On Tuesday afternoon, Tennessee football held its 2026 Pro Day. A number of former Vols returned to Knoxville in front of NFL scouts to show off what they bring to the table.
After the event, UT head coach Josh Heupel met with the media. He was asked about cornerback Jermod McCoy, quarterback Joey Aguilar, wide receiver Chris Brazzell and more.
Here’s what Heupel said.
More From RTI: WATCH: Tennessee Cornerback Jermod McCoy Posts Blazing Fast 40-Yard Dash Time at UT Pro Day
Opening statement
“Pro Day, it’s a great time to see our guys kind of culminate and finish a career. 14 guys, their families back here inside of our building. A lot of fun to see them go execute and compete and perform the way that they did today. Guys that are on the back end of the career, you look at a guy like Alvin Kamara, that’s back here yesterday with our team, these are guys that are going to continue to come back and pay it forward to the guys that are inside of our program. Can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done here at Tennessee with our staff, and I was really excited and happy with the way they performed today.”
On seeing Jermod McCoy back on the field
“Looked like Jermod out there today from his 40 to vertical jump. Did a great job testing, which we all anticipated. He did great. Great to see him back at 100% and dealing with the adversity of last year and everything that he had to do to get back. And just really proud of how he handled that process and ultimately how he performed today and set himself up to have a great draft pick.”
On how Joey Aguilar threw the football
“When you look at where he’s at, he hasn’t been throwing the football except for a few weeks here post-surgery. I thought he performed really well just throwing the football, and so his best is still coming in this rehab process, and I know that he’ll do a great job wherever he goes, whenever it is, once he gets in between. Who he is, the competitor, how smart that he is, he’ll be ready to go play at a really high level.”
On the impact Colton Hood made at UT
“We appreciate Colton being a part of this team and being in this program too. An athlete that does it the right way. Coming in in May, learning what we’re doing, learning what it means to be involved on a day-to-day basis. Then, also, how he impacted the guys around him. He’s a smart, tough, relentless competitor that cares about the people around him. You look at his performance today at the combine, he’s setting himself up to have a great career.”
On what the NFL thinks of his program
“I think they know what they’re getting out of the guy from here. The tape is the tape, but they know the level of accountability that we have inside of our program, how we approach every single day, their ability to be the same competitor every single day, and what they get exposed to on the football knowledge part of it. I think they understand they’re getting a consistent type of player from here.”
On pitching portal players when he’s had successful players come from the portal
“I think high school guys, portal guys, however you end up here, they’ve seen the fruits of being inside of this program. The physical development, the mental development, how we approach things and how that translates to setting themselves up to have a great career on the back end of their college career.”
On what clicked for Chris Brazzell last season
“I think as much as anything, it’s just the continued growth of the man, the maturity, and then the football understanding. And then continued growth of the fundamental and technique traits that you need at your position, and Chris did that. The way that he approached his offseason, his summer, set himself up to go take advantage of the traits that he has and performed at an elite level last year.”
On Chris Brazzell’s strongest NFL trait
“I don’t think that there’s just one. His length is a great attribute. He’s got speed that’s rare at that size, and then his ability to be extremely loose, to sink and get out of cuts. His catch radius over the middle of the field or a deep ball down the sideline. He’s got some unique physical traits, and put that with his playmaking ability, those are hard to find.”
