Tennessee football opened up its season in commanding fashion, dominating Chattanooga 69-3 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
The Vols scored on their first seven drives while Chattanooga didn’t pass midfield in the first half. Tennessee’s backups got a ton of run in the second half including both quarterbacks Gaston Moore and Jake Merklinger.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel discussed the play of Nico Iamaleava, how the defense performed and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening statement
“First of all, just thanks to all the fans. Hot day out there. They showed up early, Vol Was was electric. The stadium was juicy right from the beginning. Appreciate all of them coming out. It has been a long time since we’ve been in there. So great to see them back again. Liked a lot of the things that we did in all three phases of the game. Defensively, I thought just the line of scrimmage did a really nice job, played good third-down defense, tight coverage for most of it. Really a lot of positives on that side of football.
“Offensively, did some really good things early. Got to learn how to stay dialed in and finish a half, a quarter of the football game. But all in all good day. And obviously specialists did a really, really good job for most of the day.”
On being able to rotate so many different Tennessee players throughout the game
“Yeah, I know some in here gave me a hard time for all the ‘or’s’ that we put on the depth chart, but we’re going to play more guys than we have. Our roster is deeper. We’ve got an opportunity to (rotate more). We’re going to need those guys as we go throughout the course of the season. I think we had 35 guys that it was the first time playing inside of or being the same playing today. So there’s a lot of positives. There’s going to be a lot of little things that that we got to clean up. But it was a good start, and obviously we got big one next week.”
On Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava playing flawless, if he saw anything he did wrong
“Your perspective might be a little bit different than mine. But he knows those things too. He is a young player. Came out, played really efficiently, effectively, made plays down the field. There’s some things that he can control and be better and he knows that and he wants that too.”
On Tennessee receiver Dont’e Thornton having a big game, if that was reflective of his offseason
“Yeah, last year with the reduction of scholarships, which in general I haven’t made a big deal about, from the time that we got here. But you end up having to make decisions on where you’re going take those. And most of the time we’ve taken those on offensive skill guys because you can control your personnel groupings. Dont’e started inside because we were real thin there last year. He moved outside middle of the season. He was starting to play his best football, most comfortable. Gets injured on the long play (at Missouri). Being healthy all offseason, being at home on the outside, he’s just continued to be extremely comfortable in what we’re doing offensively. And he’s played really consistent.”
On if Tennessee can learn anything from a game the Vols led 38-0 after the first 20 minutes
“Well, adverse on the scoreboard, no, but there’s a lot of things that we’ll be able to learn from the course of this football game.”
On Dylan Sampson performing well after being banged up in camp
“Limited for a few days but then got back in the rotation. He’s been healthy for a while now. We expect him to play the way that he did today. Decisive, violent cuts. Got pad under pad and obviously has the ability to do anything that you want a running back to do. When I say that, just the ability to play out in space and and play like a wideout too. So love the performance from him.”
On players coming back from injuries like Dont’e Thornton and Bru McCoy performing well
“Yeah. Keenan Pili (too). We have a few guys unfortunately in this game the contact is real and through their work, their effort, right? That’s during the rehab process and our weight room. Guys building them back up or our medical team, all those guys are in a great space and playing really good football. So today was a big day for those guys. Bru is a captain today, Keenan Pili because they are that type of leader in our program, but also understanding what they’re coming back from.”
On if he was all-in-all pleased with committing just six penalties
“Yeah, we got to continue to grow in that way, but relatively efficient. I mean playing clean during the course of the game. There’s some things that we gotta be smarter with too but we’ll learn from (them).”
On what it meant for Bru McCoy and the family for him to be back and play well
“Huge for him. His family. I know I saw them in the hotel last night. I know they were excited, anxious, nervous, all of it. And Bru was excited to play. Great that he got opportunities to get the ball in his hand, make plays and played really well.”
On how the in helmet communication went with Nico Iamaleava
“Like it has in our scrimmages. Thought he handled himself really well. Effective communication. So went well.”
On the defense’s performance overall
“Thought they played really well. I haven’t looked at the numbers yet, but line of scrimmage they dominated for the majority of the football game. Maybe gave up a couple runs and then I thought we played tight coverage on the back end and as they started to drop back a little bit more, then we were able to apply some pressure and get a sack.”
On Tyre West playing well in the opener after playing well in the bowl game
“Tyre’s been really consistent in how he approaches practice every single day. His understanding of our defense has really grown. So instead of thinking while you’re playing, he’s anticipating, reacting and playing to his full athletic skill set. Proud of what he did today. But just his growth inside of the program.”
On his assessment of Boo Carter’s performance
“Played really well defensively. Did a nice shot with the pressure the edge. Kept contain on it. Saw him back there returning punts. So we’re gonna go watch the tape here a little bit too. But we’re pleased with him and really a lot of our young guys. A lot of young guys got an opportunity to play, particularly in the secondary.”.
