It was natural for Tennessee early enrollee Tristen “TK” Keys to gravitate during his first few weeks in Knoxville to fellow receivers Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley.
“They say you are what you hang around,” Keys said in a recent news conference, “so I feel like hanging around them after they had great success last year will just get me to the point where I need to be to go out there and do the same thing they did.”
Keys signed with the Volunteers this past December as the No. 1 receiver nationally on the 247Sports.com composite rankings. He has joined a program that produced three receivers last season — Matthews, Staley and Chris Brazzell II — who each amassed more than 800 yards to set a new school standard.
Brazzell bypassed his senior season and is prepping for the NFL draft, which gives Keys the motivation to claim that third starting spot rather than trying to justify his five-star status.
“I think a lot of people think it’s pressure,” said the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, “but I feel like as an athlete who’s been doing this for a minute that it’s pretty much just going out there and playing football. You listen and learn and soak up everything from the coaches and the older players.
“I just listen to everybody I need to listen to.”
The Vols had Tuesday off and will practice again Wednesday before scrimmaging inside Neyland Stadium on Thursday morning.
Keys became a fixture on the national radar after a junior year at Hattiesburg High in which he amassed 58 catches for 1,275 yards and 14 touchdowns. A knee injury limited him to four regular-season games during his senior year, when he had 17 receptions for 346 yards and four scores.
His return for the state championship game yielded five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, but he has yet to be cleared for full speed as the Vols near the midway mark of their 15 spring practices.
“Right when you see him, you can tell he’s got a natural skill set,” Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said. “He’s got all the tangibles that you want, and he’s just like any young guy who is coming in. He’s extremely talented. He makes plays, and you just have to learn the mental side of it to where we can trust you to be where you need to be.
“He’s working his butt off to do that. He’s done a great job, but it’s always the young guy thing, especially with a talented guy you want to see on the field. He has to earn the right that we can trust that he’s going to be where he needs to be when he’s supposed to be.”
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Keys committed to LSU last March before switching his nonbinding pledge to Tennessee in late August. He stayed close during the recruiting process with Vols quarterback commitment and eventual signee Faizon Brandon, with Keys adding that the two hang out every day and get in extra work.
Staley, now a redshirt sophomore, amassed 68 catches for 837 yards and six touchdowns last season and was named as the Southeastern Conference’s freshman of the year, while Matthews, currently a junior, had 53 receptions for 813 yards and four scores. There are no seniors in Tennessee’s receiver room, but the promising contingent also contains sophomores Radarious Jackson and Travis Smith Jr., redshirt freshman and former Baylor School standout Joakim Dodson, freshman Tyreek King, and redshirt junior and Idaho State transfer Ian Duarte.
“There are a lot of great guys with a lot of great talent,” Keys said. “They’re molding me into who I need to be.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.