Dave Clawson

KNOXVILLE — Lucas Taylor has a simple reason for not running his mouth on the football field, and it has nothing to do with his lifelong speech impediment.

“If you’re a good player, you shouldn’t have to tell anybody,” the Tennessee senior receiver said. “Your play should show them.”

Apparently actions alone don’t always do the trick, though.

The Southeastern Conference’s only returning 1,000-yard receiver — who got most of his yardage despite turf toe and a shoulder that needed surgery — didn’t sniff any preseason first-team all-league honors. In some outlets, he didn’t crack the second squad.

But then the unassuming, well-mannered country boy from Louisiana doesn’t act like a star football player.

“Lucas doesn’t say much, but when you make plays like he does, you don’t have to,” Volunteers junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton said. “You’re a leader just by showing up when you play like that.”

Added junior receiver Austin Rogers: “One thousand yards in the SEC kind of speaks for itself, you know?”

Especially considering the circumstances.

Taylor first separated the shoulder in last preseason’s camp, and the toe started hurting a month later. Then-Vols receivers coach Trooper Taylor said late last season that “none of y’all know how much pain he’s in, but it’s not like he’s going to say anything.”

Still, Coach Taylor said Lucas never missed practice and was “one of the most vicious blocking receivers in this league.

“That’s something the average fan probably doesn’t know,” the coach continued. “There’s linebackers and defensive backs in this league who see the film of that boy blocking and, believe me, they don’t want no part of him.”

Four new offensive assistants arrived on campus in January, and they say similar things. Receivers coach Latrell Scott said being around Lucas Taylor has been one of the best perks of his first season in Knoxville.

“I didn’t know anything about Lucas at first, except that he caught 70 balls for 1,000 yards in the SEC last season,” Scott said with a smile. “So I was definitely excited to meet him.

“And the more you get to know him, the more impressive he becomes as a person and a football player.”

Taylor didn’t practice this spring after the shoulder surgery, but coaches said he entered preseason camp as ready as any receiver — because he didn’t miss one meeting or practice, albeit in street clothes.

“Lucas is steady as a rock, as solid as they come,” first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said.

He’s also, in his words, 100 percent healthy.

Clawson said Taylor is “better than he ever was on film last season, no question.”

“Everything is healed ... finally,” Taylor said. “It feels good to not be so sore every night. I feel so much better.”

Coaches love the versatility he brings to the offense. The same player who once rushed for 500 yards in one game as a high school quarterback also has made two crucial college touchdown passes — one against Georgia last season, the other the year before against Florida.

“You feel good when he’s out there,” Clawson said. “He is invaluable to our offense.”

Just don’t expect him ever to say it.

“Lucas is a very, very different kind of kid,” Scott said. “He’s one of the few skill kids I’ve ever been around in my entire career that just kind of does it by example. He never says a word, and he just goes out there and makes plays.

“When he does choose to say something, kids choose to listen to him. I think that’s because he always makes plays and never just shoots off at the mouth.”

Taylor said he’d trade an SEC championship for any individual accolade, but he added that his lack of preseason attention has been “a little motivation.” He had more yards last season than South Carolina’s Kenny McKinley, more receptions and touchdowns than Florida’s Percy Harvin and statistically squashed Georgia’s Mohamed Massaquoi and LSU’s Demetrius Byrd.

“But I don’t really pay attention to any of that stuff,” Taylor said. “All I focus on is playing hard every day and helping our team win games. None of that other stuff matters if you lose.”

Taylor was academically ineligible for January’s Outback Bowl — he passed more than enough credit hours but got below a C in a course for his major — and he responded this spring by making the honor roll. That attitude, more than anything, is why coaches consistently praise their quiet playmaker.

“Our league is full of talented, fast guys with big playmaking capabilities, and Lucas is certainly one of those guys,” Chavis said. “One of the biggest things I look at with receivers is yards after the catch — what they do with the ball in their hands — and he’s really good with the ball in his hands.

“There’s no question that he’s a great player ... but what you really love is the toughness he plays with every day. He’s always done anything we’ve ever asked, and he’s done it with all his effort.”

Head coach Phillip Fulmer said he’d “take 100 guys like Lucas Taylor every year. He’s just a wonderful, wonderful young man. An absolute joy to coach.”