Josh Heupel evaluates improvement from Squirrel White

For the third time in his young career, Squirrel White finished a game with over 100 yards receiving during Tennessee‘s 41-20 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Head coach Josh Heupel praised his sophomore wideout for his efforts, and couldn’t say enough about his breakout performance against the Gamecocks.

“He just continues to get better,” Heupel said postgame. “Just extremely confident and comfortable out there. He operates extremely efficiently. Joe [Milton] has great confidence in him and made big-time competitive play on the deep ball early in the first quarter. That gets us going.

“It was just an unbelievable job all night. One-on-ones … out on the perimeter, it’s gonna be a one-on-one game you’ve got to go win.  We have got to be efficient throwing it, catching it and winning in those matchups. And Squirrel, obviously, nine targets, nine catches, that’s a hell of a night by him.”

White ultimately finished the matchup with nine catches — and no drops, as Heupel pointed out — for 104 receiving yards including a 50-yard reception. He now has 26 receptions for 276 yards on the season as Tennessee’s No. 1 wideout statistically despite not being able to find the end zone through five games.

Coming out of high school standing 5-foot-9 and 150-pounds, White is a bit undersized for a Power Five wide receiver. Yet he’s never let that halt his efforts, and Heupel has been one of his biggest supporters.

Heupel revealed that not only White, but the entire Vols receiver corps practice their physicality on a daily basis on the practice field — and now it’s translating to game day.

“First day on the practice field where we’re wearing pads, in helmet and shoulder pads, there’s a lot of physical drills that we do out on the perimeter,” Heupel revealed. “Lot destruction, tackling, perimeter drill, whatever he was when he got here on campus, it was all in the fight, right from day one. He’s tough, he’s physical, he’s gonna stick his nose on people, he’s gonna play great fundamentals. He’s been that way from the jump.”

As White continues his breakout season, the Vols will enjoy an off week this coming weekend before coming back for Week 7 for a home game against Texas A&M. The Aggies host Alabama during Week 6, so in theory, Tennessee will be fresher out of the gates.