Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the local media on Monday just under two week before the Vols open up their 2024 season against Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium.
Heupel discussed the health of his team, how they’ll handle this week between fall camp and game preparation and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said on Monday.
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Opening Statement
“Wrapping up training camp today. Guys are off the class and you can feel the energy with all the students coming back to campus. So a couple weeks, a little bit less than that obviously, until we go kick off in Neyland Stadium. So, I love what we’ve done throughout the course of training camp. You’ve seen individuals get better throughout the course of it. You’ve seen units get better, your teams get better throughout the course of the season. We’ve still got a lot of things we got to clean up before we get ready to go play, but (it’s a) competitive group.”
On what he has learned most about this Tennessee team during training camp
“I think during the course of training camp, individual growth, fundamentals — technique, alignment, assignment — we’ve seen steady growth. None of that’s going to be monumental in one day. It’s continuing to take the right steps every single day. This group plays extremely hard. They compete extremely hard, they’re really consistent in that. They’ve been really physical. So I like that part of our football team right now. As you get into the season, I think everybody grasping their role, working and competing for the role that they want.
At the same time, growing as player is really important. Keeping your team chemistry that you’ve built is really important as well. So those are things that as you embark on the season here, at this point, you get ready to go play. Your coaches and players got to do a great job.”
On Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s health
“Yeah, he’s fine. Had a stomach bug and has been out with us on the field through the last couple days. He’s great.”
On how the schedule changes for Tennessee now that fall camp is over and practice moves toward game week
“As a football team, (we’re) healthy. At the same time, you look at training camp, the physical grind of it, there’s some guys that got to continue to get to be their best by the time we get to kickoff. That’s always true this time of year … You’ll get into some of the structures, some of the things that you maybe don’t get in your work against another unit. Within our program, you try to emphasize some of those things to help your players on all three phases of the game. Continue to grow as a player for some of the things that they’re going to see during the course of the year. For us, it becomes a little bit more like a regular game week, but you’re still doing a lot of good-on-good work too. So it’s kind of a combination, but it’s a good taste for the new guys that have never been through a fall with us of what a game week kind of looks like.”
On Tennessee’s recruiting footprint, if it’s what he expected and if it has changed
“Tennessee’s unique in all the states that touch it, how close in proximity it is to so many great players. North, south, east and west. I think the success in recruiting for us isn’t something that just happens in the last six weeks. I think that there’s so much hard work that goes into it from your staff, from your players here on campus when the recruits come to campus at this point in in our tenure having long standing relationships with coaches. People have their feet on the ground, the recruits themselves, their families, us being able to recruit to the culture that we’ve built here. The success that we’ve had on the field. Who we are and how we live out every single day. All those things parlay itself into the success that we’ve had on the recruiting trail here. In particular here over the last month and a half. So for us as a program we got to keep taking steps forward, but we got elite players with physical traits that have high character and that allows us to continue to recruit the right type of person and player to this program.”
On the in helmet communication, what the balance will be with their high pace offense
“It’ll be a combination of all those things (giving full play or just reminders). When it first came out, I think I said it, but it gives you an opportunity to have a little more description on some things that are unique within your game plan. Situational football in particular. Four minute situation reminding them of the play clock. You have four downs here, you don’t have four downs. Some of those things and that really happens on both sides of the football.”
On what’s allowed them to have success recruiting out of state
“Time on task. That’s with coaches. It is people that come into contact with some of these players. It is trainers, for example. It’s being able to get them here to campus, then having an opportunity to see what Rocky Top looks like. The stadium, visuals of game day experiences, them being here for game day and ultimately it’s the culture. It comes down to your players in your locker room being able to be real with them about what it’s like to live out and be a player here day in and day out. And then you look at the success on the field, the growth, the development of players as a man and as a player where they have an opportunity to go fulfill their dreams.”
On the left guard competition
“No depth chart being handed out yet. Alright. Been really good. Andrej (Karic) missed a couple days but came right back. He’s played really well. Shams (Sham Umarov) playing really well. Jackson Lampley has versatility to play multiple sides as well. So as we head into this week, there’s still a lot of competition and I’ve said it to our team since January. Our coaches included, I think I’ve mentioned it to you guys too. We gotta have multiple guys ready to play.”
On where Squirrel White is at heading into the season:
“Had a really good camp. Got great command understanding of what we’re doing, the fundamentals and technique that go in with the different coverages that he is gonna see based off of route concept. He plays extremely hard, plays extremely physical, catches the ball well. He’s had a great training camp.”
On what Christian Harrison has done to position himself to potentially be a starter in the opener
“Yeah, with Jourdan (Thomas) going down, Christian playing there, Boo Carter, you guys have asked about him, too. Both of those guys have done a great job of growing in the fundamentals, playing the position, the communication that takes place there with the guys beside him, back behind him, making plays. Really excited about what both of those guys have done on the practice field up until this point. And both those guys will play a lot of ball.”
On how many defensive backs he feels comfortable with
“I feel really good about where we’re at with that group. Not just with the first guy that you might see on Saturday, but the guy’s gonna come in and play a lot of football behind them, too. So, they’ve had a really good camp. They continue to get better and so, got really good trust in those guys.”
On what qualities he looks for in recruits that fit the mold of Tennessee’s culture
“Smart, tough, relentless competitors that love football, care about the people around them, want to be great as a man, not just as a player and are gonna go chase it every day.”
On what gives him encouragement that they’ve improved in the red zone both on offense and defense
“Time on task. We spent a bunch of time in that area of the field on both sides of the football. Schematically, subtle changes to what we’ve done. You gotta be efficient, prolific throwing the football down there when you’re off schedule. You get into the season, you gotta be elite running with the football.
“Defensively, you gotta be able to match people out, and that’s zone coverages and man principles as well. You know, at the end of the day, we gotta go prove it, but we’ve continued to grow in that area.”
On the overall health of the running back room
“They’ve been really good. Peyton (Lewis) and Cam (Seldon) (are) different ’cause of the timing of their surgeries, but both of ’em have been exposed to more things throughout the course of training camp. Both of those guys are full-go right now. (Dylan Sampson) is in a great spot and Khalifa (Keith). So really excited about that group.”
Reporter: “So Cam is clear? Is that what we’re hearing?”
Heupel: “Yeah, he’s been practicing with us.”
Reporter: “Through contact?”
Heupel: “The direct questions come from Adam (Sparks), not from you.”
Reporter: “Adam, will you ask that question?”
Heupel walking off: “Yes sir (Seldon has been working through contact).”
