Josh Heupel spoke to the media Wednesday morning during his weekly appearance on the SEC Coaches Media Teleconference.
Here’s everything the Vols’ head coach had to say before Tennessee’s matchup with South Carolina.
Opening Statement: Excited about this one. We have a good South Carolina football team that’s coming to town. It’s the first time in three weeks that we’re going to be back in front of our home stadium. Looking forward to going out and competing with our guys and the guys have had a great start to the week here. We have to finish in the right way.
Question: When you became a coordinator at a new school were you able to mesh right away or did it take time to get everyone in the system?
Heupel: Every new job is a different experience. You grow in all three faces of the game with each unit. The maturity, the depth of your players is a big part of how quickly you can get to where you want to be. When I was at Missouri we were taking over for an offense that I think was 125th in the country in almost every category. We had some success at times early but there was a growth pattern too in what we were doing as we evolved.
Q: What has Kodi Burns experience as a coach and SEC quarterback/receiver brought to your coaching staff?
Heupel: I actually recruited Kodi out of high school and had a pretty good background of who he is and what he is about. Then I watched his success as a player at multiple positions and in his coaching career. We actually hired him at UCF before we came up here to Tennessee. He’s smart, he’s competitive, he brings multiple perspectives having played quarterback and wide receiver. He’s extremely smart and like all those guys in that staff room, a big part of how we gameplan and what we do each and every Saturday. He has a great future in this business.
Q: You’ve outscored opponents 73-13 in the first quarter. What’s been the key to those fast starts?
Heupel: When it’s going good, guys are doing their job. That’s offense, defense— they’re dialed in and paying attention to the details. I think that as much as anything plays a part in how you start or how you finish. In this football game coming up I think the start will be important too.
Q: How do you think Ollie Lane played against Missouri and how has he progressed as an offensive lineman this season?
Heupel: I think he’s gotten better every single week that he’s been in the rotation. He continues to grow in understanding, is gaining more confidence, is starting to play faster and anticipate and react to the things that he sees out there. He’s a great teammate inside the building. You don’t have to worry about him ever not doing the right thing. He cares about the power T. It means something for him to run out that T having grown up here. I love having him a part of our program and he’s done a great job here the last couple weeks.
