Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the local media Monday afternoon to kick off Florida game week.
The Vols’ head coach put a final bow on the Austin Peay game after watching the film and started to preview Tennessee’s SEC opener at Florida Saturday night.
Heupel discussed Tennessee’s losing streak at Florida, Cooper Mays’ availability and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said Monday.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Opens As Favorites Against Florida
Opening statement
“Obviously today everyone that was around in 2001 remembers. Thank you to all the people that served, sacrificed their lives, their health in a lot of ways too. Obviously a day this country won’t forget.”
“Looking forward to going and playing a really good football team here. Great opportunity. You come to Tennessee because you want to play in these types of games, these types of environments. Sitting on primetime Saturday night. Great challenge in front of us. Really good football team. They’re big, strong, athletic on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Skill players on both sides are really good. Great speed and it’ll be a huge test for us.”
On how he assesses his team’s response from Saturday
“Really good. Good energy out on the grass with them today but really good in the meeting room too. Anticipated that from these guys. We have strong leadership. Guys care about their performance but they care how they get there too. I said it after the game too— I didn’t feel like we didn’t prepare the right way. At the end of the day, we weren’t on the right side of the competitive edge to go play the way we’re capable of. With that being said, there’s a lot of things that we did really well over the course of the game. I thought the effort, strain, energy, technique on special teams was really good and defensively we played really sound the majority of the football game. Gap assignments allowed a couple big runs early in the football game but other than that really good. Offensively, we ran it for dang near eight yards a carry and had some efficiency in the pass game too. Penalties, in the red zone in particular, dropped balls, hitting a couple more passes lead to a different score. Certainly one that we all want. Those are all things we control but I thought it was a big point of emphasis today with our guys— control the controllables, which is what sits in that room and how we prepare.”
On if Austin Peay was a good time to have a down game
“It can be. Absolutely. As much as anything the competitive edge that you have to be on the right side of it is extremely important. The difference between success and failure in this game is really small so it wasn’t all 11 (players) all at one time. We can be better. Need to be better. These guys care. They have a great care factor about them so we’ll have a great week of practice.”
On Tennessee having not won in Gainesville since 2003, what he remembers about 2021 game
“First of all, they’re always really athletic. They’re physical at the line of scrimmage. It’s a great environment. At the end of the day in this game, yesterday has nothing to do with today. The previous play has nothing to do with what’s going to happen on the next play. It’s about preparing the right way, practicing the right way (and) that will lead to you playing the right way.”
On what he saw on the Austin Peay that is needed to fix the passing game
“Man, end of the day, we’ve got to go make some plays. That’s throwing it a little bit better. That’s catching it a little bit better. There’s big chunks of yardage in open grass for us to go make. Joe would tell you he’s got to hit a couple of those. We’ve got to make the play out on the perimeter. Some subtle things fundamentally that can help you be more accurate with the ball, but we’ve seen him operate in that. We just didn’t execute it very well early in the football game.”
On what he liked from the linebackers and Elijah Herring in the first game without Keenan Pili
“Destructive. Communicated at a high level. He’s a young guy that his best football is going to continue to come down the pipe, man. Great confidence in him, but from the rest of the guys that played, too. Saw a lot of things that we liked. There’s a couple of things that we busted on, too. Gave up a pass down the middle in the fourth quarter, but we can correct those things. At the end of the day, that group’s going to have to continue to grow up quickly. We’re going to need all those guys as we go down this stretch.”
On why the offense has been poor on third down
“Not just one thing. We’ve got to be better at calling it, blocking it, executing in the pass game. We’re capable of it. We’ve just got to be better. That will be big in this football game, too. You’ve got to convert. You’ve got to stay on the field. You’ve got to give yourself the next set of downs.”
On the status of starting center for Cooper Mays for this game
“Yeah, he was with us last week. Warmed up with us (before the Austin Peay game). We made a decision pretty early in the week that he probably would not play in that football game and anticipate him having a good week of practice here and being ready.”
On if he saw any missed throws from Joe Milton III or drops from the receivers in practice leading up to the Austin Peay game
“Yeah, we didn’t anticipate that happening.”
On concern about Cooper Mays playing after missing so much practice time
“Yeah, if he’s playing, we have great confidence that he’s going to play at the level that he wants to and we need him to, too.”
On Florida’s skill players and quarterback on offense
“They’ve got great team speed. Got athletes that can go make plays in space. You’ve got to bottle up the run game. That’s a huge part of what they do and that sets up their play-action pass. A year ago, they hurt us with some of that. We’ve got to be able to fit the run and then play assignment-sound and play the ball well when it’s in the air.”
On needing to tune out the noise of playing at The Swamp this weekend
“You’re not going to completely tune out the noise, but once you get the play call, man, you’re focusing on your job. It’s 11 guys inside of the white line. I don’t care if it’s at home, on the road, in the backyard. These guys have been doing it for a long time. You do have to control your emotions, right? You have to be able to execute and play within yourself. That’ll be a big part of the football game.”
On tight ends Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles each catching a touchdown the first two weeks of the season
“Two guys that do it right every single day. Both have the ability to make plays. Been great to see those guys get an opportunity and then go execute here early in the football season. Those guys are a huge part of we do in the pass game and the run game. Anticipate those guys continuing to have big years.”
On Tennessee’s rush defense so far this season and what he’s seen from Florida’s rushing attack
“We’ve done a good job of destructing blocks at the line of scrimmage. The second and third levels have fit it right and at the end of the day, we’ve changed the line of scrimmage the first couple of weeks. This will be the best offensive line that we’ve seen. They’re big, strong, they’re athletic and look like a typical Florida offensive line.”
On how he feels Joe Milton has been about putting a bad play behind him
“At the end of the day you have to point out what needs to be corrected. You have to be truthful in what you’re seeing as a coach and players understand that, too. They see it. They recognize it. He understands the game.
“The great thing about Joe is he’s really been making really sound decisions. That’s in our run-pass option. That’s in our drop-back. We as skill players — and that can be wideouts, tight ends, running backs and him — just have to be a little bit better at times. Plan on us executing better this week.”
