Vols ’23 position preview: coaching staff
For the second straight year, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has had staff turnover on offense and once again the head coach promoted within, meaning that continuity remains the biggest story for the Vol coaching staff heading into year three of the Heupel era on Rocky Top.
Today we conclude our positional previews with a look at the Vol coaching staff.
Last year
The Vols obviously created some national buzz and restored a sense of pride to the Big Orange faithful in beating Alabama and Florida in the same year for the first time since 2004.
That pride was further enhanced by having the Vols ranked number one in the first college football playoff ranking and the coaching staff capped off the year with a win over highly touted Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Along the way, Tennessee set more records on offense, grew on defense under second year defensive coordinator Tim Banks and everyone had a lot of fun.
On the recruiting side of things the Vols signed the number one player in America according to On3 in quarterback Nico Iamaleava and overall Tennessee finished with the 12th ranked class nationally and the 4th ranked class in the SEC.
Tennessee saw Darnell Wright drafted in the first round and then saw Cedric Tillman, Jalin Hyatt, Byron Young and Hendon Hooker all taken on the second night of the NFL Draft.
Bottom line, the 2022 season was a fantastic one and has created plenty of expectations in 2023.
The room
Josh Heupel, head coach
Tim Banks, defensive coordinator/ safeties
Joey Halzle, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
Mike Ekeler, special teams coordinator
Glen Elarbee, offensive line
Alec Ablin, tight ends
Kelsey Pope, wide receivers
Jerry Mack, running backs
Rodney Garner, defensive line
Brian Jean-Mary, linebackers
Willie Martinez, secondary
By the numbers
3Number of times Tennessee’s defense gave up more than 30 points in 2022. They gave up 30+ points 7 times in 2021. 47.3Average number of points scored per game which was tops in the nation and a full touchdown better than anyone else in the SEC in 202211thWhere Tennessee ranked in the SEC in passing yards allowed
Biggest question
There are some obvious personnel questions on offense. There’s also the arrival of tight ends coach Alec Abeln as a first time on the field coach. Abeln knows the offense well. He has helped the offensive line and tight ends the last two years, but how does Abeln manage his own position room?
Defensively, can that side of the ball continue to grow? The offense likely isn’t going to be as explosive as they were a year ago, so the defense is going to be counted on even more.
It’s a defense that has more depth than they have had the last two seasons which means they have more options. It’s also a defense that clearly grew from year one to year two. How much can they grow in year three? To take another step, they have to be able to get to the quarterback without always blitzing and in the secondary the staff has to put the right pieces in the puzzle to make that a much more productive group than they were in 2022.
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