Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel met with the media on Monday afternoon to put a bow on the Kentucky game and to preview the Vols’ matchup this Saturday against Mississippi State.
The Vols face Mississippi State at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night on ESPN. Tennessee’s final SEC home game of the season is its Homecoming Game.
Heupel discussed the run defense issues against Kentucky, the challenges that Mississippi State’s offense presents and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening statement
“Looking forward to Saturday with our team. Last SEC home game for us. Another pivotal game on the schedule (against a) Mississippi State team that is continuing to get better throughout the course of the season, really in every phase. It will be another great environment. Look forward to seeing our fans. They’ve been awesome here during this run of of home games. Hopefully, they rest up and are ready to roll this Saturday, too. Looking forward to this week’s preparation and get ready to go play.”
On what he liked on film from Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava in the Kentucky game
“I thought it was really good. Decision-making, eyes, did some good things. Controlled the run game, too, that a lot of people don’t see. And made plays as well. There were some some really special plays by him during the course of the game. Continued to compete extremely hard, played independent. Just continuing to grow as a player. Really good performance.”
On how he’ll manage this Tennessee team moving forward with new College Football Playoff rankings coming out each week
“Playoff rankings at this point don’t matter. You don’t have control over it. What you do have control over is your your preparation and and how you play. Ultimately, that determines where you’re at or where you’re not at. And for this football team, understanding that we got to continue to grow and get better and control those things that we’re in control of. And this team has got to continue to get better. So it will be out on Tuesday night. And you remember what the first rankings were last year? I don’t either. Right? So it doesn’t matter. What they remember is where you finish here as November wraps up.”
On how impressive it is for Nico Iamaleava as a redshirt freshman to making big throws on third down in the fourth quarter
“Yeah, in those critical moments, him being him, it’s needed, but it’s also special from a young guy to to be able to handle everything that’s going on within the scope of the game. And that’s one of the things that he’s done pretty well throughout the course of the season. There’s some things that I want back, he wants back. But his ability as a young player to go play and being willing to play on the edge, which you have to at that position, it’s rare to have young guys able to do that.”
On if there’s anything they can do as a staff to get confidence back for Tennessee placekicker Max Gilbert after he missed five of his last six field goal attempts
“Yeah, if you’ve seen me kick, you know I’m probably not the guy to to help him with his swing. No, I just, you know, Max hit the ball really well majority of the year. And he hits it that way in practice, too. So for him, resetting from kick to kick, but from week to week too. It’s important for him just like any other player to have a great week of preparation. And I just think from from the first kick to the second kick, he kind of overcorrected and kind of did the same game on the third one too. So go find your groove, hit your sweet spot and go play ball.”
On what freshman Peyton Lewis did to earn more opportunities against Kentucky
“Young guy just when he came in here, had to have a couple of surgeries and was limited during the course of spring ball and some of summer because of that. Kind of built him throughout the course of training camp as far as the physical part of the game. And for a young guy, he’s really mature, really consistent in how he practices. And because of that, he just continued to grow throughout the course of the season. It’s a great example of special teams for young guys being (an) awesome launching point at times. Gained confidence, understand the speed and the flow of the game. And he went in the other night and it was seamless for him.”
On Will Brooks play making ability
“I think his growth and the understanding of what we’re doing, allowing his physical traits to to take over and make some of the plays that he has. It’s tying all of those things in together. But Brooksie’s one of the hardest workers on the football team. Willing to do anything and everything. Previous years, you guys have seen how important that he is to the special teams part of it. And guys like that, when they get their opportunity, they typically go take advantage of it like he has up until this point. We’re gonna need him to continue to make plays as we go down the stretch.”
On if the flawed performances despite winning make it easier for them to get better
“It helps if our guys approach it the right way, and that can happen through any circumstance that you’re facing. It comes down to your mental makeup, your competitive nature. Understanding that there’s an opponent on Saturdays, but the real measuring stick is you’re competing against yourself and helping our football team do their best.”
On what he saw on Nico Iamaleava’s touchdown pass to Miles Kitselman
“Players making plays. Great job by Nico, big time play, understanding all the bodies where they’re at, having the physical traits that would be able to make that throw. And then Kitselman being on the same page and making a play.”
On what he’s seen from Mississippi State freshman QB Michael Van Buren
“I just think he continues to get better in what they’re doing. Young player that is continuing to get better. Has a good future in front of them. And they have some dynamic playmakers out on the outside. And he’s done good job decision making and continuing to become more and more accurate and decisive with the football. He’s playing really well.”
On what improvements Tennessee’s run defense needs to make while preparing for Mississippi State
“Yeah, it takes all 11. You’ve got to have gap integrity. We got out of gaps a couple of times (against Kentucky) and that creates the explosive plays that you saw from them. So it comes down to communication and everybody being tied in together.”
On how unique Saturday’s game will be, facing Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby, one of his former assistant coaches
“Yeah, I’ve known known Jeff for a long time, dating all the way back to Oklahoma when he was still a student there. And great respect for him, his staff. It’s not just Jeff that I know. I know a bunch of their guys and good people, good coaches and doing a good job down there. So it’ll be unique in that I’ve sat in the staff room with those guys before.”
On how frustrating the difference in first-half production and second-half production has been for Tennessee’s offense
“Well, we do have to play cleaner football. I told the guys today, don’t focus on what the result in the first half you want. We want to start fast, obviously. But focus on the details of your job. And that comes every day in our practices, our meetings, walk through, all of it being tied in together. And we need to, we want to start a lot faster than we have here in the last few weeks. So we’re capable of it. You got to take advantage of things and do the simple things at a high level, in particular down the red zone where we’ve had to kick too many field goals the last few weeks. We’ve had turnovers. We’ve got behind the chains. Things that we control and we got to be better.”
On if he’s ever had an offense like this, which such different output from the first half to the second half
“Man, no. This has been a unique run here in the first half for sure.”
On what makes red-zone offense that much more difficult
“Everything gets tighter down there, right? And so self-inflicted wounds always hurt you, right? But they hurt you even more down there because the windows are tighter if you’re throwing a football. The bodies are tighter in the run game. We got to execute at a higher level. And that’s not third down, but it’s third down too. It’s first and second down, too. So it’s not major things, major overhauls. Sorry, I paused there just to make sure I was phrasing it the right way. It’s really ordinary things and we can do that. We control that.”
