Tennessee football’s 2023 offense was uncharacteristically poor for a Josh Heupel coached team a season ago, ranking just 36th nationally in points per game.
The Vols are optimistic that they can bounce back offensively in Heupel’s fourth season as head coach. Meeting with the media before the start of fall camp on Tuesday, both Heupel and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle noted an area where they believe the Vols need to improve on that side of the ball this season.
“A lot of that was red zone, efficiency in the red zone, penalties in the red zone,” Heupel said of offensive issues in 2023. “We got to be better. We’ve been intentional in our work through that, throughout the course of spring ball. But we got to come back. We got to be a smarter team, be more efficient and effective in in that area.”
Statistically, red zone efficiency is where Tennessee’s offense took the largest step back last season. After ranking third nationally with a 94% scoring rate in the red zone in 2022, the Vols ranked 73rd nationally with an 83.3% scoring rate in the red zone in 2023.
Just as significant as they overall red zone scoring rate, Tennessee scored touchdowns on 79% of its red zone trips in 2022 to just 52% in 2023. The Vols offense went from elite in the red zone in 2022 to below average in 2023. While getting back to the 2022 rate will be difficult, Tennessee should almost certainly be better in 2024 than they were a season ago.
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While improved quarterback play would certainly help, Tennessee ran the ball much better in the red zone in 2022 than they did in 2023. Some of that is tied into quarterback play but the Vols were much more effective running in short yardage situations in 2022 compared to 2023.
Heupel’s emphasis is on red zone efficiency. Where does Halzle see the most room for improvement?
“You have to cut it loose, that’s where the big plays come from,” Halzle said. “That’s what we lacked last year, was the big play. That’s going to be a part of what we do again this year. It’s not for lack of taking the shots, but we were just a step off for whatever reason.”
After chunk plays propelled Tennessee to elite offensive production in 2022, the Vols failed to produce chunk plays in the passing game. Joe Milton III and Tennessee’s receivers just never got into a groove with one another and it was evident. How much of the blame Milton deserves versus the receivers is the question. Neither played at a high level and made things easier for the other.
Nico Iamaleava is the new starting quarterback but the receiver room will include a lot of the same players. How much they grow and build a repertoire with the redshirt freshman quarterback will largely dictate the scale of offensive improvement for the Vols next season
