INDIANAPOLIS – Dealing with a high ankle sprain, Cedric Tillman could do nothing but watch from the sideline last season as Tennessee had a program-defining win, knocking off Bryce Young and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium. 

The following scene made Mardi Gras look like a church service. Fans stormed the field. The university’s president lit up a cigar in a suite. The goalpost ended up in the Tennessee River. 

Tillman doesn’t ever want to see that again. 

“We just can’t be complacent or happy that we beat them one time. Hopefully we can get to the standard where we can beat them every year, and we don’t have to storm the field,” Tillman said.

“It was huge, not just for us but for the community, for Knoxville, for Vol nation,” said quarterback Hendon Hooker. “Just to let everybody know that we are back, and back and better than ever.”

Tennessee fired Jeremy Pruitt after the 2020 season, following an internal investigation that found he provided tens of thousands of dollars of impermissible benefits to recruits during his time with the Vols. He was replaced with Josh Heupel, the former “national championship winning” head coach at UCF. 

Heupel took the offense to new and historic heights.

Tennessee hadn’t beaten Alabama since 2006 before Heupel, Hooker and company took down the then-third ranked Tide. Tennessee got all the way to second in the country, averaging over 45 points per game, before Georgia finally took them down. Despite that, Tennessee still flirted with a college football playoff berth.

Then, Hendon Hooker tore his ACL in an upset loss to Spencer Rattler and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Tennessee won its final two games, including the Orange Bowl over Clemson. Hooker did not work out today. He expects to be able to throw again by next week, but will not be at full strength until closer to training camp. He says he is ahead of schedule in his recovery, but he will likely not work out for teams, saying he doesn’t want to risk reinjuring his knee before it is fully healed.

Tillman and speedster Jalin Hyatt both did, however. 

Both Tillman and Hyatt will get drafted this year, potentially both on the first two days. They will join Velus Jones, Jr., Josh Palmer and Jauan Jennings as Volunteer wide receivers selected since 2020. It’s starting to become a trend. One of which their locker room is fully aware.

“Tennessee, we’re the real wide receiver U,” Tillman said. Hyatt, offensive tackle Darnell Wright, and their quarterback all agreed.

As for Hooker, it’s a blessing and a curse. For one, he was at the helm of the best college football offense this side of Joe Burrow’s LSU. On the other hand, are his receivers too good to know if Hooker is good? It’s a catch-22 of which he is fully aware. However, he can only control what he can control.

“I can’t help it if defenders can’t guard my receivers,” Hooker said. “We have pure progression routes; it’s not my fault my first read is getting open.”

As one of those guys who defenders can’t guard, Tillman has a differing perspective on Heupel’s offense. Yes, Heupel has a really good scheme, and is a really good play caller. But to be a good coach, you have to put your players in the best position to succeed. Tillman thinks that, just because Heupel did that, criticizing Hooker doesn’t make sense.

“Hendon is a great quarterback. We can’t help the system we’re in,” Tillman said. “He can run it and he can throw it, he’s a playmaker too. You can’t listen to stuff like that.”

Hooker also levied a lot of praise onto Hyatt and Tillman, telling the media that they catch over 3000 balls off the jugs machines per week in practice. You can tell, watching their tape, the level of comfort in which both play the wide receiver position.

Hyatt is an interesting case. A receiver with track level speed, there isn’t much tape of Hyatt being a technician because Tennessee never asked him to do that. Instead, Heupel tried getting the ball over the top of the safeties to Hyatt as much as possible, a concept which led to the receiver’s other-worldly five touchdowns against Alabama. Hyatt understands that’s where his strengths lie.

“Nobody can cover me, as far as the speed,” said the confident receiver.

However, he was very quick to point out that there is more to his game than just game-changing speed. You couldn’t go more than 60 seconds during Hyatt’s media availability without him mentioning that he can run routes. Every other question ended with that reminder. 

However, through no fault of his own, he hasn’t shown that yet in his collegiate career. He has seen the occasional press coverage, but in Heupel’s vertical and up-tempo scheme, pressing Hyatt was a recipe for disaster. In the NFL, without Heupel, that might not be the case anymore. That doesn’t scare Hyatt.

“If you look at my highlights, you’ll see nothing but vertical routes,” he admits. “If you actually get really in depth with my film and actually look at the games, I have other things in there. I have me running digs and catching and going. I have me scoring on slants. I have me doing a lot of other things that people think I can’t do.”

Hyatt thought he was going to use his Indianapolis showcase to prove that to the NFL teams. However, a tweak to his hamstring during the earlier portion of the positional drills left him unable to continue. Before that, however, the eyes of the world were on Hyatt as he ran his 40-yard dash. With hopes of breaking John Ross’s all-time record, Hyatt ran it in 4.40 seconds. While that is still a lightning quick mark, it’s underwhelming for a receiver who hyped up the 4.29 40-yard dash he ran in high school.

As for Tillman, he also had a lot to prove. While he tried playing through the ankle injury for a bit last year, he admitted he was never at 100%. His numbers would seem to confirm that, as they were severely underwhelming compared to the level of talent Tillman has as a receiver.

Much like Hyatt, Tillman has really good speed, but hasn’t had the opportunity to show off his technicality in college. He admitted as much, but much like Hyatt, he hopes that his showing in Indianapolis helps poke holes in the flaws in those arguments. He thinks he can run every route in the route tree, even if he didn’t get the opportunity to showcase that at Tennessee.

Tillman, who ran a 4.54 40-yard dash, didn’t stand out during the receiver drills, but he didn’t do anything to hurt his stock. The receivers as a whole were a little bit underwhelming on Saturday, with a few exceptions, which should bode well for Tillman. 

Tennessee will have a mass exodus of offensive talent next year. Hyatt, Tillman, Hooker and Wright will all be playing on Sundays. That being said, they missed Tillman for most of this year, andthey missed their signal caller for the end of it. Heupel’s offense, quarterbacked by Michigan transfer Joe Milton, still lit up the scoreboard.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they do this year with Joe at the helm,” Hooker said. “They’ve got some pieces, I’m excited.”