KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 14 Tennessee has spent all week keeping the main thing the main thing. With the No. 1 team in the country coming to Neyland Stadium, the hype takes care of itself. Add the outside noise that comes with it, and head coach Josh Heupel and his program have stuck to the same message all week of staying consistent and taking care of business.
Junior wide receiver Braylon Staley isn’t changing a thing this week. The 6-foot wideout has seven receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns this season. On Thursday’s episode of The Mike Keith Show, Staley was asked whether an early kickoff would change his pregame meal, and true to form, his answer was exactly what you’d expect.
“Same thing,” Staley told Keith. “I’m going to eat the same exact thing.”
It doesn’t matter how many options are laid out in front of him. There will be no change. That’s how he is about everything, and in my opinion, it’s how you know a player is locked in on the process. Opponents change week to week. Play calls and schemes may even change depending on who you’re playing. But the player has to stay consistent, stay ready and take care of what he can control.
Wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope is a major reason behind Staley’s mindset. Pope has been on Heupel’s staff since 2021. Over that stretch, Tennessee receivers have produced an SEC-best 34 individual 100-yard receiving games and multiple first-team All-SEC honors, and the Vols have sent at least one receiver to the NFL in each of the last five seasons. Tennessee has also had five wide receivers drafted since spring 2022, tied for fourth nationally over that span.
“Coach Pope, he instilled in me, I got to have a good routine,” Staley said. “He said, ‘Keep your same routine.’ And then he always tells me, ‘Train like a pro.’ That’s how they do it. So I want to be a pro one day. So I got to start early.”
Being a pro is the goal, and playing well in the biggest moments is part of what gets you there. Staley and the Vols head into a monumental game at noon Saturday in front of what should be a raucous crowd. The buzz around this one is heavy, and Staley knows the opportunity he has in Neyland Stadium.
“It’s surreal,” Staley said. “It’s so many fans. Obviously, we’re going to have College GameDay. They’re there. Everybody’s going to be there. It’s just a lot. It’s a surreal feeling. The stands are going to be packed out. It’s going to be loud. Checker Neyland. It’s going to be crazy.”
These games are why you come to Tennessee, and Staley let Keith know that point. His head coach sees it the same way. Heupel knows what a Saturday like this means for a program that has been in these moments before.
“That’s why you come here,” Heupel said on the show. “You want to play in big ones.”
Now it’s time for Staley and the Vols to show they are ready for one. No. 14 Tennessee and No. 1 Texas kick off at noon ET Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
