Vol Wide Receiver, Robert Meachem says connection and family are the glue for this year’s UT team.

By: Robert Meachem, #1 in the nation in Receiving yards
Exclusive to EGC

I really started believing in myself at the Orange and White game. That probably set me apart from where I’ve been in a long time. I ran to the sidelines after that last touchdown I got. My mom was kind of sitting behind the bench, and she just smiled and I knew I was on my way to being great again. I’ve seen her smile and tell me “ya’ll did good”, but I haven’t really seen her smile like that in a long time. When I saw that same smile that she gave me when I was younger, I knew that I was doing good.

People ask what makes me so much better this year. For one I gave all of my strength to God. And I just asked him to give me great confidence and just to be able to believe in myself, and that all of my brothers - my football family are behind me 110%. Then I just go out there and have fun. Some of us were talking and we asked ourselves if you aren’t going to practice 110%, then why practice? So you’ve got to make a game like practice, and you’ve got to make practice like a game.”

The fans are always asking us about the “connection” between me and Eric. As far as receivers and quarterbacks go, you have to be on the same page. It may seem that he’s not throwing the ball my way a lot, but teams blitz the weak side of the field, and I’m on the weak side. You have to be on the same page as your quarterback and know what he’s thinking. When he sees something different, then you have to see something different. Because if you aren’t on the same page than it won’t work. And the score will show it.

We talk a lot during practice. If he throws a bad ball, I probably know why he’s throwing a bad ball. And he’ll come back and tell me “you should’ve done this, or you should’ve done that”, and I will see it his way. And then I’ll tell him what I saw. If he throws a great ball, but I didn’t run the route like he may have wanted it run, then hell comeback and tell me. We’ll sit down and watch film together. He’ll tell me what he sees as quarterback, and I’ll tell him what I see from the cornerback, and we will try and adjust it from there. This summer we watched a lot of film together to get on the same page. It’s harder now that classes have started.

Do you remember the year that Auburn was so great? And everybody was trying to figure out how they were so great. Well, the reason they were so great is that they bonded with each other, they had a family atmosphere. And now with us everything is more family. We bleed, we sweat and we cry together. We joke on each other all together. Everything we do, we do together. We just have a bond together.”

I think Aaron Sears, Jayson Swain, Jonathan Wade, and Marvin Mitchell, those guys just added a lot to the program this year. They want to make sure that we do a lot of things together. And Turk McBride, he was a great spokesman, he always had something to say. Like saying “Oh you don’t want to hang out, are you better than the team?” And when you hear stuff like that you are like, “OK, I am going with the team.” And now we have all bonded. And coaches and everybody have started to see this, and make sure that we stick together and everything.”

The fans need to remember that nobody is perfect, but we’re going to play hard. Everyday we give it all we’ve got. All day everyday. And as far as me, I am blessed and I’m out there having fun. Fans - we love you and we appreciate all you’ve done for us because with out the fans… at times its hard.