Tennessee’s receiver competition is still wide open, and TK Keys keeps forcing his way into the conversation.
The five-star freshman is battling sophomores Travis Smith Jr. and Radarious Jackson for one of the starting spots on the outside, opposite Mike Matthews and next to Braylon Staley in the slot. There’s no shortage of talent in the group, but Keys may have the most obvious ceiling of the three, and wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Kelsey Pope made it clear on Friday that the freshman has already shown why Tennessee was so high on him.
“Man, the kid, we knew that coming into him. We knew that when we evaluated him.
The highs we see,” Pope said. “I’m sure you guys saw the clip on Twitter of the catch.
He just does stuff that you can’t coach. Now, you go to the opposite end, and some days it looks like polar opposite.
From a pad-level standpoint, the eyes during the play when I’m talking about it, he just looks sped up at times and not understanding progression.
“Part of that is being a freshman. You understand there’s going to be ups and downs as a freshman, but what you never want to coach is guys’ ability to strain and compete, and that’s what he’s constantly doing.
He’s always competing, even if he’s in the wrong spot. My message to him, just like those other guys, if you want to do this, you’ve got to be consistent, and that’s what we’re focusing on right now.”
Pope also stressed that Keys is absolutely still in the mix for the job. The staff isn’t looking for flashes alone; it wants someone it can trust snap after snap.
“(Keys is) right in there. He’s right in there,” Pope said.
“So between anybody in the room, really. They can breathe and they’re in the room.
That guy, some days we’re peaking, and then the next we go down. But right now, I’m still looking.
We have to show consistency. For me as a receivers coach, I’ve got to be able to put my name and stamp on it.
We only got one guy that can play. We’ll play in the freaking 13th person.
We got two, we’ll go to him. If we got three, we’ll play with them.”
The Vols should get a better look at the competition in the opener against Furman on September 5, when all three could see action. After that, Tennessee heads to Georgia Tech for a road test that will demand more from the receiver room.
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