Tennessee football’s receiving room has been the most positive development of the season with Chris Brazzell, Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley all having breakout seasons and ranking in the top 10 in the SEC in receiving yards.
Vols’ receivers coach Kelsey Pope met with the local media on Tuesday ahead of their matchup with Florida in Gainesville. Pope discussed the breakout seasons for Chris Brazzell and Braylon Staley as well as Joey Aguilar’s recent interception issues. Here’s everything Pope said.
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On if he saw the success of Tennessee’s receiving core coming
“I think the potential was there. I’d be lying if I saw the amount of production. I think it’s rare and I think it’s really cool. I think the amount of production that they have and the success that they’ve had, I think that creates, can create some complacency. It’s human nature. And I think what I’m trying to get those guys to always fight it that complacent thought. We talk about it in the receiver room all the time. That complacency is what will kill you. It stops your process, stops your focus and your urgency. And I think that’s just been my message. And kudos to those guys. They’ve been listening and buying in, and they’ve been sponges the entire year. So it is rare. It’s cool, but there’s still more out there for us to go get.”
On what his comfort level was in Braylon Staley after Squirrel White entered the portal
“That’s a good question. I think the bigger piece of that question is I think college football has evolved. It’s a lot more NFL style. And the reason I say that is because at that level, there comes a time where you got a guy that is experienced and may be older and there comes a point in the road where you got a younger guy who’s promising, and you got to trust your evaluation. I think what we do an incredible job of in this building is we’re spot on a lot of times on our evaluations. There’s a bunch of young guys in the room. Mike, too, he was a freshman last year who played some. But we trusted our evaluations. We trusted how those guys looked last year. And at that point, honestly, there’s a lot of peace amongst me, Coach Halzle, Coach Heup, everybody on the office staff. We felt like we had the pieces we need. Now, at that point, you got to go work and make it happen, but there weren’t a lot of long faces. There weren’t a lot of guys that weren’t confident in those players. And I think that came from our evaluation. We knew who they were in high school when we recruited them. We confirmed that when they got here and they worked the way they did. And so when you come to that crossroad where you got maybe an experienced player and a young player, I think you got to trust your eval. And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”
On where Braylon Staley has most improved over the course of the season
“I think route running for one, he is much better. He understands angles. He does a great job of sitting in windows over the middle of the field. He does a great job of fluctuating speed, knowing when to play at top speeds and being able to manipulate defenders that way. I say the biggest leap that he’s taken is just physicality. When he got here, he was obviously a football player in high school. But he ran track and physicality didn’t come natural. And you guys know, just like I know in this league, man, you got to be physical at every position. And you see him on some of the stuff where he’s blocking. And against Oklahoma, he’s pinning a guy on the sideline on the ground, and Mike’s sprinting for 20, 30 yards because of it. And I think that physicality helps him also in routes when you get man coverage and things like that. But he’s taking the leap there, and I think it’s helped his confidence a lot. He’s playing at a high level right now.”
On what made him confident Chris Brazzell could have a breakout season
“I think it’s kind of the same song. Chris has got some rare traits. He’s got really elite ball skills. He’s 6’3 and a half, and he can run just as fast and as twitchy as a 5’11, 5’10 slot receiver. For him, it was making the game slow down and allowing him to be confident in himself and what he was doing. And I think that’s the result that you’re seeing this year. The game slowed down for him. It’s become easy, and he’s reacting while the game is going instead of thinking. And I think that’s what’s helped him a ton. But it’s kind of the same song. You know what guys can do when you recruit them for so long. And I think you just got to assess and try to figure out ways to put them in positions to become confident and comfortable.”
On Joey Aguilar throwing four interceptions the last two games, what he’s communicating with his guy
“I think Joey’s going to be fine. I think he’s going to figure that out. My communication with our guys, we got to make sure we’re better. So in the case it is something that goes haywire, we’ll make up for it. But we trust the quarterbacks. We trust what they do in their room. We just got to do our job. We’ll clean that stuff up.”
On defenses guarding Brazzell differently, how Brazzell has responded
“Absolutely, they try. And then, No. 4 (Mike Matthews), he goes and makes a play. And then they try to get him. And No. 14 (Braylon Staley) goes and makes plays. A couple of them guys get tired. And No. 5, Radarious Jackson or Travis Smith, they come on the field and they make plays. I think that’s when you know you got a good group. Like, their production is literally compounded off each other. Chris ain’t making plays because he’s the only one on the practice field working hard. Like Braylon’s working hard and grinding to get better and now he’s winning one on one matchups. So as a d(efensive) coordinator, like I’m looking across the field and I don’t see anybody on the field that I want to leave one on one. And so those guys have grown so close and it’s cool seeing them all be successful. And I think naturally they all know that, my success ain’t just me. That’s a testament of the slot receiver or the outside receiver to the opposite side. Those guys are winning their matchups. I can’t be doubled. It’s helping open me up. And helped me have success. So those guys have matured a lot and they’ve grown a lot. It’s cool seeing their bond and seeing them all have success right now.”
