East Rutherford, NJ – It was early in the third quarter, and more than 100,000 fans at Neyland Stadium, Tennessee, were cheering. That’s when Devin Hyatt turned to his father and spoke out what had earlier been an unimaginable statement.
“Dad, Galen is going to score five times,” said Devin Hiatt after his brother Jalen, a small receiver at the University of Tennessee, scored his third touchdown of the game against Alabama on a 60-yard pass down left. margin.
“I was like, ‘Get out of here,'” Jamie Hyatt recalled. “He’s like, ‘Watch, he’s scoring five times. ‘”
“He sure did.”
This was the day Jalen Hyatt introduced himself to the world of the NFL. When the day began, he was just another talented, fast prospect that Vols loyalists dreamed he could lead them back to fame. By the time the game was over, Hyatt was puffing on a cigar and receiving praise from Peyton Manning.
Legend achievement unlocked.@tweet pic.twitter.com/qrZsvLMQq1
– Tennessee Football (Vol_Football) October 16, 2022
“You’re a legend,” Manning said during a scene that went viral.
Perhaps it was fate that New York Giants General Manager Joe Schoen was there to take in that game from the sidelines.
“I was in that Alabama game,” Schoen said, and six months later he’ll trade to pick Hyatt No. 73 overall. “I can’t remember why I was late, but I was a little bit behind. But I was on the field in the first half. I was coming from another game, I went down there, and in the first half I was on the field, you could really feel his speed. It’s legit 4.3 [seconds in the 40-yard dash]. “
Hyatt officially ran the 40-yard dash in the NFL’s 4.40 seconds earlier this year before the Giants were so enchanted by his speed and great playing ability that they traded him for him midway through Day Two. The Speedster, who was running 4.29 times and 4.31 times for a laser in the 40-yard dash at Nike’s The Opening in 2019, was still available at that point.
After all, there aren’t any other men walking the planet who can boast a five-touchdown performance against Alabama and its legendary head coach, Nick Saban. Galen Hyatt is on that list.
for the first During the time of his life on the soccer field, Hyatt was not doing much. He suffered a concussion in Week 2 of his season against Pittsburgh and did not pass for three more weeks.
It wasn’t about how he envisioned building a promising new public building in Tennessee. It was blown up. The coaching staff he had recruited from Knoxville earlier that year was blown for recruiting violations. Hyatt wasn’t sure the new staff, led by head coach Josh Hubbell, was truly committed to him.
He was primarily a backup to Philos Jones Jr., and is now a wide receiver and kick returner for the Chicago Bears. This wasn’t the year Hyatt wanted with 21 catches for 226 yards and three touchdowns.
“I could tell he was really frustrated with himself. He really lost his confidence,” Jimmy Hyatt said in a phone conversation with ESPN. “At this point, you start looking for excuses.”
It was only days after Hyatt made the biggest play of the Vols season for a fourth touchdown late in the Holiday Bowl victory over Purdue that the wide receiver changed his approach. Rather than stay home for the rest of the winter break, Hyatt returned to Knoxville and began working.
“I got serious about it,” Hyatt explained during his introductory press conference with the Giants. “I’m starting to realize this here works for me.”
Hyatt would lure coaches and teammates to the facility to work overtime on off days. He worked overtime to build chemistry with quarterback Hendon Hooker.
Hayat informs his father one day that he stole 1200 balls from a JUGS machine. Jimmy Hyatt thought this was just youthful exaggeration. Shredding 300 balls on a given day is a solid number. Four numbers are the next level. But sure enough, when the results came in from the coaches, Hyatt totaled over 1,000 catches that day.
It was the kind of “first round job” his dad was referring to in those sprawling scripts back and forth during that tough sophomore year. This was Hyatt doing everything he could to put himself in the best position for Tennessee’s rookie season.
“He was contacted. It was great,” said Jamie Hyatt. “That’s kind of the way that offseason went.”
It wasn’t just a physical growth. It was mental.
The 20-year-old wide receiver wrote at the top and bottom of his notebook: “Say it, think it, believe it, do it and you’ll get it.” In between, he wrote down his goals.
“I will be the No. 1 receiver in the SEC.”
“I’m going to be a 1,000-yard receiver in the SEC.”
“I will be the most confident on the court.”
“I will change the way my family lives.”
One by one, over the past season, they have begun to bear fruit.
“Man, that was pretty powerful stuff,” said Jimmy Hyatt. “He checked them all, checked them all.
It all came Together that afternoon in mid-October against Alabama. One by one, Hyatt was a running back in the past and a future NFL defensive back. He became the first player to score three or more touchdowns and reach 100 yards against Nick Saban’s Alabama team.
Hyatt had six catches for 207 yards and five touchdowns in that contest. He finished with 67 catches for 1,267 yards and a school record 15 touchdowns while being named a consensus first-team All-American and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver.
It was more than just the Alabama game that caught the attention of NFL teams.
“Well, he played in the SEC, so it’s a pretty good conference there,” Giants coach Brian Dabul said. “He had a great game, no doubt about that, but he was a productive player for them. Good pace, he had good intangibles. We met him in [Top] 30 visits. It was kind of inclusive.”
However, there were skeptics. He was the 10th drafted wide receiver.
“Toughness” is how an NFL executive answered ESPN about why he wasn’t selected by two rounds.
This question was asked because at the top of the third round it seemed strange that lives were still available. Giants agreed. They traded picks in the third and fourth rounds to land on the Hyatt, and they didn’t seem to care about the concerns of the others.
“I’m not sure why it’s there,” Schoen said. “But we feel good about him and we’re glad he was.”
Hyatt seemed to realize how much the Alabama game would affect his future. She did, at least, play a role in helping him land New York, especially after he heard during a Top 30 visit that Schwinn was on the sidelines.
“Maybe it changed my life,” Hyatt said. “But you know at the same time, though, that’s what football can do for you. That’s what football can do for you. That’s what it can achieve and that’s why I take the sport so seriously. This is my life and I love the sport and I love the game. I feel loved.” The game or mistakes I’m making or whatever, if I’m doing something good or doing bad I just learn from it and get better the next day.I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned and I just want to build on it when it gets [to the Giants]. “