Tennessee football made its way to Neyland Stadium Tuesday morning for its eighth practice of fall came.
The Vols spent practice No. 8 scrimmaging for the first time in fall camp as the season opener against Ball State in 23 days away.
Heupel met with the media following the scrimmage, talking about his team’s performance on Tuesday and the first week of fall practice.
The second year head coach shared a handful of tidbits from the scrimmage, noting that linebacker Jeremy Banks intercepted a pass— the lone turnover of the day. Heupel also offered praise for Hendon Hooker.
“Really good, really efficient and effective,” Heupel said of Hooker. “Handled the operation side of it really well. He’s been in really good command of what we’re doing offensively. Keeping us out of bad plays, bad situations. Turning negatives into zero. Decisive getting the ball out of his hands. In complete command of what we’re doing on the offensive side of the ball— run game and pass game. Protections as well. Really pleased with his progress through spring ball and even after spring ball to where he is now. Did some really great things out there today. Yesterday had a great day too. Love where he’s at.”
Heupel noted that Jimmy Calloway and Jalin Hyatt had strong days in the slot and that the Vols’ offense was strong in short yardage situations.
Some of that short yardage success comes due to strong play from freshman running backs Justin Williams-Thomas and Dylan Sampson— each of which earned praise from Heupel Tuesday.
On the defensive side of the ball, the red zone defense apparently had a strong day despite corner Kamal Hadden missing the scrimmage.
Here’s everything Josh Heupel said following Tennessee’s Tuesday scrimmage.
