Finally: Bru McCoy is eligible to off the hook sports with………learnmore 

Finally: Bru McCoy is eligible to off the hook sports with………learnmore

 

Bru McCoy is back on his feet for Tennessee football, and just in time to finally catch passes from Nico Iamaleava.

 

It’s an intriguing partnership between a pair of former five-star recruits from Southern California. And it once seemed improbable to Iamaleava, who idolized McCoy when he was younger.

 

“When I was younger, I thought Bru was the greatest high school player of all time,” Iamaleava said. “He was the first guy I’d ever seen play receiver and (defensive end) at the same time. Seeing him come off the edge and have five sacks and then go score three touchdowns was crazy for me to watch.”

 

Iamaleava is 19 and a redshirt freshman quarterback from Long Beach, California. McCoy, 24, grew up about 20 miles away in Rolling Hills Estates, California. He is a sixth-year senior wide receiversupposed to already be in the NFL.

 

But when McCoy suffered a severe ankle injury to end his 2023 season, his pro football plans were put on hold and the possibility of him teaming up with Iamaleava became reaIt’ll become reality when Tennessee kicks off the season against Chattanooga on Aug. 31 (12:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

 

Bru McCoy says he’s back from injury

McCoy said that possibility of playing with Iamaleava helped accelerate his offseason rehab.

 

“You want to be available for a guy like Nico, especially since I didn’t get the opportunity for those reps in the spring with him,” McCoy said. “It was the motivation for me to keep pushing it.”

 

McCoy suffered the injury on Sept. 30 against South Carolina. He underwent four surgeries to repair a fracture-dislocation of his right ankle and spent 10 days in the hoIn the past 11 months, McCoy routinely reached benchmarks in his rehab ahead of schedule, and that momentum continued in preseason practice.

 

McCoy was eager to practice at full speed, but UT’s medical staff initially worked him in gradually. In the final practices open to media last week, McCoy looked like his old self, at least to the untrained eye.

 

“They had a good plan for me,” McCoy said. “They were able to set some goals for me throughout camp, and we knocked them all down.”

 

The next hurdle is whether McCoy can perform at his top level in a game. If so, he’ll give Iamaleava a go-to receiver who’s already earned respect of teammates and SEC opponents.spital.l. who’s