What Tennessee coach Josh Heupel told local reporters during SEC Media Days
Everything Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel said Thursday while meeting with local reporters during SEC Media Days in Nashville:
The next step in the progression of Joe Milton III as Tennessee’s quarterback
“First of all, Joe has been awesome. Since the bowl game in January when we got back, but it’s long before that, too. Continued to mature inside of our program. Has a great understanding of who he is, where he wants to go. He’s on a mission every single day to do that. Wants to have a great impact on his teammates. His leadership has continued to grow, his daily habits. Love what he’s done. Had a great spring and can’t wait to get into training camp with him.”
Joe Milton III, Omari Thomas and Jacob Warren representing Tennessee at SEC Media Day
“What a great opportunity for three guys to come into the midstate, an area of the state that is vitally important to our future success. It has played a big role in our past successes as well. They get an opportunity to be in front of the country and for people to figure out who they are. These are three great representatives, guys who are on our leadership council, who do it the right way everyday.”
If he talks to his players about what the next step is for the Tennessee football program’s future
“We’re constantly talking about how we’re going to improve. You put your goals out in front of the football team when you start any quarter of your offseason. That can be in January when they first get back to the beginning of spring ball to training camp. But at the end of the day, it becomes about your daily accountability to your habits and to your teammates and about your growth and competing extremely hard everyday. This group has been phenomenal. There were a lot of great moments last year, for sure. At the end of the day, we didn’t reach our goals. For us, individually we had to take steps this offseason. I really like what we’ve done. Collectively, as a group, we’ve got to get there when we kickoff here in about 44 days back here in Nashville.”
If he emphasized the message to his players that Tennessee didn’t reach its goals last season
“I think it’s important that you always talk about things that matter inside of your program with your players. Did I feel any greater urgency with this group than I have with past groups? No. This group, the success that they had a year ago only happens because of the work they put in. We’re still on that journey of becoming what we’re capable of individually and collectively as a program. High goals, high aspirations. They knew that we had areas that we had to improve upon too.”
What he can to help this Tennessee team take the next step
“Well, it’s about constant growth for me too. How do I get better? That can be in communication, it can be in game-day management. It can be in subtle things we’re doing in our offseason. It can be in messaging. It’s about constant growth for all of us. And that happens because it’s a two-way street inside of our program. I talk about great seasons happen because of leadership and accountability inside of the locker room. Developing these guys as leaders. So it’s an ongoing process for me, too.”
How Tennessee will handle the recruiting restrictions from the NCAA
“I think that’s one of the great things in me coming here, the leadership that we have from President Boyd, Chancellor Plowman to Danny (White), our athletic director. Being able to have real transparent conversations with them. Where do we think this thing is going to go? From Day 1 when we first got here, self-imposing some things from scholarship reduction to things that we did on the recruiting side of it. To be honest, where we’re at today, with five years to go, the penalties that came down, we’ve been handling all of these things at a higher percentage than what we’re going to have to over the last five years. Our recruits that just enrolled, none of those guys felt any of the effects of it during the course of the recruiting process. We’re going to do it the right way. We’ve been transparent with recruits. I think it’s important that you’re open and honest with them. It was that way with our staff when I was hiring them. They’ve been here, it’s been with our current players and with our recruiting as well.”
If Tennessee can be flexible with when the NCAA penalties are served over the next five years
“Yeah, there is flexibility for us to navigate the space and take the necessary things that we need to when it’s most advantageous for us with a certain dialogue and the regulations they gave us as well.“
The relief the Tennessee program felt when it was not given a bowl ban
“Because our administration found out about it, reported it, did an investigation, welcomed the NCAA to come in and follow up on their own investigation, been transparent and had great dialogue with them from the very beginning. I felt great that we were going to land where the administration thought we were going to land. But I find out the night before that it’s coming out. At that point, yeah, you don’t know what you don’t know. So when we got the word the following morning, it was a sense of relief. It would’ve been easy for us to take a bowl ban in Year 1, when I first took the job. We were down to 65 scholarship players, nobody knew what the season was going to look like. Our administration just didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do for the players that stuck around. And it wasn’t the right thing to do. So the way that they navigated it, the process with the NCAA, we were able to come out with a verdict that our guys are going to have an opportunity to compete for all the things that they want to.”
If he felt strongly about not taking the bowl ban in his first season at Tennessee, so that the players that stuck around could experience the bowl game
“I did, because at the end of the day, the guys that were left, we had 35 guys that left our program. The guys that were around were the guys that cared about the Power T. They cared about their teammates. In all reality, they weren’t part of what was going on. I think it’s tough to punish innocent guys. I felt like it was extremely important that we try to navigate that space the right way and allow those guys to compete. If you date back to when we first got here, it’s been two years ago, we never set a ceiling on what we could accomplish. Those guys have been our guys, my guys, from the very beginning. It’s been a huge part of why we’ve grown the way that we have and as quickly as we have. But it absolutely was the right thing to do.”
If playing in a bowl game in Year 1 helped prepare the 2022 Tennessee team for a big season
“I think the culture that we built, because of the players that are in our program and as a staff and leadership within our athletic department, how we’ve handled all those situations, the communication we’ve had, the transparency, the love and connection that we’ve built between each other, that all certainly parlayed into how we played and competed last year, how we handled adversity throughout the course of the season. And ultimately why we finished it the way we did.”
