Time is running low between now and the start of the Vols’ 2024 football season.
Tennessee has been going through fall camp since the early days of August, with 14 practices and two scrimmages under their belts as of Wednesday afternoon.
Starting on Monday, Aug. 26, Tennessee will officially be in game-week mode with the Chattanooga contest that following Saturday. Until then, though, the Vols are going through a mixture of game-week routines while still putting the final touches on fall camp.
“For us, it becomes a little bit more like a regular game week, but you’re still doing a lot of good-on-good work too,” Josh Heupel said on Monday. “So it’s kind of a combination, but it’s a good taste for the new guys that have never been through a fall with us of what a game week kind of looks like.”
Heupel detailed some of the adjustments that happen towards the end of fall camp, such as buttoning up specific position structures that aren’t always able to be done while competing against another unit.
“You’ll get into some of the structures, some of the things that you maybe don’t get in [during] your work against another unit within our program,” Heupel said about some of the changes. “You try to emphasize some of those things to help your players on all three phases of the game. Continue to grow as a player for some of the things that they’re going to see during the course of the year.”
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While that helps take off some of the physical strain before the grind of the season, Heupel did mention that there’s still an emphasis on growing and competing in the final days of camp. While others might be resting or gearing up for the season, some players can make a case for depth chart movement in how they close out camp.
“As a football team, (we’re) healthy,” Heupel said. “At the same time, you look at training camp, the physical grind of it, there’s some guys that got to continue to get to be their best by the time we get to kickoff. That’s always true this time of year.”
Tennessee will kick off the season against Chattanooga in Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Stay tuned for more Tennessee football coverage throughout fall camp.
