Tennessee football’s spring practice slate is in the books. On Saturday, the Vols held the annual Orange and White Game inside Neyland Stadium.
After the scrimmage, UT head coach Josh Heupel met with the media. He was asked about the quarterback battle, an update on Chaz Coleman, how his defense looked and more.
Here’s what he said.
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Opening statement
“Great day, having an opportunity to get out and play some ball. I want to thank our fans for showing up the way they did on a beautiful Rocky Top day. The Vol Walk is awesome to have them there and in the stadium, as well. So, we’ve got a lot of players, players’ families that are back this weekend, so appreciate them showing up.
“I also wanna say thanks to AK, Alvin Kamara, just what he’s done since I got back with this program, coming back, pouring into our entire team, being around every time he gets an opportunity. And then you look at him stepping up and his commitment to this university, this athletic department, the gift that he made, I can’t thank him enough for everything that it means to us. Great having a lot of players back, too. Having Alontae Taylor, D-Samp back, getting a chance to spend time with them, but as much as anything, be a part of this weekend with us, too. I wanna finish, say a special thanks to all the former players that came back, as well.”
On the challenge of having a young quarterback room, if they’ve accomplished everything he wants
“Well, not everything, but you never accomplish everything. But I do love the growth from that group. I love the way that they competed with themselves, with each other. I love the way that they’ve grown every single day. Each of them maybe had a day where it was a little bit below what they had shown and their expectations, too. They responded and came back the next day and were a lot better. So, there’s a lot of positives, a lot of things that they and we have to work on as a football team.
“But I like the work that they’ve put in and where they’re at. Now we gotta continue to grow here. We got four weeks before we break from school, and then we get back to our summer schedule and the routine that they have to go through to continue to grow and expect everybody on this roster, and the quarterbacks included, to be a lot better when they come back and we start in August.”
On how the quarterbacks can separate themselves
“Each of them have to be on their journey of building and mastering their fundamentals, technique, ownership and the scheme. And that’s what we do, and then mastering what’s happening on the other side of the football, too.”
On the team’s pass rush
“A lot of great competition on the defensive line, interior and edges. Some young guys that got some play last year that gotta continue to grow. If they’re gonna be what we need, need to be up front on the defensive side of the football. Offensively, you got a lot of guys that are coming back. Wendell, obviously, wasn’t involved in the team portions of what we were doing throughout the course of spring. Some new faces and some guys that redshirted a year ago that gotta continue to grow. It’s both sides of the football. There’s competition inside of the position room and good young talent that just has to continue in their growth.”
On the coverage from the secondary
“We busted on the one third down where we gave up a big play early in the scrimmage. In general, that has not happened throughout the course of spring ball. I think, defensively, overall, our guys have grasped what we’re doing defensively, communicated at a really high level, continued to get better fundamentally, continued to strain and work into a better body positioning in tackling, and that’s in live periods and thud periods, too. In the secondary, there is competition, safety spot, corner spots, and I think that’s driven those guys to compete on the field, but in the classroom and in the meetings as well at a really high level. A lot of guys that if they continue to grow the way that they have since we got back in January, have a chance to put themselves in a position to play high-level football.”
On what he’s looking for out of Tennessee’s spring game, how valuable it can be for a coaching staff and the quarterbacks
“The biggest difference in today and another scrimmage or practice is just people in the stands and how that feels and handling a negative play and responding to the next play. All things that you see in practice as well, but it’s different when there’s eyes on you and there’s media out there. So I thought in general, they handled it really well today, went and played the next play. Some things that we got to correct off of it as well. But you want to see them in control of what you’re doing offensively, and a lot of that’s communication. That’s on the field, signals, calls, motion, shift, whatever it might be. It’s also sideline mechanics. In general, I thought they handled themselves really well. Again, there’s a lot left out there for us to continue to grow into.”
On how Tennessee can clean up the penalties and negative plays
“Yeah. In general, this is the most that we had on the defensive side of the football. They’ve been doing a pretty good job here through spring ball. Disappointed in that today. Some of the playing penalty stuff, it’s fundamentals and technique, and it’s your eyes, getting your body in the right position. That has to continue to clean up as we go through even the summer, as you go through some of your installs and some of the time you get on the field and certainly through training camp. But it’s the growth of a lot of young players and some guys who have played some football.”
On an update for Tennessee transfer Chaz Coleman
“Ultimately Chaz is dealing with some things off the field. And he’s got to handle that and go through that process. And we’re here to help and support him in all those ways and we’ll continue to do that. But that’s ultimately a big part of his journey right now, some things that he’s got to work through.”
On the growth of Tennessee’s new-look defensive staff during spring practice
“We got a lot of guys — support coaches, young coaches — that had time in what we’re doing defensively, the scheme. And been in the unit meeting room with coach. And I think that was a part of the early part of our growth and being able to understand, what they’ve done install wise in the past, how you can continue to grow as coaches to make it as efficient and as easy as possible. And I think it’s part of getting it to your players and growing really quickly, even before you get to the spring ball and during the early part of spring ball. You combine that with our players, how attentive and how hard they’ve worked to grow inside the scheme. I think that’s why I’ve been pleased. And why defensively we’ve been so pleased with how much effort they’ve put into it, where they’re at as we finish our spring ball. And obviously there’s still growth inside of it, but I’m really proud of what they’ve done.”
On seeing new Tennessee kicker Cooper Ranvier kick in the spring game“Yeah, I tried to carve out some intentional times where all eyes were on them, try to put them in pressure situations. We’ve done that throughout the course of spring ball. Finished every practice really with a pressure kick. And he and (Josh) Turbyville both have been really consistent in it. I like what we’ve done from the snap, to the hold, to the kick and we’ll continue to refine some of that. But operation time and then efficiency and accuracy of our kicks have been really good.”
On how Tennessee quarterbacks attacked down the field in the spring game compared to earlier in spring
“Today, I didn’t think we created a lot of separation at times at the wide receiver spot. Had some protection issues on some of the plays where we’re trying to push it farther down the football field. And at the end of the day, didn’t create enough, explosive plays today. Some of our wide receiver group obviously was out, thin because of injury once you got behind some of the starters. And Mike (Matthews) obviously wasn’t going today, too. In general, those guys have done a good job, and that’s the wide receivers attacking the football and making plays down the field. Mike and Travis (Smith), and Rah-Rah (Rodarious Jackson), and certainly Braylon (Staley), too. And quarterbacks have done a good job, too. But there’s growth in that for us still as we go through the summer and training camp.”
