The Tennessee Volunteers were on the practice field on Tuesday morning, surrounded by the dense east Tennessee fog.
The Vols are 4-3 through the first seven games of the Josh Heupel era, with a record of 2-2 in the SEC. There have been ups and downs to the season, undoubtedly, but overall Tennessee is trending in the right direction. The overall numbers tend to be up from last year across numerous categories, and have skyrocketed in some categories.
For instance, in 2020, Tennessee scored a total of 215 points in 10 games. Through just seven games this season, including four conference games, the Vols have 275 points on the board.
However, there are still places where Tennessee will need to improve in the second half of the season. Part of the reason for that, though, is due to injuries. Tennessee is working to get numerous players ready throughout the week due to depth and rotation. In each of Tennessee’s games, at least one or two key starters have been out or were taken out during the game. But the Tennessee players continue to rave throughout the week about the brotherhood that is inside the locker room, which in their words, only makes the team stronger.
“Everybody was positive, that’s what I love about this team, like my real brothers,” Tennessee WR Velus Jones Jr said on Tuesday. “Even the coaches, everybody encouraging. We know I muffed the punt and just hearing that from my coaches and my teammates motivated me to want to do better for my team actually got me pumped up. I always have a point to prove but after that, I had a chip on my shoulder, and I was like I am definitely going to make up for that by balling out for my teammates and putting them in the best position to win the game. Just everybody encouraging me, like ‘don’t worry about that, that happened, we got a whole ball game ahead of us.’ So that was the mindset.”
Below are the highlights from the Tennessee football practice from Knoxville on Tuesday. The Vols will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama this Saturday night in week eight.
