Hendon Hooker saw what he wanted to see.
On first-and-10 at Tennessee’s 22-yard line, with just over a minute left in the first half, Hooker faked on the play-action, turned to his right and heaved the ball downfield to Ramel Keyton, who dove forward and snagged the ball.
“I got one-on-one to (Keyton) on the outside,” Hooker said. “The safety kind of rotated to the boundary, so I was taking advantage of that matchup. (Keyton) made a great play and a great catch on that. Salute to him.”
The 43-yard gain was not only a highlight play in No. 11 Tennessee’s 38-33 win over No. 20 Florida on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, but also an example of how Keyton and other receivers stepped up for the Vols (4-0, 1-0 SEC) in the absence of star wideout Cedric Tillman, who didn’t play due to an ankle injury.
Keyton finished with three receptions for 69 yards a week after tallying his first collegiate touchdown in the Vols’ blowout win over Akron.
“It’s a team game,” coach Josh Heupel said. “We love (Tillman) and recognize what he brings to the table. Somebody goes down, I don’t care what position, what unit it’s on, it has to be a ‘next man up’ mentality.
“You’ve heard me talk about preparing for your opportunities so that when you get it, you’re ready to take advantage of it. I thought Ramel did a great job tonight and made big plays, won some one-on-ones, executed extremely well.”
After starting sporadically the past two seasons, Keyton has grown in his involvement in the offense as a senior, and he’s earned the trust of Tennessee’s signal-caller.
“You guys have seen (Keyton), when he’s been given the opportunity, he’s made plays,” Heupel said. “That’s in the early part of this year. It’s last year, too. Hendon’s got great confidence in him, and to me, that tells you everything that you need to know about Ramel as a player. We have a ton of confidence in him, too.”
Bru McCoy, a USC transfer, led the Vols in receiving, tallying five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown. Kicking off Tennessee’s first second-quarter drive, he and Hooker connected on a 70-yard completion to the left side of the field; just two plays later, Hooker ran in a 4-yard touchdown.
Jalin Hyatt had five catches for 58 yards, tight ends Princeton Fant and Jacob Warren combined for 88 yards and tailback Jabari Small caught Hooker’s other touchdown pass. In Tillman’s absence, Hooker didn’t miss a beat in connecting with his other targets, completing 22 of his 28 passes for 349 yards.
For McCoy, whose 1-yard scoring grab capped off the drive Keyton sparked with the diving reception, he felt the need to step up in Tillman’s absence only “to an extent.”
“We work really hard everyday to come do a job,” McCoy said. “You try not to think too much about who’s on the field rather than accomplishing what you came to do.”
Heupel said Tillman’s status will be evaluated during the upcoming bye week. Whether or not he retakes the field when Tennessee plays at LSU on Oct. 8, though, the Vols’ other playmakers know what their role is.
“These guys put in a lot of work,” Hooker said. “The receivers put in a lot of work, the tight ends, the running backs, offensive line. One guy doesn’t stop the show. They all have great things to bring to the table, and they compete at a high level and they play with a chip on their shoulder.
“We have something to prove and we want to prove that every night out.”
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