Josh Heupel opens up on concerns of tampering in college football

Tampering has certainly been a hot topic in college football ever since the floodgates with the transfer portal opened up in the past few years. However, like plenty of other issues in the sport, nobody seems to have any clear-cut ways to solve the problem and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel seems to agree with that sentiment.

The Vols’ head coach thinks there will always be so many people involved in college football recruiting, it’ll be tough to stop completely. “Well, how big of an issue it is, I don’t know. I think there’s so many people that are involved in the recruitment of players. Could be high school coaches. Could be workout facilities. Seven-on-seven coaches, whatever. There’s so many different dynamics that go into it, I don’t know how you stop the communication completely at any one point,” Heupel said recently.

“So, I don’t have a silver bullet for that issue. Similar to a lot of other issues that maybe we are trying to navigate inside of college football, but there’s a lot of smart people that are working on finding answers to those things,” the Tennessee head coach said.

Speaking of the transfer portal, Heupel recently sat down with On3’s Andy Staples at SEC Media Days to discuss how Joe Milton III handled losing the starting quarterback job in the fall of 2021 to Hendon Hooker, who went on to become one of the most electrifying players in college football the past two seasons.

Heupel said Milton handled the situation with positivity

“Yeah, in a rare turn of events, really in a unique way, if you look at the landscape of college football where guys are hitting the portal, looking for immediate gratification. Joe looked at it and said, you know what, I’m gonna be a great teammate,” Heupel continued. “But I know I need to grow. I know I’ve got coaches and assistants that are going to allow me to grow. When ready, I’m gonna play at a high level.

“I’m gonna compete everyday to be the guy but do it in a really positive way. It’s why he took advantage of his opportunity late last year. That’s really how he played every time he got the opportunity to get in the game.”

Once Milton stepped in for Hooker late last year, he was lights out. He finished with 971 yards, 10 touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 64.6% completion percentage.

How does Heupel expect Milton to be that same consistent guy week to week?

“Well I think, you know, for him, he’s had consistency at the quarterback coaching position. The same voices with Coach Halzle and me being in there on a consistent basis. He’s grown in his understanding of what we do. Understanding the game. All of that’s parlayed itself into him being really consistent. He will [be consistent this year],” Heupel said on Thursday evening.

As a member of the Class of 2018, Milton was a four-star recruit out of Orlando (Fla.) Olympia, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 42 overall prospect in the state, the No. 17 quarterback in the class and the No. 242 overall prospect in the class.

It should be yet another exciting year to watch the Vols’ high-octane offensive attack. It’ll be interesting to see how Milton answers the questions everybody has about his game during the 2023-2024 campaign.

On3’s Nick Kosko and Riley Gates also contributed to this article.

The post Josh Heupel opens up on concerns of tampering in college football appeared first on On3.