Tennessee football began its fourth spring practice under head coach Josh Heupel on Monday morning as the Vols worked inside the Anderson Training Center on a cold March morning.
The Vols are coming off a 9-4 (4-4 SEC) season and are breaking in a number of new starters this season including quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Following the first spring practice, Heupel met with the local media where he discussed the Vols’ two new assistant coaches, the growth of Iamaleava and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Spring Practice No. 1 Notes And Observations
Opening statement
“It is great to see everybody here. As this week starts, first I just want to say good luck to coach (Kellie) Harper, coach (Rick) Barnes and the men’s and women’s basketball teams. It’s a great time of year on the basketball side of it. Looking forward to seeing them all compete and have a great month here. For us, day one on the practice field, it’s great to get out there. We have a bunch of new guys. I think we have eight transfers and 14 mid-year high school guys. Kaleb Beasley and Edwin Spillman joined us here today. They weren’t with us at the beginning of this semester, but they were able to join us today too. Great to get out on the grass with those guys, and start our on-the-field journey for this season. Our guys have done a great job in the first quarter of our offseason, transition here into spring ball. We are in a great spot to go compete and get better every single day. Today was the start of it.”
On what he has learned about this team since the bowl game
“It’s a different team than it was at the bowl site. There’s a lot of guys that are here with us, obviously. December is a different month, guys are going to the (National Football League) or whatever it might be. You have some of your mid-year enrollees that are there, but it’s their first experience. We have a bunch more that are with us now than were in Orlando with us. Every year, it has always been true, but certainly, rosters turn over more frequently at this point and this time in college football. It’s a process, it’s a journey. You can’t shortchange it and you can’t cut it. For us — strength and conditioning, the accountability factor — we are intentional with trying to develop leadership communication from within the locker room. There were guys that handled that extremely well and grew throughout it. Some great days, and some tough days we had to learn from too. That’s all part of the process and the journey. What I do like about this group is that they do compete extremely hard, they care about one another, and they are willing to get coached. Today is just the beginning of the on-field stuff for everybody in the building. Man, fundamentally getting better, growing in your technique, mastering that. And then the scheme, your eyes, your hands. It’s a long way to go until we kick off. We always challenge our guys, don’t make the same mistake twice. If you do that, you are going to grow and be in a good spot by the time we get to kickoff. The identity of this football team, our makeup, we are still a long way away from being what I hope us to be, but also what we should be.”
On if he needs to see some urgency from the transfers
“You need to see urgency from everybody that is putting a helmet on and going out to practice. I don’t care how long you have been playing, the best in the game are always working on their craft. That’s Hall of Famers, 15-year vets and the same at this level. There is constant growth, and all of our guys have areas that our strength staff have pinpointed and our coaches have pinpointed. Areas that they have got to get better at and continue to compete every single day. Guys that compete the hardest and do it the longest are typically the ones that win out. That’s true in a position battle, and that’s true when you get out on the field on a Saturday afternoon too.”
On how they will work on the new communication implements for helmets and what it will take for them to feel comfortable
“Really have an idea, going to try and tinker with it on both sides of the football. Don’t have as many available right now. I think that’s true across college football, as what you’d like to be able to work it on both sides of the football every single day, every rep, with all the guys that are potentially going to be wearing it. But a little bit of trial and error. That will happen in practice and scrimmages, kind of figure out how to navigate it, where it is most advantageous to our program that it can be.”
On what he has seen from quarterback Jake Merklinger through the bowl practices and first quarter of the offseason
“Talented guy that works extremely hard, cares about his craft, cares about his teammates in a really positive way. He’s had a workman-type mentality since he got here. You get thrown into bowl preparation and it’s all coming really quickly at you, and certainly at that position with everything that you have got to navigate. Continuing to get better fundamentally. He has grown in understanding our schemes. He hasn’t mastered anything yet, and he shouldn’t at this point either. I am really excited to get out there and continue to compete with him throughout the course of spring ball. At quarterback, and it’s true at every position too, the fundamentals of the position, if those aren’t right, it’s hard to be consistent. What everybody’s going to see is the accuracy of the football when you’re throwing it. Continuing to grow that way and mastering our schemes here and what he is seeing on the defensive side of the ball. For all of the young guys that are in spring ball, it’s almost like thirds. The first five days are really tough, it’s hard. The second five days are usually a dramatic growth from the first five days. By the time you get to the end of it, you don’t resemble the player that you were the first five days. So being confident, continuing to work hard, not losing any confidence as you are learning and making mistakes too.”
