Tennessee football's Bru McCoy praised for a crazy block on long touchdown

Tennessee tight end McCallan Castles appreciates the less heralded aspects of the game of football. After all, some dirty work from a teammate helped the redshirt senior tight end salt away the 30-13 win over Austin Peay last Saturday. Castles, a graduate transfer from UC-Davis, caught a 43-yard touchdown with just over 8 minutes left […]

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Sep 12, 2023 7:00 AM EDT

Castles, a graduate transfer from UC-Davis, caught a 43-yard touchdown with just over 8 minutes left in the game to end the scoring for the day. Castles caught a short pass, quickly juked a defender, and turned upfield with nothing but green in front of him.

give him SIX.

→ @McCallanCastles pic.twitter.com/rrrMtrSeUR
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 10, 2023

The reason for most of that space? WR Bru McCoy, who did his best John-Campbell-blocking-the-Virginia-defender-off-the-field impersonation, keeping the last Austin Peay defender off of Castles all the way down the field to the end zone.

The latter was very appreciative of McCoy for the assist.

"Made one guy miss, then I saw Bru (McCoy) putting a guy in the end zone," said Castles. "So I think that's more impressive than the touchdown itself. The fact that he drove the guy 40 yards in the end zone. It's a great block. That's why he's probably going to be playing on Sundays because he plays hard and gives effort for everybody even on plays where he's not getting the ball."

McCoy, like much of Tennessee's passing offense, has had a modest start to the season. The redshirt senior caught 2 passes for 21 yards against Virginia, followed by 5 grabs for 51 yards Saturday against Austin Peay.

However, McCoy's effort and physicality have still had an impact well beyond the stat sheet. And that's obviously left a lasting impression on the players he shares a huddle with.