Might as well make some time to stop by Neyland Stadium.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.

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