What Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his press conference after the Vols held their first practice of spring camp on Monday morning in Knoxville:
Opening Statement
“Been a while. Good to see everybody. Miss not seeing Wes (Rucker) here. Obviously somebody that’s been covering and been around this program for a long time. Miss seeing him in here. And just want to continue to lift him and his family up in prayers. And I know everybody is too.
“Good to be back out on the field. We’ve had a really good winter. Some changes in the building, staff and players as well. I think 46 new players here on our roster, uh, heading into to this season. It’s been a really good winter. Today was the start of what we’re doing on the field during the course of spring ball. Got the guys back, nine days off of spring ball. Got them going today and it was good effort, good energy. And we’ll continue to progress with another practice tomorrow as well.
“Excited about the effort and the attitude that these guys had. The strength gains, the speed gains, the size that they’ve added during the course of our winter offseason. And now you get a chance to get into the fundamentals, technique and the scheme and the growth that we’re going need there as well. Looking forward to it with these guys.”
Any changes they’ve made to Tennessee’s practice routine entering the spring, having no music during stretching periods
“Well today’s Day 1 of practice, just getting those guys used to and accustomed to the flow of it, what drills are coming next, just ability to communicate. As we get going, there’ll be more music for you guys to make sure that you’re entertained, during the course of our warmup. I miss seeing Hubbs dance on the sideline.
“But not a ton of drastic changes within the scope of what we’re doing scheme-wise. Some subtle things. And I talked about it a minute ago, but the long break, just the structure of our calendar when we started class, got these guys in the weight room, having a long break here before we get started into our spring ball.
A little bit of a flush-type practice today. And tomorrow we’ll get going with longer duration and a little bit more intensity in some of our group work drills too.”
Tennessee’s winter offseason
“I don’t know that we’ve had bad winters. I think you look at this winter, the changes in the weight room, you look at the frames, the mass that we added, the strength numbers that we got out of it weekly. And then the speed numbers as well. I think it’s been a great winter as far as the development of our bodies in there. And that encompasses what (strength coach) Derek (Owings is) doing in the weight room, but handling all the performance side of it. What our nutrition staff has done, them working together with our medical team as well. I just really like what we’ve done here in the seven weeks of our offseason before we got into spring ball. The expectation is that we’re still making some of those gains as we’re going through spring ball here as well. Just the design of our days and being able to maximize still getting great work in the weight room as well.”
Other ways that he believes strength coach Derek Owings can impact the Tennessee football program
“Well, I think it comes down to the accountability in everything that you’re doing every single day. The mental side of how you approach everything, the accountability piece. Every rep every single day parlays itself into how you need to play. When you get to the Saturdays in the fall, it’s got to be in the structure of what you’re doing every single day.”
What he wants Tennessee QBs George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon to get out of the first week of spring practice
“They’ve had a good winter with the introduction of some of the things that we’re doing offensively. George obviously has more time on task with the general basis of what we’re doing. But as those guys have come into the program, gaining an understanding of what we’re doing, the communication, how they’re calling protections, adjusting protections, our run-game rules, being able to control everything that we’re doing. And then starting to master what’s going on on the back end, from the defensive structures as well. And ultimately become a guy that is playing extremely efficiently. Starts with their eyes, being able to see things, work through the progression, then the fundamentals and the technique to deliver the ball consistently and accurately. That guy has got to play on edge. He’s got to go make plays, um, but he’s also got to take care of the football.”
How open Tennessee’s three quarterbacks should see that position entering the spring
“Yeah, it is open. We had that conversation with all of them as we started the winter, when they all arrived here. Had that conversation again as we were wrapping up our winter before we got into spring ball. We’ve had a couple of those battles. You guys know that we always communicate with those guys openly, transparently, communicate with those guys together. Don’t expect a guy to be named here during the course of spring ball. I think it’s important that all the guys in that room learn and grow throughout the course of spring, also have a chance to go back in your summer months, digest it, reinstall and come back a much better player and compete and earn it in front of their teammates as you get into training camp.”
If Tennessee’s offensive staff can be patient with the quarterback competition
“You’re patient in understanding that just like every player inside your program there’s going to be growth. There’s gonna be mistakes. What you want to see is them not making the same mistake twice. Constant growth in what they’re doing and how they’re controlling things at the quarterback position. The patience part, I think that’s how that correlates. You have to push them in what they’re doing on the offensive side of the football. Does that mean that everything’s in during the course of these 15 opportunities that we have in spring ball? Well, not necessarily. But you have to force feed those guys and expose them to what you’re going to need during the course of the fall.”
How Tennessee players have developed since adding Derek Owings
“Yeah, I think, you know, me and the staff did a great job onboarding, sitting down with our players one-on-one in the first 72 hours that they were here on campus. Hit the ground running as far as workouts after his first day getting here. But getting to know the player, understand their goals and what they wanna accomplish, where they’re at, and how he and his staff can help them get to where they wanna go. And that’s in the physical gains that they’re gonna make. It’s in their speed, it’s in their quickness, agility, but it’s also in their mindset and how you have to approach every single day.
