Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel opened up his weekly press conference on Monday by offering his thoughts and prayers to all people dealing with the fallout of Hurricane Helene but particularly those in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina who are dealing with the devastation.
The Vols will wear a helmet decal in Saturday night’s matchup against Arkansas to honor those in their footprint that the natural disaster has affected, Heupel shared on Vol Calls Wednesday night.
Hurricane Helene devastated upper East Tennessee and Western North Carolina late last week with over a 100 people confirmed dead in Appalachia and many more still missing. The hurricane significantly damaged a multitude of communities and the recovery in the region will take a significant amount of time.
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Tennessee has worn helmet patches in the past to honor its state, most recently after wildfires spread in the Great Smokey Mountains in the fall of 2016.
Vol football is off to a 4-0 (1-0 SEC) start to the season and is ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll entering this weekend’s road matchup at Arkansas. Tennessee is looking to stay unbeaten on the season before returning home for four straight home conference games.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Arkansas are at D.W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ABC.