Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met on Wednesday in Miami, Florida to kick off the official 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl joint press conference. Heupel and Dabo were joined by high-ranking bowl officials as they stirred up excitement for the bowl game at the end of December.
The Dec. 30 matchup in Hard Rock Stadium will feature Heupel’s 6th-ranked Volunteers taking on Swinney’s 7th-ranked Tigers in a great showdown.
During the press conference on Wednesday, neither head coach dove too deep into scheme or personnel. The beginning of the press conference saw each coach discuss the importance of the bowl game and the preparation that goes into a game of this magnitude. Heupel spoke about what it was like being a player and winning the National Championship in the Orange Bowl, while Swinney recalled plenty of experiences as both a player and coach that have shaped him into the coach he is today.
“Simply put, having played and coached in this game, this is a memory,” Heupel said on Wednesday. “The game itself and the entire week, the experience, that’s something that you are going to remember for the rest of your life. I had an opportunity to just run into a bunch of my old teammates as one was getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. You remember these moments.”
“These experiences create bonds that last forever,” Heupel continued on to say. “For us, what this program has done, the steps that it has taken in less than 24 months since I took the job, what these kids are made of, they get one more opportunity to go do it together against a great opponent. It’s a culmination of all the work that’s put in. It’s a culmination of this season. And it is a great opportunity for your young kids to be exposed to one of the biggest and best games in all of college football.”
Heupel and Swinney also briefly touched on topics such as uniforms, recruiting, the playoffs, and much more.
More from RTI: Josh Heupel and Dabo Swinney Tease Orange Bowl Uniforms
Check out the full 30-minute 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl press conference with Josh Heupel and Dabo Swinney below.
