Watch: Josh Heupel talks after Monday morning’s Tennessee football practice
What Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel said during his press conference after Monday morning’s closed practice, as the Vols continue to prepare for the September 2 season-opener against Virginia:
Opening Statement
“This is really pretty much the end of our true training camp. We’ll push forward and still get a lot of good-on-good work, but start moving slowly towards more preparation for Virginia. Love what these guys have done through the practices that we’ve had. Good teams continue to get better throughout the season. We gotta continue to push here, 12 days until we kick off. Excited about that opportunity. At the same time, we got a lot, a lot of ground still to cover before we kick off here in a couple weeks.”
Importance of Tennessee’s final week of practice before game week
“So good teams get better throughout the course of the season. We’re still in the very beginning stages of the season. Like I said earlier, there’s a lot of things that we gotta continue to clean up. A lot of situational work so that we’re gonna implement and get into. Our guys gotta be ready for those moments throughout the course of the season. And there’s still a lot of sharpening before we get to kickoff. So it’s critical that we handle it the right way and continue to grow.”
If there is an established pecking order at for Tennessee’s right tackles
“That that will continue to unfold here until we get up until kickoff. And I anticipate still seeing multiple guys play. That’s true at the right tackle position, but the other four too.”
If it starts to feel like game week right now for Tennessee
“Yeah, we finish up tonight with some things that we’re intentional about getting some situational work tonight in our walkthrough. But after that we’ll start feeling a lot more like game week. Like I said, there’s still a lot of good-on-good that we’re gonna do, continue to sharpen and grow before we get to kickoff, but absolutely our players can sense that you’re on the end of training camp and kickoff is right around the corner.”
What has encouraged him the most about this Tennessee team during camp
“I think their energy, their consistency of their work habits and competitive nature out on the practice field. I think the camaraderie and connection that they have too. And the leadership has been really good, really strong throughout the course of training camp. I’ve said it before, but getting into the season, it’s not gonna be perfect for everybody, right? All the goals individually that you set, at the end of the day, everybody’s gotta sacrifice a little bit for the success of the team. We continue to have that inside of our locker room and inside our program.”
Having to sell the culture to players during his first season at Tennessee and how success in the first two years changed that
“I think every situation, everything that you encounter continues to help build trust and understanding of who you are, what you’re about, and what you wanna be. There’s always moments of growth in everything that you do, a the same. The players have great trust in culture that we want to have and what we’ve built. They understand the expectations on and off the field, develop stronger leadership. So I think all of those things playing into being where you are in Year 3, especially where you were in Year 1 and Year 2 in a lot of ways, too.”
The health of this Tennessee team as camp comes to a close
“Yeah, the guys that were nicked up early in camp, we’ve gotten most of those guys back. So a couple of guys that, I think we finish up today and tomorrow, we’re back in practice mode the following day, we’ll have back on the grass. We should be pretty close to being healthy by the time we get to kickoff.”
How he feels about Tennessee’s options at defensive back at this point
“Guys that we’ve gotten back that were out early in training camp, the last three, four days, those guys have continued to increase their load. We’ve gotten a lot of work with those guys, feel like we have a pretty clear understanding of who those guys are and how they play and compete. We will play a lot of guys on the back end, so I feel like we’re in a good spot. The next 12 days will be critical.”
What he’s seen from Tennessee QB Joe Milton when it comes to mechanics and footwork
“Yeah, you put quarterbacks in tough situations and some situations during practice. You put them in the hardest spots that they can be in. He’s continued to grow his understanding of football 101, understanding when can I hang in the pocket, when’s it time to get rid of football and make sure that in a certain situation, whether we’re backed up or in field goal (range), where you’ve got three (points), trying to get seven, understanding the timing and how to play smart football in those situations. He’s continued to grow and love what he’s done. The other quarterbacks in the room have continued to grow. We put them into a lot of situations. I think that’s one of the things that I’ve done as a head coach is try to create more situational awareness and actually getting more reps in those situations. That’s been a part of helping those guys, but all 125 (players) in the locker room.”
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