Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel met with the media Thursday morning as the Vols prepare for their Saturday open date.
The Vols enter the open date 4-1 (1-1 SEC) and coming off their best win of the young season. Heupel discussed replacing Bru McCoy, his open date plans and much more.
Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening statement
“Bye week, important for us one, to get healthy and two, to continue to get better. We got a lot of guys inside our program particularly younger guys that have to continue to develop and get better. Have to continue to get better throughout the season. Had a good day on the grass today with the guys. We’ll have another one tomorrow. End of the week, a bunch of coaches will be all over the country. I think we’re hitting close to 12 states here as we get out on Thursday and Friday so that will be the back end of the week for the staff and that’s obviously the life blood of this program. Huge part of the week on the back end of it for our staff.”
On Dont’e Thornton’s need to get healthy, step up in Bru McCoy’s absence
“Dont’e but all the guys that you’ve seen and some you maybe haven’t have to continue to grow and be ready to play on the back half of the season. We’ll see. Bru’s injury, devastating for him. He’s doing well but at the same time in this game the next guy has to be ready to step up. Dont’e wasn’t available last week. Anticipate him being full speed when we get to (Texas) A&M and the young guys that played, have played, got to continue to grow and play at a really high level. Liked a lot of what they did the other night when they got their opportunity— really the last couple weeks they’ve played really good football.”
On what’s gone into Tennessee’s increase in sacks this season
“Continued depth. Ability to play more guys, play harder for 60 minutes. Their development and understanding of what they’re doing. That can be our scheme but also their fundamentals. Guys are playing violent. They’re disruptive, they’re jumping the football, they’re winning one-on-one battles and we’re going to continue to need that. You guys know (that) all offseason a point of emphasis for us was the ability to apply pressure to the quarterback not just with pressure (blitzes). Our guys have done a good job of that so far this year.”
On Andrej Karic and Jeremiah Crawford’s health status
“I think they’ll be available as we get to next week.”
On if he had more confidence in Cooper Mays playing entering last week than he did the weeks prior
“Anticipated him being in position to play last Saturday. For Coop(er), he’s tough mentally, physically. He’s a great leader inside of our program. Unfortunate that the injury happened early but he’s been fighting his butt off to get back. Really, pretty pleased with how he played. I think that was a big part of the football game.”
On if they’ll keep Thornton in the slot or move him out wide
“I don’t know how the rotation will exactly play out as we get to A&M but we have the ability and flexibility to move guys into different spots. All those guys really have trained at multiple spots.”
On the importance of Bru McCoy remaining around the team for his mental health
“I think for us and for him that will be important as his recovery takes place and he’s able to get back in the building and be around it. It’s extremely important for our football team, the wide receiver room. He’s developed into an unbelievable leader inside of our program. For him too, I just think it’s important to be around guys that care about you. Still be apart of it and he will be a huge part of it when he gets back.”
On if Heupel or the team as a whole has gotten a chance to meet with Bru
“I’ve been over there. A bunch of our teammates and staff have been over to see him. Like I said, everybody can understand all the time, (and) effort that goes into getting yourself ready to play your best football over the course of the season. Nobody prepared harder than he had. He invested the right way and when you invest and now you no longer have that opportunity— you have an injury like he had— it’s hard. It’s devasting and you feel like it’s an opportunity that no longer exists. I’m just talking about this season. So the early days of that are hard. I think it’s the hardest part of being an athlete. You’re constantly pushing towards something and all of a sudden you have an injury and however long it is you’re kind of in no man’s land. As he starts his recovery process I think that’s the next best thing. You’re working towards something. Excited for him as he goes through that part of it.”
On how they’ll go about replacing Bru with multiple guys or looking for one guy to step up
“It is plug-and-play. You can’t have a total overhaul of what you’re doing. (I) Believe in the guys that have gotten an opportunity to play. They have to continue to grow. They have to step up and be ready for that role. Ramel Keyton did that a year ago when Ced(ric Tillman) went down. In this game it’s inevitably going to happen. That’s why if you’re not a starter, not playing a bunch of football it’s not about where you’re at. It’s preparing yourself for the moment when you get the opportunity. Our guys have done that but they have to also continue to grow.”
On Ollie Lane moving back-and-forth from left guard to center
“Yeah. We’ll have some other guys that will fill in and play. That happened (Karic’s injury) late in the week and I’m pretty pleased with how he played, how we played up front. Thought we communicated, were really good in our double teams so there was a bunch of positives from the football game with all the moving pieces we had upfront. As we continue to go we’re going to need all of those guys. Guys that have played a substantial amount of plays and guys who haven’t yet either. All those guys will be needed before it’s done.”
On if he’ll watch future Tennessee opponents during the bye week
“I’m going to get a chance to go watch my son play football Saturday morning and my daughter and I, at some point, will sit down and watch a game or two in the evening. We’ll watch a little bit of football. I’m sure I’ll be flipping around between multiple games at a time.”
On how important this week is for the freshman linebackers
“A bunch of the young guys are playing on the second level are continuing to grow, compete. Played at a really high level the other night. A couple of them got more snaps than they had. That room, we were just talking about the offensive line, that room we’re going to need all those guys too. All-in-all pretty pleased with the growth and development of that room. Coach BJ (Brian Jean-Mary) and the staff have done a great job there.”
On how much of this week is about fundamentals for the young players with no game prep to do
“For everybody in the building, Sunday wasn’t a normal Sunday so you get the chance to catch your breath on the front end (of the week) of it. Our players are going to catch their breath on the back too. Longer than the coaches will. Some of the coaches will have Saturday where they’ll be able to be at home. Sunday we’ll go back to work. Everybody in the building is about continued growth and development fundamentally but that’s true every single week. Our main practices, Tuesday (and) Wednesday, there’s a bunch of good on good work because you’re trying to stress those things. There’s a bunch of individual time. So you have to constantly grow in those things and continue to sharpen them over the course of the season or on the back half of the season you’re not nearly the football team you need to be. There’s a little bit of scheme this week but most of it is on fundamentals.”
On how Cooper Mays most helped the offensive line
“Smart, tough, competitive. Great ability to be able to communicate and get all five guys on the same page. Within our tempo, that’s extremely important. It’s important in any offense but when you’re playing from a tempo recognition of what’s going on up front, there’s a lot of moving pieces before the snap and he does a great job of that. And he’s tough and physical, man. Played a lot of football. Your inside combinations. All that type of stuff. Your pass protection, it’s all elevated with Cooper.”
On if the run game is ahead of where he thought it would be
“It’s been super efficient. It’s been explosive at times. There’s still things we can be a whole lot better at so as a coach you expect perfection. This is also never a game of perfection. So like a lot of what we’ve done but have to continue to grow and elevate.”
