What Josh Heupel said at Wednesday during SEC Spring Meetings
Everything Tennessee Football coach Josh Heupel said on Wednesday at SEC Spring Meetings in Florida:
On college football roster numbers possibly going down in the future
“This game have been changing for the last handful of years and will continue to change.”
His thoughts on roster limits
“Absolutely, at some point. I don’t know what that number is. I don’t what year we land on it, but certainly see that moving forward.”
What the explanation has been for why rosters would get smaller
“I don’t have the direct answer to the why behind that.”
Lane Kiffin mentioning that college football was stuck between being an amateur sport and a professional sport and if the NFL model should be followed more closely moving forward
“It has the opportunity to. You look at what this game looked like and college athletics looked like, in general, five years ago. Everybody can see that there’s been a shift in what the game looks like and how we function and operate with athletes and students on the campus.”
If there was talk about injury reports on Wednesday and his thoughts on that
“Man, it was really pretty brief as we were dealing with the roster size question. I don’t think there’s been anything that’s been finalized, but that’s certainly something that the conference is looking at.”
If roster size was the bulk of the conversation
“Yeah. this morning for sure. Yeah.”
What he tells recruits on visits when they ask about proposed changes to college football
“I think everybody inside of this game doesn’t have the answers to everything as it moves forward. It is the greatest game that we have. This conference is as good as any. And, for us at Tennessee, where we reside, the university and the administration, we’re poised to be in a great position as we move forward.”
How he sees the Texas and Oklahoma football programs fitting into the SEC
“Two great brands that continue to build the depth of this league out. And historical programs that have had a ton of success.”
Being on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot and Tennessee going to Oklahoma this season
“For me, from my coaching career to playing career, a lot of great relationships, a lot of great memories, so many people that have been a huge part of helping me as a player grow as a man helping me in this profession as well. So a lot of great memories. A lot of people that I still stay in touch with. Sister lives back there, dad lives back there as well. So, you know, it’ll be unique to go back and play inside of that stadium, being on the other sideline.”
If there as any discussion about the recruiting calendar
“Absolutely, there was discussion about that. We went through that fairly quickly as well. I think there’s so many unknowns that you got to find the key answers before you start shifting everything around, through.”
If Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava reminds him of any other QBs he has worked with
He’s unique in his frame and skillset. His ability to move, extend, make, plays off schedule, throw from different arm angles. His experience in the bowl game, played extremely well, but I think was a huge part of his urgency since he got back in the building in January. Continued to grow, changed his frame, added muscle to it. Had a great spring. But as a young guy, with how high profile he was in recruiting, his ability to enter into our building, be one of the guys, garner respect from the guys around him, be a magnet, draw people to him. He’s really unique and really excited about what he is done up until this point. Got to have a great summer to be ready to go play the way we need him to in the fall.
If some of the topics discussed at spring meetings feels futile with so much uncertainty in the sport moving forward
“I don’t know if (it’s) futile, but the primary questions have a huge impact on some of the smaller things. And at some point you got to solve the big problems or the big questions to really put together what’s the best way for the game to move forward. And that can be from recruiting calendar to how we function with our players inside of the building every day. All of that’s going to have a cascade effect on what we’re doing.”
If a standardized academic calendar is a hurdle for the recruiting calendar
“I think it’s one of the hurdles. I don’t think it’s the only hurdle.”
What some of the other hurdles are
“Well there’s a lot of things you look at. The playoff, right? And how that affects who’s able to be out on the road. There’s a lot of things that can change or dictate what should be the best way for us to move forward.”
If there has been talk about practice squads in college football
“A bunch of ideas brought up, but I don’t think anybody has, like, this is the best way for us to move forward at this point, based on the conversations that I was a part of.”
What a minimum roster size would look like
“I don’t have an exact number. I think you look at the NFL and the number of bodies that they cycle through on a given year, from training camp to throughout the course of the season, probably gives you a better parameter. Or we got to have some historical data just looking at what’s transpired and happened, not just at one school, but collectively too.”
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