How crippling a postseason can be for a program, both financially and in recruiting
“Yeah, financially we’re paying a penalty that, any of those benefits would be lost. I don’t recommend anybody going through this. I took the job in late January, had to hire an entire staff. We were down 35 scholarship players. We were playing with 65 scholarship athletes on our roster when we kicked off that year. Teams were at 90, maybe even 95, because of COVID seniors. The deficit at which we took the field was real. I think when the penalty came out, people just looked forward. Well, you better look back and go back and see the things we saw and how we had to navigate that space. The uncertainty, how other teams have beat us up on the recruiting trail, sensationalizing, potentially, a little bit on what was going to happen and transpire. We’ve only navigated this space because we’ve been thoughtful, we’ve put the student-athlete first. We had great transparency, communication inside of our program. That’s our staff, that’s with our current players and it’s with recruits. That’s why I feel like as much as a climb we had in the first 24 months, the trajectory of where were and where we can go, I don’t know if there’s ever been a better time to be a Vol.”
The blend of seniors and freshmen on the current Tennessee roster
“There is essentially two recruiting classes that are gone from our roster, and that’s how you end up with the numbers kind of being what they are inside of our roster. So there is a unique blend of experience, guys that have been inside the program and laid the foundation. A lot of young guys that have come into it. I absolutely love the young guys inside of our program. Their maturity off of the field, let alone their maturity inside of our building, who they are, how they attack every day, how they compete and love with their brothers, its’ a really good dynamic inside the building right now.”
What it says about Tennessee having sixth-year seniors, those players wanting to stick around in the program
“I think it speaks to they love and enjoy the process of what we do 365 days out of the year. They care about the people that they sit next to in the locker room. That they’re enjoying their time as being part of this program and being part of Vol nation. I think they see the continued opportunities and climb that we have left in front of us. And they can also see that they’re developing inside of our program. That’s one the football field, with their position coaches, coordinators, what we’re doing schematically to put them in a position to be successful. Their growth, what we’re doing in the weight room. Their continued growth as an athlete and how they’re developing. And that can be seen in the (NFL) Draft. Over the last two years, 10 draft picks. I think we’re top eight in the country, top ten as far as draft picks. Last year, five in the first three rounds, that was top two in the country. There’s a lot of positive things going on as far as the development and enjoyment for our players inside of our program.”
The growth of Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren entering this season
“Jacob has been a fantastic leader inside of our program from the moment I’ve gotten here. Really great character. Cares about the people around him. Very thoughtful in how he wants to improve. Has a great plan. Works that plan every single day. His maturity, his leadership, has been instrumental in what we’ve done. That’s in the past, that’s certainly felt since we got back in January.”
If there was a temptation in Year 1 to adjust his style of play to fit the Tennessee roster at the time
“The tempo at times can, if you look at number of series we actually had to defend last year, I think we were 38th in the country, as far as most defended series. We want to have a balance to what we’re doing. The tempo is a way to apply pressure to that. I think when you take over a program, it’s important you get started on how you want to pay. Subtly, every year we’re going to be different. All three phases of the game. And try to put our kids in the best position. That’s through scheme. Part of our scheme can be tempo on offense, what we’re doing defensively. Certainly in the transfer portal we were hit hard. That’s why the majority of the kids we did bring in, and I’m going to go back to two years ago, we lost 35 players. We were still limited in the kids we could bring on campus. No matter how many you lost at that time, within NCAA rules, we were limited to 25 counters that year, to kind of patch our roster on the defensive side of the ball. And that was certainly the reason.”
If he realized how much of the culture he would need to change when he took over at Tennessee
“When I got there, the second semester had already started. It’s hard taking over a program that late. There is about two months of work that we’re missing and going into an offseason with your guys. The one thing it did afford me when I took the job is they were already into the offseason. So it gave me a chance to evaluate the players a little bit that first week, what they were doing. It could be the weight room, I got a real sense of what the culture and energy was like inside the building, what was going on inside the locker room too. It gave me a clearer picture of what was going on. That didn’t change who we are and what we’re about because that’s who we are and that’s what we’re about.”
Why Nashville is a good place to start Tennessee’s season with a neutral-site game
“Man, this is a city and an area of the state, the midstate, that is vitally important. Played a huge part in our past success and will play a huge part in our future success as well. So it’s an opportunity for us to come over to our fanbase, play in a great city. It’s going to be an absolutely electric environment. Vol nation will show out in droves, I’m sure. Cannot wait to see them in 44 days.”
How he would describe which direction the sport is headed in and if he likes that direction
“I’m not sure you know what tomorrow is going to bring. So at this point in college football, I think it’s important that you analyze where you’re at, how do you best navigate that. And also be ready to shift on a moment’s notice. All the things that every head coach, every program is dealing with, it’s a difficult time. There is a lot (more) variables than there used to be a decade ago, or two decades ago. At the same time, it’s the hand that we’re dealt. Love where I’m at and who I’m competing with everyday.”
How the Tennessee players handled everything while waiting on the NCAA penalties to be announced
“I found out the night before. We called a team meeting at that point to let them know when they got done with workouts we would meet. It’s the time of year where a lot of staff is gone. I was actually out of town. We did it via zoom. Inside our building our guys haven’t really been focused on that in any way. I’m not sure they have talked about it a whole lot. I’m sure the next morning they saw things on social media, that it was going to be coming out, what was coming out. It was a really quick team meeting. They took the information and were ready to go compete and get after it.”
How important it was to get on the phone with Tennessee recruits after the punishments were announced
“For two years and the recruits that we did sign a ton of trust from them and their families because there were a lot of unknowns and they were getting hit by other schools with some things that were probably a little or a lot sensationalized. To be able to put this thing to bed, have it on paper of what’s transpired then for us to be able to get on the phone with them and be able to talk through how we have already navigated the space in two years and the reality of what it’s going to look like going forward. At the end of the day they can tell this isn’t going to impact the ability to have great players around them, to be able to play at the highest level, win a bunch of individual awards and compete for championships.”
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