“So, I think the accountability piece in everything that you’re doing every single day, how that impacts your growth, taking a step forward every single day instead of one step forward, one step back has been a big part of what I’ve liked about what we’ve done this spring and that’s a credit to Derek and his staff.”
The traits he likes from George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon
“Yeah, both of those guys are quick-minded. They grasp what we’re doing as we give them the playbook extremely well. Both have the ability to be accurate with the football. Strong enough arm to extend the field vertically. Both guys that I think anticipate windows extremely well over the middle of the football field. And fundamentally for both of them, there’s still a bunch of growth out there, for Ryan (Staub), as well. But that’s what these opportunities are about, is continually grow every day.”
New Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles being picked up by Heupel at the airport
“Our paths had crossed. Opportunity just to get to know the individual before you just dive right into the football. Understanding, opportunity to talk about past successes, things that didn’t go well, what’s important, to expedite the process of becoming your best as fast as you can. And finding out if your vision is the same. And we had an opportunity to break bread, for lack of a better word, and hit the ground running.”
Tennessee having 46 new players
“Yeah. You know, from when I first got here and the evolution of the transfer portal, you guys have heard me say it, there’s more turnover than ever, right? Typically a quarter or 35% of your roster is graduating, moving on. Whether that’s running out of eligibility or going on to the NFL. That number this year for us, even higher than usual, because of the changes inside of college football. Certainly this year, day one, like you are building a team, right?
“You have to be clear in what are the expectations, what does it look like to be a Volunteer and gotta help them grow extremely quickly in what it needs to look like inside of this program. So I don’t know that it’s a lot different than previous years. There’s just more bodies that you’re going through that with. And as we go through the spring, I think you’re gonna find out a better idea of the true leadership in each position. We have some guys that are returning that have great traits in that. But some of the guys that have transferred in have those traits as well.”
“And, and so as you go through spring ball, I think you’re gonna find more about your leadership as you go through, you know, these 15 practices.”
Not having to worry about his roster changing in the spring window anymore
“Different in that there isn’t a second portal. You gotta be conscious of keeping your team healthy here as well ’cause there’s no way to go get another guy here post spring ball.”
Talking football with new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles
“Yeah, I think his ability to be at different places and find a way to be elite at each of those spots and the growth from year to year in what he’s done defensively. The ability through his different spots to be a little bit different personnel-wise and being able to fit it to the guys that are on campus or that you’re able to recruit to depending on where you’re at. And so I think the flexibility of what he’s able to do schematically, put guys in position, his ability to understand strengths and weaknesses based on matchups and be able to subtly tweak how he’s playing things, could be with his front, could be with his coverage, it’s all in his wheelhouse.
“One of the things just in our conversations, and I know this having been a coordinator and had to go somewhere else too, I think a big part of your players picking it up as quickly as they can is having guys in your staff room that understand your scheme and what you’re trying to implement, the why behind it. And that’s a big reason why a lot of the staff that we’ve hired has experience with him. And I think that’s been an added plus to him onboarding here, being able to get our guys caught up as quickly as possible and as hard as possible.”
How he can keep this Tennessee team healthy
“You need fundamental technique, growth, work. You have to get that work. I think some of your veterans, you gotta be smart with in some of the live contact situations. I think that’s important, but you still have to grow those guys. So it’s a balance as you go through spring ball based on where your roster’s at, where you’re at and the understanding of what you’re doing and some of the fundamental technique work that you gotta have. Example would be tackling. Just balancing how many high-risk situations you’re putting some of your guys in.”
How healthy this Tennessee team is right now
“I feel like we’re in a pretty healthy spot right now. There’s a couple guys that are still working through postseason injuries. Arion Carter right now. But all those guys have done a really good job in the rehab area.”
What stood out on Day 1
“Fast practice today. I don’t know if there’s just one thing. Today, a lot of fundamentals and technique. It was just a little bit of scheme, so we’ll go back and watch some of the scheme stuff today. But, I thought our young guys in general did a good job just taking coaching and growing from one rep to the next.”
When things could slow down for Faizon Brandon
“I think for all young guys, quarterbacks included, first five days of spring ball, you’ve got some of the installs. First five days, man, really hard. Game’s moving really fast. It’s the first time you’ve played against the like talent on the other side of the football. Size, strength, speed, the intensity and how hard you have to play every single rep. Second five days, get a little bit better. It starts slowing down. When you get to the third five days, you look back at the guy at the beginning, and he’s typically a much different football player than where he started.
“If it’s not trending that way then that’s an area of concern of how quickly he can he continue to progress by the time we get to training camp and through training camp. But all those guys, I kinda break spring ball into thirds and you gotta stay diligent, you gotta stay in the fight mentally, physically and emotionally to gain everything that you can out of every rep, every day.”
Tennessee’s defense responding to Jim Knowles
“The little work that we got in the winter, I thought they did a really good job. I think Coach Knowles, with some of the staff that has background with him, subtly how they’ve been able to tweak some of the things as far as how they install it. Our guys have picked up on it really quickly. Again, as we continue to go through spring ball we’ll continue to learn and react.”