Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the local media on Monday afternoon to open up Vanderbilt week as the Vols prepare for their instate rival in Nashville.
The Vols can punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff with a victory while Vanderbilt is looking to punctuate a strong regular season with a seventh win.
Heupel discussed Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, keeping his team focused on the Commodores and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening Statement
“Good afternoon. How’s everybody doing? First, this might be the last time before Thursday. I just want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving, everybody in this room. Appreciate all your kindness throughout the year.
One of the things I’m thankful for. And I didn’t even get a laugh out of that, Hubbs. And then, obviously, our fanbase too and our families are spread out throughout the entire country. So happy Thanksgiving to everybody.
“Big road game. Playing a really good football team in Vanderbilt. You look at what they’ve done throughout the season, but statistically they do a great job of tying all three phases together. They play complementary football. They’re smart. They’re tough. They’re physical. They’re disciplined. They make you earn it. Offensively, the quarterback (Diego Pavia) is a dynamic player. It’s quarterback run game. He has unique ability to extend and make plays outside of the scope of of the play call, too. And defensively, they don’t give up a bunch of big plays. They play assignment sound. And special teams, you look at what they’re doing, punt returner (is) dynamic. And their punt game, their punter changes the field.
“So it’s a huge test for us and one we got to get prepared for and get ready for. And practice well and get ready to go play well on Saturday afternoon.”
On if there are similarities in play style between Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia and what Tennessee just faced in UTEP QB Skyler Locklear
“Their guy (Locklear) extended plays and made plays outside of the pocket. Diego is a special player. He just, in the read game, first-level players, running triple option off of it, all type of read schemes, drop-back situations, extending and scrambling and making plays. He’s done a really good job for them. And he’s one of the keys to the game for us. Certainly, defensively, he’s the key to the game.”
On the emphasis for Tennessee’s defense to pressure and contain a mobile quarterback
“Yeah, you can’t just let him sit back there. But when you’re applying pressure, you got to do a great job of having lane integrity and not letting him get out the backside of the pocket. And that happened to us a couple times the other night (against UTEP). Within your twist games, you got to continue to keep your your lane integrity as well. And that happens off of your pressures too. Your pressures got to maintain that. So it’s a dynamic player with his feet at the quarterback spot. You can’t just let him sit back in the pocket all day long, so you got to apply pressure. But while you’re doing that, you got to be able to to come off and make plays. So that’s the balance that you got to be on the right side of on game day.”
On if it is difficult to address the stakes of the game without dwelling on it
“No. I addressed it today. But I said it last week, there’s a lot of football to be played. That’s for everybody across the country. It’s for us and focus on the task at hand and we have to be our best on Saturday. You can look at how they’ve performed throughout the course of the season, how they’ve played at home, statistically what they’re doing in all three phases. You got to understand you’re going to get their best. Their best is really good and we gotta be at our best too.”
On how the emergence of the transfer portal has affected high school recruiting
“Recruiting is 365 days out of the year. There’s no days off. The landscape of the the portal, it’s been here for, I don’t know how many years, but probably my entire tenure here. It’s a part of how you supplement your roster and so you manage it. We build from high school and supplement our roster with the portal.”
On slowing down Vanderbilt’s tight ends after Georgia torched them throwing to tight ends
“Yeah. Better know where he’s at and within the scope of what you’re playing structure wise defensively, you got to have your eyes in the right spot. If you’re not, play action pass is going to be a problem and he’s going to find an opening. So it comes down to the ordinary things. The bigger the game, the better the opponent, it’s alignment, assignment, execution. Your eyes got to have discipline. That takes you to the plays that you got to make.”
On there being more home success in the SEC this season
“First of all, the league across the board, the depth of it— it’s really good. And you go on the road, loud environments makes it a little bit more difficult if you’re not like communicating at a really high level. So those two things together make it difficult. It’s always been difficult along the road.”
On what he’s thankful for this Thanksgiving
“Man, thankful for our football family, who I get a chance to to be with every single day, players and staff. Thankful for my own family, the health that they have, and thankful that I get a chance to be here and be a part of leading this program and, you know, the opportunities that we have as an entire program.”
On how he has seen sophomore corner Rickey Gibson III grow from last year to this year
“Man, just continued growth, maturity, who he is, how he prepares within what we’re doing fundamentally, continuing to grow. And through that, his confidence has grown and is a huge part of why he’s playing the way that he is.”
On the defense pitching a shutout against UTEP
“Last Saturday, like every Saturday, has nothing to do with what happens this coming Saturday. But I think the competitive makeup, the physicality that they played with, resetting from play to play, guys making plays, it’s just continued growth in what we’re doing. There’s a lot of things that we can be better at as well, as we watch the film today with them.”
On the biggest growth he’s seen from Nico Iamaleava since the first game of the season
“I said it before the season started, young quarterback, every rep he gets, gonna make him better. Positive result, not a positive result. I think his ability to withstand, push back, continue to compete however you wanna phrase it from play to play as a young quarterback, just really strong from him and, you know, continued growth and understanding of what we’re doing, command and control, and being able to to handle everything that’s on his plate, which is a lot. Excited for him to continue to grow throughout this year and this week.”
On the rivalry with Vanderbilt
“Unique thing here at Tennessee is you got a bunch of them, but this is a long-standing rivalry that we’ve had with them. And, you know, it’s Thanksgiving weekend, you’re playing in a big game against one of your rivals, this is the opportunity that you wanna have.”
On how he would evaluate how the offensive line has played this season:
“Yeah, executed really well at times. There’s some things within the scope of the run game, protectionally, that they gotta be better at but some of that’s not them, too. Quarterback controlling the protections, you know, tight ends, running backs being a part of it. All in all, done a good job.”
On Jackson Lampley starting at right guard against UTEP over Javontez Spraggins
“Just (an) opportunity for Lamp on senior day to get a start. Sprags has been awesome throughout the course of the year, and you know, he’s gonna play a bunch of ball for us on Saturday.”