On what it is like to make outside hires in the coaching staff and how the transition has been
“For us, the process isn’t really different when we have an opening. You always want to hire the right person who fits the culture of the building, that’s going to be able to develop and have great relationships with the players, that’s going to be a great teacher of the game but help them grow outside of it too. All of that translates into recruiting because to me, recruiting is about relationships, showing a kid how you give and care about them, how you are going to help them grow and become their best. For us, really excited about the two guys that we brought in. William (Inge) and De’Rail (Sims) are two guys who have had a ton of success. If you look at the history of their careers, they have coached at high levels, they’ve had guys who have been highly productive, they have come into the building and done a great job at developing relationships with our guys inside the room really quickly. But then, also being able to demonstrate how they are going to help them grow, and the transition has been really smooth. Excited to have those guys, and our players have really enjoyed having them too.”
On the personalities of the new coaching additions of William Inge and De’Rail Sims
“They are both extremely smart. Whether I have known them or just went through the interview process with them, they’re both extremely bright guys. They communicate at a really high level. They have a high passion, care factor. They have great energy. They are really comfortable and confident in who they are and how they present themselves. They have been really good inside the building so far. Really high-level guys that do it the right way, and extremely competitive.”
On Chris Brazzell II’s transition and leaning on the veteran receivers
“We have been really fortunate. Building a culture where your veterans want good players around them and want to help them grow. That happens because of the position coaches that we have inside of those rooms, the culture that they set inside of those rooms. It happens because of the locker room. For Chris, all of the veteran guys that have been in this, they help him grow in just how to play the game within the game. For us, the mechanics, how to process, can be specific routes, but they also help him set the culture of the building. Who we need to be individually and thus, collectively as a group. Our first quarter of our offseason, I said it earlier, we spent a lot of time on leadership and communication. We have good leadership. It has to become great leadership. We need it to be championship leadership inside of that locker room.”
On James Pearce Jr. getting game planned by opponents
“He did see a bunch of attention (last season). That can be sliding, that can be chipping. Some of the route structures, getting the ball out quickly out on the perimeter was a part of it. At the end of the day, any unit can’t just be one guy. James needs to grow as a player too. He would stand up here and tell you that as well. There are things that he is working on for him to become his best and take his game to another level, but you have to have guys around you too. That way, if they are just trying to slide to one man, somebody else has a one-on-one that they can win too. That brings some balance to what you are doing upfront. Then for us, having the ability to move him around too will be a part of it as well.”
On Lance Heard adjusting to the offense and a new environment
“He’s a really young player that played snaps (at LSU) and played well when he had the opportunity. He’s a young player that’s going to have to continue to grow. He has to develop and grow into being a pro in how he handles himself every single day. He’s been awesome inside of our building, developing relationships and how he’s competed every day. The guys that we took from the transfer portal, that recruitment happens really quickly, and it’s been a great group that has come in the building and tried to blend in and mesh into our team culture extremely quickly. They’ve handled themselves with a lot of maturity. He’s handled himself with maturity. On the field, he’s a young player that’s seven or eight months into his college football career, and he’s just beginning his journey; fundamentals and technique, understanding what we are doing offensively and the communication that’s going to have to happen up front, and when we play with tempo, being able to function and operate within that. He’s in the beginning stages. He’s uber-talented and been great in the building. I expect him to grow a bunch here over the next 14 practices.”
On building the offense around freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava
“Knowing who Nico (Iamaleava) is, but also knowing that he’s still growing as a player; some core principles. Some things we believe in that we feel that we need to have, we’ll continue to grow in that, and some subtle things we’ll add just based off the player he is. How we put him in a position to be successful, but also help us grow and change from year-to-year too. We’ll tinker with some of that through spring ball and figure out the things that are best for us collectively and for him. We want to hone in on those things as we get into training camp.”
On freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s leadership
“Quarterback position – you have the ball in your hands. Everybody is paying attention to that position. You better have some of those traits right from the jump. The hard thing for a young quarterback on the leadership side of it is that you’re still pushing extremely hard on the fundamentals, growth, mastering of our offense, and what’s going on on the other side of the ball. He does a phenomenal job in one-on-one situations, communication with wide receivers after a series, offensive lines. The growth of his voice within our entire program, he’s going to have to continue to grow in that role. That’s something that’s true for every young quarterback. I expect him to continue to mold into that.”
