Ahead of Tennessee football’s clash with Vanderbilt inside Neyland Stadium, SEC Networks’ SEC Nation show made its way to campus to preview the slate of games. On the program, Vols head coach Josh Heupel joined the set to break down some film and answer questions on the matchup.
He talked about the win over Florida, the addition of Joey Aguilar and the departure of Nico Iamaleava.
Here’s what he said.
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On what this game means to his team
“Great opportunity to play big-time football here in the later part of the season. Fans are ready for today. It’s football weather here on Rocky Top. Environment is going to be great. It’s going to be a physical football game. Ready to go play.”
On the first play of the game at Florida, a completion to TE Ethan Davis
“Getting the chance to get a little bit of tempo going on the back-end. But it’s always about leverage and matchups here in your pass game.”
On Davis’ touchdown on the opening drive at Florida
“Off of our counter scheme, the ability to slip him out and put him some space and make a corner tackle.”
On a strong run by RB DeSean Bishop at Florida
“For sure. Counter is one of our bread and butter plays. Create movement at the point of attack. You’re able to get some double teams. Bishop does a great job right there of reading the leverage of the blocks and then playing in space and making a guy miss.”
On playing against teams’ weaknesses
“At the end of the day, you’re always trying to take who they are schematically, what js their personnel, and you’re trying to place your personnel in a position to be successful.”
On the abbreviated recruitment of QB Joey Aguilar, how he has exceeded expectations
“The timing of when everything went down, we wanted to get a guy that has played some football. We had young guys on our roster that we believed in, but a guy that has had some experience. A condensed window to learn the offense, build a relationship with your teammates. A guy that we thought had the arm strength and the ability to be an accurate downfield passer, one of the things that we needed to get back to this year. His growth, understanding of what we’re doing, his control and command as we’ve gone through the year, we wouldn’t be in the position we are, played the way that we have without him.”
On this being too cold for football weather
“(Laughs) I like the gloves.”
On using multiple tight ends
“Being able to play multiple personnel groupings, being able to be physical, win at the point of attack. And then your play-action pass, creating isolation shots on the outside for the skill guys to go win is a big part of this football game for sure.”
On how he responded to the departure of Nico Iamaleava
“At the end of the day, adversity can either divide your team or it can bring it together. We’ve got great leadership inside of our locker room. Highly competitive guys that care about each other. From the very beginning, it was clear in the communication and I think that gives the ability to trust in it. The expecation certainly changed on the outside, it didn’t change on the inside. The way we worked and competed gave us a chance this far.”
On what he needs from the crowd today
“We need this to be a home-field advantage. They need to be really loud today and they need to be a part of the football game.”
