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.