Squirrel White is known for his quickness. His toughness might surprise you.

Don’t think you can lay hands on Squirrel. The Tennessee freshman receiver is too smart – and too quick – for that.

When asked about his toughness on Tuesday, the 5-foot-10 (maybe) and 160-pounder (after dinner) summed it up with seven words and essentially dropped the mic.

“I’ve just been tough my whole life,” said White, whose first name is actually Marquarius but will be referred to as “Squirrel” for the remainder of this column.

Squirrel didn’t get tough because of his name. That was a boy named Sue. Squirrel got tough by playing backyard, tackle football with no pads against his older family members. Yes, that actually used to happen. Things didn’t always go swimmingly for Squirrel.

“I used to cry sometimes,” Squirrel said. “I’d just get right back up and go at it.”

That’s not good for opposing defensive backs. Squirrel is tough, quick and might have the best top-end speed on Tennessee’s football team. He said he was recently clocked at 23.8 miles per hour. Fortunately, there was no school zone nearby.

It’s that combination of speed and toughness that have made Squirrel the early talk of preseason camp. His ability to use his hands, footwork and tenacity has made him tough to defend, especially when Tennessee’s defense decides to runto press coverage.

“I think that’s my biggest asset, beating DB’s deep and even short,” said Squirrel, who is in no dire need of confidence. “Just going in there and dominating them.”

Squirrel knows well that he can’t get caught up on the line of scrimmage. The toughness and technique has to be in place before the quickness, his ultimate attribute, can take over.

“That’s something I always worked on just from me being little, just trying not to let the defense get their hands on me,” Squirrel said.

Squirrel got his nickname from his great grandmother who wasn’t too fond of the squirrels that were poaching her tomatoes.

“When the squirrel moved, I moved at the same time so she just called me that,” Squirrel said.

The next few days will be important for Squirrel. He won’t be hitting anyone smaller than him unless there’s a weight limit put on college football players. He’ll probably be the smallest, non-kicking player in most of Tennessee’s games this season.

Maybe Squirrel should dial down some of that confidence? Nope. Squirrel is ready to return punts and kicks like he did in high school. Something tells me he’d be pretty good at both.

“I feel like I’d be pretty good there,” Squirrel said. “I did that in high school so I’d be comfortable.”