The battle for the final starting receiver spot is on, and a true freshman is hoping to crack the lineup. TK Keys, the top receiver in last year’s class, is battling to be one of three starters for Josh Heupel, perhaps joining a true freshman quarterback on top of that.
Keys is working to catch up to Radarious Jackson and Travis Smith, who each are entering their second year in the system. However, Keys is current working through a ‘soft tissue’ injury to open camp. It’s not a big deal, according
to Heupel, but it could slow him down during the first couple of practices.
“He’ll be full go,” Heupel told reporters on Wednesday. “There were a couple of things that we just want to manage here on day one, day two, but he’s ready to go.”
Keys, a 5-star prospect that Tennessee flipped from LSU, ranked No. 12 overall in last year’s recruiting cycle, per 247Sports. He’s been working back from an injury that he suffered during his senior year of high school, which affected his spring practices as he learned the offense.
“The last third of spring ball, we were able to get him on the field coming off of his high school injury,” Heupel said. “High level recruit, but came in (and) competed extremely hard. He pushed hard every day to learn what we’re doing offensively, where he felt comfortable, so his traits could take over. He’s grown fundamentally— releases, being able to sync and get out of routes, attacking the football. But a high level player. He’s extremely loose. I’m excited to see him go compete and go earn a job.”
Regardless of whether or not he wins the job outright to start, you get the sense that Keys will be a contributor early on for this team. Tennessee is looking for someone that can make plays down the field in a similar way that Chris Brazzell did last season, and Keys has that natural ability coming from the high school ranks. How quickly he gets up to speed in the offense and builds chemistry with the quarterbacks remains to be seen.
