Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the local media on Monday afternoon to open up Oklahoma week as the Vols prepare to open up SEC play in Norman.
Heupel discussed what returning to his alma mater means to him, what stands out about Oklahoma on tape and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said on Monday.
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Opening Statement
“Good to see everybody. Had a good morning with the guys. Came in (with) great energy, focus, able to look at the film and find some ways that we got to continue to grow in, to be the best team that we can be. Great that we’re getting an opportunity to kick off conference play. It’s finally here. Big week in front of us. Big challenge. Have a ton of respect, obviously for the (Oklahoma) program. Everybody that’s involved over there. Know a lot of them.
“But it’s a football team that’s playing really well. If you look at them defensively, doing a great job really in every category — applying pressure to the quarterback, sacks, turnovers and being extremely good against the run. Offensively, got dynamic playmakers. Young quarterback that’s playing really good football. And they do a really good job on special teams. So it’s a huge test for us, opportunity for us to go on the road in a really good environment and at the same time have an opportunity to put our brand in front of the entire country.”
On going back to Oklahoma
“It will be unique. I have teammates and friends back there. They hit me up a little bit early. They were starting last week already. It will be unique going back into that stadium. It’s going to be a (different) viewpoint. I am not sure I spent a day on the opposing sideline inside the stadium — not even for scrimmage. It will be different. But it is one that I am really looking forward to. There are so many people have been a huge part of my journey that I get a chance to go back and, hopefully, get a chance to say hi to a bunch of them. It starts with teammates. It’s coaches that I had. It’s a lot of coaches that I coached with. There’s lot of personnel that are still there. Guys that I coached. Guy that was in my wedding. There’s a lot of people back there that I’m familiar with and have a lot of respect for.”
On what he has seen from Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold
“Just in general, he takes great care of the football. I think he’s got great command and presence in what they’re doing offensively. He has the ability to use his feet to make things right. That can be when the pocket breaks down, designed quarterback, run, read game. He’s a really talented young player.”
On how he handles Oklahoma questions week
“I thought I handled the first one really really well. I am good with any question about Oklahoma. The opportunity that I got from Bob (Stoops) and from Mike (Leach) to come there and play, what we were able to build there in a short amount of time as a player. But then my coaching career, from the guys that I played for to all the coaches that were there during my career, all made a huge impact on me. I wouldn’t be here today at Tennessee if I didn’t have all those experiences. Tremendously grateful for all those people. Brent (Venables) is somebody that I learned and grew from as a young coach so much. A ton of respect for him.”
On what he’ll tell Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava about going on the road in this kind of environment and game
“I think his personality will translate extremely well. It wasn’t a true road game, but being over in Charlotte and the crowd being divided in half is a part of preparing him but our entire football team for this, too. The way we have prepared in spring ball, training camp, our guys will be ready for this. It doesn’t make the challenge any less difficult because of those things. You’ve got to do ordinary things at a really high level. You’ve got to do them consistently. That’s communication. That’s where it starts on the offensive side of the ball with crowd noise. It’s everybody. All three phases of the game. Alignment, assignment and technique after that.”
On the benefit of getting to play so many young guys the first few weeks of the season
“Certainly we’ve been able to play a lot more guys than we have at any point. A big part of that’s our roster. The opportunity that every young player gets. They’re only going to grow that much more quickly with those experiences on game day. Practice is awesome and it matters, but those game day experiences matter too. And to understand what it looks like, what it feels like, and where you got to continue to grow. So it’s been really important to us here in the first three weeks. The depth of our roster and the experiences that they have. It’s really important as you get into conference play.”
On what he anticipates the biggest challenge being at Oklahoma
“I don’t think there’s just one. First of all, I talked about their defense, their offense. They’re well coached. They play extremely hard. They’ve been on the right side of the turnover margin. They got really good personnel. So this is a really good program.”
On freshman running back Peyton Lewis, their trust level with him
“We do trust Peyton. Peyton’s gotten better every single week coming off of the injury, getting the opportunity to grow on the field during training camp. He’s gotten better every day and he’s gotten better every week during the course of the season. I love what he’s doing as a young player.”
