Jalin Hyatt gives thoughts on playoff expansion and what would happen if Vols played Georgia again
Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jalin Hyatt is in Arizona prepping for the 2023 NFL Draft and gearing up to attend Super Bowl LVII. Hyatt carved out some time on Wednesday to do some media interviews amid the madness of Super Bowl week. One of those interviews was with 95.3 WDAE. Hyatt was asked specifically about […]
Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jalin Hyatt is in Arizona prepping for the 2023 NFL Draft and gearing up to attend Super Bowl LVII.
Hyatt carved out some time on Wednesday to do some media interviews amid the madness of Super Bowl week.
One of those interviews was with 95.3 WDAE.
Hyatt was asked specifically about his thoughts on the College Football Playoff expanding from 4 teams to 12 teams.
The South Carolina native made it clear that he thinks expansion is a great thing. And he also threw in some comments about playing Georgia again (the Bulldogs beat the Vols 27-13 in Athens this past season).

"I think that's what needs to be done," said Hyatt when asked about playoff expansion. "I think it'll make the game — I just think it'll make college football much greater. When you add 12 teams…just imagine if they had it this year. We'd be in it. Alabama would be in it. LSU would be in it. Just a lot of teams that I feel like should've been in it."
"Not only that, I mean look, we didn't really get what we wanted in the national championship — it was a blowout," added Hyatt. "We all knew who was going to win. I mean let's just be honest."
Hyatt then mentioned having another shot at Georgia, something that he clearly wishes the Vols would've had at the end of the season.
"If we had to play them (Georgia) again somewhere where it wasn't at their place, at a regular place. And we had to play them and we had two weeks to game plan for them, it would've been a different outcome."
We certainly know that Tennessee would've given Georgia a better game than TCU did — we saw the Vols play the Bulldogs in Athens and lose by 14 points instead of losing by 58 points on a neutral field.
I'm sure Hyatt will receive some heat from Georgia fans for his comments, but what else would you expect him to say? Hyatt's a competitor. And he's confident in his abilities (as he should be). Of course he should believe that it would be a different outcome if Tennessee and Georgia played on a neutral field after some time off.
And he's not wrong. I don't know if the Vols would beat the Bulldogs, but it would be a closer game than what we saw in Athens in November (which was close to being a one-score game late in the fourth quarter).
By the way, one more interesting note about Hyatt: When he attends the Super Bowl on Sunday, it'll be the first NFL game he's ever attended.
That should give him plenty of motivation to excel in the NFL because he's going to want to get back to that stage after witnessing it in person.
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK