Everything Tennessee’s Josh Heupel said at the Big Orange Caravan
KINGSPORT — Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel wrapped up the spring Big Orange Caravan on Wednesday night in Kingsport.
Here’s everything the head coach said about his team and this off-season at the final stop on Wednesday.
LSU coach Brian Kellly made comments about not “buying players”. How big of a deal is if players choose Tennessee because of Tennessee or because of the NIL money?
“Man, there’s a lot of different layers to the cake that’s getting baked. At the end of the day, we want guys that want to be there, that it matters, but are looking for the type of culture, environment – right? – playing style, development as a man, not just on the field. So all those things go into ultimately trying to bring the right people inside the building.”
During visits and conversations with recruits and transfers can you tell if they want to be at Tennessee for those reasons:
“You’re absolutely trying to find out all of the makeup of the player. You see the video, but that’s why you spend all the time that you do (recruiting them). That can be us out on the road. It can be them coming to campus as well.”
Tennessee is having success with many sports in the athletic department. how important it is for each program:
“It’s great to have great leadership. All the different sports, Olympic sports, people that are like-minded, but are actually encouraging and supporting each other. It’s really important, if for no other reason than the recruiting factor. Your brand is in front of people 365 days out of the year. You have great game-day environments that you get a chance to take the recruits to. For us, going to a basketball game or going to baseball, then vice versa. It has a huge impact on the continued growth in all of our sports.”
You recently mentioned the leadership of Bru McCoy. Where is he in the rehab process?
“Been really exciting to see just his growth. I had our strength staff record him the other day as he was sprinting in the indoor, and he looks really natural. The gait is fluid. The speed is coming along really well. Man, just I’m really excited for him. There’s a big forest that you’ve got to go through with the injury that he’s had and he’s had to do this multiple times for different reasons. It’s fun to see him come out the other side of the forest, and really excited for Bru.”
Will be ready for the start of the season and what do you expect from him?
“He should be ready. He’s in a position to have an elite summer and be ready to roll. What do I expect from him? Expect him to play at a championship level, man.”
Dayne Davis is a Tri-Cities native what does he bring to your program?
“Yeah, a guy that’s been great since we got back in January – I’m just saying growing into a leadership role. We had four high school enrollees, he was a great mentor and coach to those guys. Competes extremely hard every day. You know exactly what you’re getting from him. His position flexibility is critical for us on the offensive line. Can play multiple spots and play it at a high level. Dayne’s playing his best football right now, just coming out of spring ball. I thought athletically his movement, his change-of-direction continues to get better and fundamentally, growth there, too, so really excited about who he is, what he does and this coming year with him.”
What do you see with the the role of fans in the current landscape of college sports?
“One of the greatest things about being here at Tennessee is our fan base. There’s none better, there’s none bigger in the entire country. And that’s huge, because our players feel that energy. They were a huge part of us flipping the culture and what we were doing on the football field. They’re vitally important to our recruiting efforts.”
How will your offense Tennessee’s evolve with Nico Iamaleava taking over at quarterback?
“Every quarterback is slightly different. Things that they’re comfortable with and things you feel like they can go execute at a really high level. You’re always trying to put them in a position where they can be successful. That’s where it starts on the offensive side of the ball. Then you change between that and your offensive personnel and what you have up front, trying to put yourself in a position to go score a bunch of points.
“Excited about Nico, his playmaking ability, the ability to extend plays. He can do that. He can run the football. People saw that in the bowl game last year, if they didn’t know it beforehand, but his ability to extend and throw the football down the field has an opportunity to create big plays as well.”
What do you see with the new SEC schedule with 16 teams now in the league?
“Man, we’ve been talking about schedules for a long time. Excited about who we’ve got and where we’re going this year. There’s no telling what it looks like in ‘25 and beyond, so excited about this year.”
Your thoughts on playing at Oklahoma this season?
“Yeah, before you said that, I didn’t even know they were on the schedule. Obviously, for me, I spent a lot of time there. Excited to go back and have an opportunity to compete there.”
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