Coordinators Joey Halzle, Tim Banks, preview Vols offense and defense as fall camp begins
As Tuesday marked the first official day of Tennessee fall camp for the football program, offensive and defensive coordinators Joey Halzle and Tim Banks met with members of the local media to preview each side of the football.
It will be the first year for Halzle in his new role as the quarterbacks coach will take on the task of offensive coordinator, left vacant when Alex Golesh took the head coaching job at USF. Rising sixth-year senior quarterback Joe Milton is the expected starter under center and is expected to help with the transition now being a third-year player in the offensive system.
“He is a completely different guy, not just player.,” Halzle said Monday of Milton’s growth over the last two years. “His attention to detail is elite. He came back after that Clemson game and he was hungry to keep pushing forward. He didn’t rest on his laurels. He pushed. I think he saw the success he had, and I think he knows what his talent can do. Now, his mentality matches that as far as how much he wants to learn and how he is consuming the game at all times. It is fun to be a part of right now. It is a special mindset that kid has.”
Banks enters his third season as defensive coordinator for Tennessee and is expected to continue growing that side of the ball which took major steps in 2022. A deeper linebacker room, headlined by senior Aaron Beasley, is expected to be the strength of the unit this fall.
“I think with Aaron, just confidence,” Banks said Monday on where he has seen the most growth from Aaron Beasley this off-season. “Honestly, he has always been confident, but as the spotlight started to shift toward him a little bit, I thought he got comfortable in that setting. He has been great, and I think he has had a tremendous off-season. From a leadership perspective, I think he feels like he has a voice and people will obviously listen when they see the production he has put together consistently.”
See the full videos below to find out what Halzle and Banks think of their groups heading into fall camp.
Josh Heupel on the cohesiveness of coaching staff at SEC Media Days
“You try to create a culture that coaches want to be a part of; they feel like they are part of the process. You want to create a culture where families get a chance to be part of the process as well. I grew up the son of a coach and those are the greatest memories of my childhood, and so I think it’s really important that they are a part of it.
If you do those things and you have the resources that we have at Tennessee, you’re able to have some stability within your staff, which is vitally critical to your players; them understanding what they are walking into every single day, not having to rebuild an entire relationship from the ground up. We have been able to replace those guys and you want staff to grow, too, right. Like Alex will do a great job down at South Florida. I want guys to get head jobs from where we are at.
But guys are not just leaving to take another job, either. So we have actually been able to promote from within because they were the right guys. There’s so much consistency. All the things that we were navigating as you take over a program, and in year 1 and in year 2, I think was vitally important that we’ve been able to have that, and it’s a big part of our continued growth this off-season here in ’23.
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