Tennessee’s Big Orange Caravan tour stopped in the Tri-Cities Wednesday evening as football coach Josh Heupel, basketball coach Rick Barnes, Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell and Athletics Director Danny White spoke to fans and media alike in Kingsport, Tenn.
One question that was asked by members of the local media on hand was of the status on senior wide receiver Bru McCoy for the upcoming campaign. The veteran’s second season in Knoxville was sidelined in week six last year after suffering a fracture-dislocation in his right ankle against South Carolina.
“Been really exciting to see just his growth. I had our strength staff record him the other day as he was sprinting in the indoor, and he looks really natural,” Josh Heupel said of McCoy’s recovery. “The gait is fluid. The speed is coming along really well.
“Man, just I’m really excited for him. There’s a big forest that you’ve got to go through with the injury that he’s had and he’s had to do this multiple times for different reasons. It’s fun to see him come out the other side of the forest. Really excited for Bru.”
McCoy tallied 17 receptions for 217 yards in five games played prior to the injury in 2023, scoring one touchdown in the process. During his first season on rocky Top the season prior, McCoy finished as the team’s second-leading receiver with 52 catches for 667 yards and four scores.
Heupel believes it’ll be clear skies ahead for the Volunteers’ No. 1 option on the outside this fall.
“He should be ready. He’s in a position to have an elite summer and be ready to roll,” the coach explained. “What do I expect from him? [I] Expect him to play at a championship level, man.”
It was a long and winding path for McCoy to begin his collegiate career. Prior to finding a home at Tennessee, the wide out originally enrolled at Southern Cal before spending the spring of 2018 at Texas – only to return to USC for three seasons.
McCoy was a former five-star prospect coming out of Mater Dei in California. He should act as not only a security blanket next fall for first-year starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava , but he’ll be another proven weapon in this offense for the signal-caller as well.
“There is a certain familiarity you feel with someone when they are from the same area as you,” McCoy told Volquest in January when he announced his return for another season . “With him, we already have this preexisting relationship being far from home and from the same area. There aren’t too many California guys in East Tennessee. From a football standpoint, we come from a similar football background. We know the brand of football that the foundation we were built on just from our childhood background. I can’t dang wait to play with him. I think he is an unreal talent. I’m excited to dig into this thing with him because I think we have a lot of potential.”
McCoy will continue his rehab on into the summer with the expectation of being ready to go by fall camp.
The post Josh Heupel believes Bru McCoy ‘should be ready’ for start of next season appeared first on On3 .
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