Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel answered questions from the media on the SEC Coaches Teleconference Wednesday before the Vols face New Mexico State in their final non conference game of the 2025 season.
Ahead of the matchup, Heupel discussed Joey Aguilar’s growth, the way the Tennessee defense has played over the course of the season and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
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Opening statement
“Have had a really good start to the week. Want to continue that as we get to kickoff. Everybody is excited to get back on the field after a bye week and looking forward to walking into that stadium and going and competing with the guys here on Saturday night.”
On if he expects Jermod McCoy to play against New Mexico State
“Jermod, I’ve said it throughout the course of the season, and obviously, a tough injury for him and for us while we were off last January before we came back and started our off-season, he’s done a great job. Competed really hard and been a great teammate throughout all of the rehab process. Continues to do more on the football side of it. Don’t have an expectation for this Saturday yet, but he continues to do the right things to give himself a chance here at the end of the year.”
On what’s impressed him the most about Joey Aguilar’s growth in his limited time on campus
“The timing of when he first got here and all that goes into playing the position at a high level. I think it starts with who he is in the building. The type of teammate that he is. He’s worked extremely hard to learn what we’re doing. He’s gotten better every day and continues to do that. As a staff, there’s things that we’ve done and we put into a gameplan and sometimes you almost forget that this is his first experience with it. I think throughout the course of the season he’s continued to get more comfortable in what we’re doing offensively. He’s helped us create some really big plays and do some things at a really high level offensively. The timing of when he got here to going and kicking off with him, just been really impressed in his ability to grow as quickly as he has because he’s been such an integral part of our success. I think on game days, one of the great traits of great quarterbacks is they’re able to go play the next play no matter what happens. Play it aggressive like it’s the first play of the game. You don’t know until you’ve got a guy at that position until you go play and compete with them, what he’s going to be like when those things happen. He’s been resilient and been awesome.”
On what he thinks of the Alabama-Oklahoma matchup after playing both teams
“Two really good teams. That will be a great contest.”
On his assessment of this year’s defense compared to last
“I think one of the things we’ve battled on the defensive side is guys that left and as much as anything it’s been some of the injuries that we’ve had to battle through. That’s obviously two corners that are projected starters that midway through the first quarter (of the first game) you have both of them out. Interior (of the defensive line) and linebacker we’ve had some injuries. At the end of the day, it’s a young group that’s continuing to grow and is doing some things at a really high level. Two Saturdays ago, we started putting all three levels of the defense together consistently throughout the course of the game. I’m excited about the growth and how we continue to improve. We have to go finish this season the way that we want to and need to.”
On College Football Playoff rankings, if they’re taking strength of schedule into account adequately and how that pertains to adding a ninth conference game
“I have not. I haven’t paid close attention to that. At the end of the day, there’s still a lot of football to be played. No matter where you’re ranked you better show up in this league every single Saturday. I’ve said it before but the strength of this league from top to bottom is as good as it gets.”
