Tennessee football held its first fall practice Wednesday morning as the Vols worked on the Haslam Practice Field in helmets and no other pads.
Following the practice, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the media and discussed what he wants to see from the quarterbacks this week, building team camaraderie and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Fall Notes and Observations From Practice No. 1
On if Tennessee’s offensive practice is structured differently when there’s a quarterback battle
“Nah. We’ll make sure that all those guys get a crack at it. And you try to balance your scheme of what you’ve installed for the day with all of your groups, certainly your quarterbacks as well and get them exposed to everything. There’s a flow to it, subtly. Yeah, you may tweak it where you end up with a little bit more team, but some of that happens during the course of training camp.
You pre-plan it and then, depending on where you’re at as a football team, those things can suddenly change to try and make sure that they get exposed to all the situational football that we need here at training camp is an emphasis, too.”
On what he wants to see from Tennessee’s quarterbacks during the first week
“Constant growth. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Learn from the other guys that are at the position group. I think that’s important for everybody. No matter what position you’re playing, there’s not enough reps for everybody to get every single look, every single install. So you got to continue to learn from everything. That’s all on the field. And during the course of practice, quarterbacks mastering what we’re doing offensively, that’s controlling run game, pass game, the checks that we have in and all forms of it. There’s a lot that’s on their plate. So communication, then your fundamentals, which is preceded by your eyes, and then deliver an accurate ball. So all those things are going to go into it.”
On having Landry Jones and Seth Littrell on staff helping during this quarterback competition
“Well, guys that have been head coaches (Littrell) are certainly a help to me. And I say that, they got a different perspective. Just bring them in to get a chance to hear something for the first time. Maybe a subtle tweak to how you’re doing it or how you’re communicating something has a chance to, inch by inch, get you a little bit better.
“You mentioned specifically Landry, his familiarity with some of our staff, some of the things that we do, his experience, NFL fundamentals, technique, how to prepare during the course of game week, with the lead up to where we are today in constant growth. He was a pro because of who he was and how he handled himself every single day and the process that he went through, or the journey that he went through as a player to become that. I think those are all extremely valuable lessons to all the guys that we have inside of that room.”
On watching Tennessee’s defensive backs during Wednesday’s practice, floating between different position groups during practice
“I think it’s important that your defensive guys see you. Same with special teams. So I try, during in training camp, I’m in those special teams meetings. But supporting your defensive guy, they see you too. So depending on the day, what the flow of practice is, what we have going on on offense early in the day, try to get over there (on defense) and then try to go through some pass rush as well at times.”
On if he’s looking to just observe during those meeting or provide his own input
“Combination of both, right? Observe, then add when I see fit.”
On if the pace of the installation is slower early in camp with a younger roster
“I think the install slows down earlier in the process than it does at this point. In the process, meaning your winter block, which is limited time, your spring ball, and then as you get into the summer, you’re rehashing all those installs.
By this time (fall camp), we have parameters of what we want to install by day, by the situations that we’re going to encounter, where there’s a fairly consistent number of things that we’re installing that are new to these guys. So at night, as they get a chance to head back home, they got a chance to go study it, re-digest it. Most of what we will install this training camp, they’ve already been exposed to at some point.”
On breaking in new personnel at quarterback, wide receiver, running back and offensive line, and the important of Tennessee’s coaching continuity on the offensive staff
“Yeah, I think the continuity of our staff, working through all the details, the kinks being on the same page, is a huge, huge benefit, huge help because it allows us to break up into our position rooms and be seamless and be in sync. Man, young guys, I said it yesterday, our players have heard it a bunch. Young guys don’t have time to be young. We just started that in January. So they got to continue to grow. I mentioned it earlier. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Learn from your other buddies that made a mistake and constantly grow.
We get to the fall, nobody cares what age young guys are when they’re playing. It’s the end result.”
On if there was a moment in his first conversation with Joey Aguilar where he began to believe he could be the guy
“I think the maturity that he demonstrated on the phone as you get a chance to go through his history, what matters to him and what he’s looking for, what he cares about, fit the culture piece of it. And obviously studied the film as well. So I felt like it had a chance to be a really good fit at that point.”
On if it’s obvious to coaches which young guys are ready to contribute and which need more time
“Well, I think it’s not who they are today. There’s a journey that everybody’s going through individually and collectively as a team, we’re going through here during the course of training camp and you know how quickly they continue to grow from practice to practice is part of the projection of where you’re going to be. And how they handle getting team periods. Good play, bad play, whatever it might be. Their ability to reset and go play the next play. It’s the player’s responsibility to prove he’s going to play at a championship level. Once he proves that, then it’s our responsibility to find their role and ask him to do the things that he can do at a really high level.”
On players saying Heupel implemented off campus dinners between players not in the same position groups, why that was an emphasis
“It’s something that we’ve done throughout our history here. We did more of it this offseason. Did a better job of accomplishing that. I think it’s always been super important that your team is connected— olineman walks by a DB, You know who he is, what he’s about, and what his dreams, goals, aspirations (are). Like you have a common bond and you go back 20 years, everybody was living in the same dorm, same apartment complex. It’s a different era now, and I said it yesterday. But what it takes to go in on Saturdays on the field hasn’t changed. And so just carving out opportunities where again, we get a chance to just connect as a football team outside of football. And that makes us better on the football side.”
On how hard that is to achieve in this day and age, if that led to it being more of an emphasis
“Certainly did a better job, made more of an emphasis of it this off season. It is different, it is harder. But again, what it takes go win on Saturdays hasn’t changed. And so it’s important that our staff and our players are all in on that. I think that’s one of the unique things at this point when we do our exit interviews, one of the things they wanted was more opportunities to do those things. Which I think speaks to who they are and what they want the culture to be.”
On Joey Aguilar putting in extra work this summer, the importance of that
“The timing of when he got here, unique. Not something that we haven’t had before, but it applies an urgency that’s always there. But as late as he’s getting here, man, super urgent in him being able to get exposed, digest and become comfortable with what we’re doing. If you’re playing quarterback, and you’re back there thinking, you got no chance. So it’s got to become second nature. It’s got to become your primary language. And he’s worked really hard with that.”
