Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel answered questions from the media over Zoom on Wednesday in his final press conference before the Vols face Ohio State in the College Football Playoffs.
Heupel discussed Tennessee’s resiliency over the course of the season, the challenge of balancing the playoffs with the portal and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening Statement
“Good afternoon, everybody. We just finished up another day of preparation here. We are excited to get to kickoff with our guys. (I) understand the quality of the opponent we are getting ready to play. The atmosphere of the game itself is going to be electric and everybody inside of our program is excited to go play this one. So, I’ll open it up.”
On the few-game stretch they did not play to the best of their ability offensively but still pulled out a win
“I think there was a stretch there in the early part of the conference schedule where offensively, we didn’t perform our best in the first half as coaches and players together. At the end of the day, it’s always about how you finish and being on the right side of the scoreboard. I think this group as a whole, one of the things I really appreciate about them is how mature they are as competitors and the ability to play the next play independently, play for each other. They have a great mindset. As you get into games like this against great opponents, they have good scheme, good coaches and really good personnel. (We) understand there’s going to be ebbs and flows in the ball game. We have to continue to play and compete. I think as much as anything, that’s a credit to the guys we have in the locker room.”
On the job Tim Banks has done as defensive coordinator and the steady improvement
“We have taken steps every single year. We didn’t talk much about it, but when we first got here, I think we had 55 scholarship players on campus. As we rebuilt our roster and navigated some of the things we had to, we continued to take steps. Our players have great trust in what we are doing, but also our coaches. When you have that, they are able to trust in the information you’re giving them. We’re trying to continue to grow and push forward, continue to get better fundamentally and just adding depth to our roster. The ability to play as many guys as we have this year has allowed us to stay fresh during the course of a ball game, throughout the course of the season as well. Our depth in past years has been something that kind of caught up with us at the end, but coach (Tim) Banks does a great job in leading that side of the football. (He) does a great job with scheme and developing our personnel.”
On how tough it is in this era of college football to keep depth and play as many guys as possible
“Roster management, I don’t think there is anything easy as far as any of it goes in today’s landscape. Our personnel department has done a great job. Our coaches evaluating and going and recruiting young men, and ultimately our players are a huge part of the culture we’ve built here, which allows you to recruit guys. It’s a big part of being able to retain guys as well.”