On Nico Iamaleava saying he prefers road games to home games
“I think there’s nothing better than being in front of your home crowd, but there is something special about knowing that you’re going on the road and the focus, the effort that it takes to go out there and be successful in those type of environments. That is something that is special, that competitors relish.”
On the 12 personnel and 10 personnel being a byproduct of depth
“Yeah. Depth in your personnel gives you the freedom, the luxury to do more things. And that can be within your scheme, but it’s certainly within our personnel groupings too. The first couple years we really primarily played two tight ends. Within the structure of what we do, that limits how much exposure you want those guys to have in 12 personnel. A year ago we had, I think six scholarship wide receivers, got guys banged up. With our roster now we have the ability to, to go into a four-wide set and go play really, really good football in it.”
On Oklahoma’s defense forcing 10 turnovers so far, what he’s seen on tape
“Ten is the right number. Their front (is) really active. They played tight coverage on the back end with all the structure that they show you on the back end. They play really assignment sound. They understand where they’re supposed to be and recognizing patterns and getting into windows. They tie all three phases, all three levels of the defense in extremely well. And then when you have the ball in their hands, they’re extremely active. Punching, ripping, putting their hat on the ball. They’ve changed the way the game’s played with a lot of those turnovers.”
On the veteran leadership of this team, moving into SEC play
“We have strong leadership. It’s not just the veterans guys. The guys that are on our councils do a great job, but we have a lot of strong individuals inside of our position rooms as well. I’ve said it I think maybe training camp, this team was really good just in how consistent they were through spring ball and training camp. They’ve been that way in the course of the season. As a player, you better enjoy the win Saturday night and enjoy it on Sunday too. But Mondays, getting back to reality and understanding how you got to grow and understanding you’re only as good as your next one as a competitor and this group’s been really mature that way and certainly the opponent that we have this week will capture everybody’s attention.”
On if he’ll throw the football with his son on the field before the game like he does before home games:
“Yeah, no pre-game throws on the road, so I’m not sure if my kids will be able to make it yet, but we’ll work on that.”
On what Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III are doing well at corner to separate themselves:
“Yeah, we like those two guys, but we like the guys right behind, too. Jalen (McMurray) and Jordan (Matthews) have done a really nice job as well. Those guys are playing really good football. They’re playing with fundamentals and technique, but they’re understanding the contour of what they’re seeing on the offensive side of the football, being able to play with an anticipation of what they might see. Playing really good football.”
On coaching against Brent Venables after spending so much time working with him at Oklahoma:
“Yeah, a guy that, I got so much respect for. Got a great family. Somebody that poured into me as a young coach and learn so much from him. He’s as good as they come when you look at what he’s done historically as a defensive coordinator. A lot of respect. Huge challenge for us this week.”
On if starters not playing for a complete 60 minutes in a game yet this season is a concern
“I believe that what we’re doing during the course of the week is preparing those guys to be ready to play for 60 minutes. This will be a 60-minute football game. You gotta be physical at the line of scrimmage, you gotta win one-on-one’s out on the perimeter and you gotta play with an aggressive competitive composure for four quarters in this football game.”
On if he envisioned tight ends Holden Staes and Miles Kitselman being as big of a part of the passing game as they’ve been
“Yeah, we got great trust in those guys. Nico’s got a great trust with those guys that, the route patterns, they’re gonna see it the way he sees it. They’re gonna be able to settle in zones and win versus man-to-man. Those guys have all done a really nice job, really through spring ball and certainly they got more comfortable in what we’re doing. And speaking specifically to the transfers as we got into training camp, those guys took a big jump just being able to operate within our system as we got through training camp.”
On what it’s been like to see DeSean Bishop have success after Bishop suffered a significant injury last season
“Another young guy that just continues to get better. I thought he did a great job of hitting the hole, making the third level miss when he got into space, got under his pads when he needed to. He’s taken a step every single week as well. Our staff’s got a lot of trust in him. That’s a guy that we saw flashes last year. Hurts his ankle in training camp and misses the majority of the season. It’s been fun to see him just grow through that experience, become really mature in how he handles himself in the building and outside of the building.”
On how he anticipates the new in-helmet communication working in their first true road game of the season
“It’s worked well up until this point, but we’ll find out on Saturday.”
