Tennessee football’s second spring practice is in the books. Afterward, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle met with the media.
Halzle was asked about the quarterback battle, the perks of each option, the rest of the offense and more.
Here’s what he said.
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“Yeah, the biggest thing, and we talked about this before we went into camp, is you can’t play tight trying not to make a mistake. That’s not how a job iswon. You got to go cut it loose. You got to play well. You got to play hard. Show that you can make plays while taking care of the football. That’s the biggest thing. I think a lot of times guys either go one way too hard. They try to make every play and they maybe give some stuff away. And then they try to play too tight to not make a mistake, to not lose the job, and that’s not what we want to see either. So we want to see guys go out there, cut it loose, play really hard, play really fast, but then let’s be aggressive with the ball, not reckless with the ball. That’s been a big coaching point for me is I don’t want the ball just thrown up for grabs, but I don’t want us playing so tight that we’re not trying to stretch this thing down the field. So it’s walking that line for the guys.”
On Tennessee’s Faizon Brandon and if there’s a different evaluation for him learning or seeing if he’s ready to be a starter
“So the first thing you got to look at is can the guy physically hold up? A lot of guys, they get on campus, and maybe they’re not quite ready yet physically, which is not uncommon. With him there, he is physically ready. He’s a big, strong kid. He can handle what it would take to go play 17 games in this conference. And then the next part is, alright, yeah, physically, he can hold up, he can do it. Mentally, how’s he grasping? How’s he doing it? Can he put the whole offense on? Is it just part of it? Can he put the whole run game? Can he adjust protection? So if you feel like you got a guy that can physically handle it, and he’s mentally handling the basis of it, then it shifts to, alright, what can we actually put on this guy? How much can we put on him without making him now play slow? Because you want to put as much as you can where you’re not feeling like you don’t have your offense. But if you’re saying, like, if that’s a guy we’re starting with, and this isn’t his best thing, well then let’s not put that on him. So we have to do a good job as a staff as we’re going through this entire decision-making process of, one, who is that guy, obviously. And then two, what are the physical traits that allow him to be successful? And then three, what are the mental traits that allow him to be successful? And then catering the offense to that.”
On how George MacIntyre is different now compared to Tennessee’s bowl practices in December
“One thing, he’s gotten himself a lot physically stronger this offseason. You can see it in the way the ball is coming out of his hand. He’s done a great job with that. It’s something that he needs to keep pushing on. And then exactly like what you’re saying, and we tell our guys all the time, you got to treat yourself like the starter because you never know when that opportunity’s coming. And it’s true, there’s just a different animal when there’s now not a starter sitting in front of you and it’s wide open and you know like, everything that I’ve worked for up to this point is now legitimately sitting right in front of my face. So there’s that different intensity, there’s that different kind of sense of urgency when he’s walking around the building.”
On where he’s seeing differences with new Tennessee strength coach Derek Owings
“Yeah, you’re seeing our weights are all up from what they’ve been. Our guys look really good walking around. And then all our speeds are up or maintained. So we’re getting stronger, bigger and not losing speed with gaining the size. That’s been one of the things that’s been fun to watch. Like, Mike Matthews is walking around over 200 pounds right now. And the dude is not slow. You know what I’m saying? So he’s like those guys that are putting on the weight, but they’re putting on really good weight. They’re staying explosive. They’re staying powerful. It’s fun, and it’s exciting about, put that into summer, take that into fall camp, what that can potentially look like this fall.”
On Tennessee quarterbacks being able to anticipate windows downfield, putting the offense on their shoulders
“Yeah, that’s big because that’s a lot of times what a young quarterback’s last thing that they can get to is, is they want to see it and they want to be really sure before they let the ball go. And by the time you see it, you’re really sure, that guy that you were sure about is now not open anymore. So them being able to anticipate, understanding coverage, understanding their protection, allowing them to do that, and then put the ball into windows on time, they both have that trait, which is really exciting for us because it’s something that says, man, this young guy, he has a chance to really play for us beause he’s not waiting all the time. He’s not squeezing the football. He’s not taking forever to get the ball out, taking sacks, or turning it over. He’s anticipating. He’s on time. He’s eliminating quickly. So all that stuff that those guys have, it’s exciting to see that they can do that at a high level.”
On what he wants to see from George MacIntyre during Tennessee’s spring camp
“Yeah, I think the main thing for him is you’re still young, meaning you’ve had a year in the system, but we don’t have a lot of snaps under our belt. So it’s fighting that urge of like, man, I know this offense, and he needs to attack it like he’s just getting here, just like the other guys. Because if he attacks it that way, he gives himself a chance to continue to grow. The way he carries himself around the building, like I was talking about, that sense of urgency, that (feeling that) I’m not the guy that’s in the shadows now. It’s time for me to step forward and try to lead this team. And they all have to do that, but they all have to do that in their own way.
“There’s not one way to step on and start leading a team. Some guys maybe have more of a personal relationship. Maybe some guys it’s more businesslike. There’s not a right or wrong. It’s just how does it fit you, so it doesn’t seem fake and contrived, but the guys will actually buy into you, whoever that guy ends up being at the end of fall camp.”
On if it’s easier or harder to get young quarterbacks ready to play in the current era of college football
“To talk to the challenges, now there’s the iPads on the sidelines, so the defenses are seeing exactly what you’re doing. There’s no more communication issues with like, ‘What are they running here? How are they doing this? What’s this play?’ They’re looking at it. So they are ready to adjust quickly, and you see so much more un-scouted looks from defenses because they also know you’re looking at them, and they feel like they can’t show you the same picture over and over. So for the quarterbacks, the pictures are changing on them now more than they ever have. Which, you know, double-edged sword here. It’s harder for (the defense) beause they have more calls, but now your quarterback’s seeing more looks. So it’s like the whole yin and yang of that whole thing. But that’s making it more difficult.
“The green dot, it helps our quarterbacks beause they can hear. They can give little tidbits in their ear. But it’s also the (linebacker) has that, too. And if they’ve got a signal, they’ve got a call and they’re getting something from the sideline that’s telling them what’s coming. So there’s the whole battle of that, where we’re getting benefited by the advanced technology, but it’s also right back on the defensive side, too. So it’s not like a negative or a positive, it’s just we’ve had to change. You guys have seen that recently. There’s been differences in how we’ve operated. The way that tempo is legislated, it’s different. It just makes it all so we had to adjust the way we’re playing.”
On if all of that puts more on quarterbacks mentally
“It absolutely does. Because like I said, you already have defenses in this league that are complex. And now they’re just showing you looks that they haven’t shown you before. So they have to be really dialed into what their rule is, not what do I think I’m getting from this defense and this is how we’re playing this play against fill in the blank. But overall, this is how you have to play this play out. And then they have to be able to do it against a look that they have never seen in practice before. That is happening more than it’s ever happened.”
On what has stood out to him in the offense
“I think what you’re looking at, overall, we’re very old or very experienced at some spots, and then we’re brand-new at other spots. So for us as a staff, we gotta do a really good job of like, alright, we’re experienced on the offensive line, at the running back position, the wideout position. We’re young at corner. We’re not young at tight end, but it’s a lot of guys that haven’t played a ton of football. So doing a good job of personnel, what does that look like? Play calling, what does that look like to put the old guys in a position where they can help the young guys, and we can lean on them, but also not taking it so far off where it’s like, ah, we’re hamstringing ourselves. So it’s gonna be an interesting battle as we work through this whole off-season, spring, summer, fall camp into what is the best way for this offense to take the field and be successful in the fall.”
On freshman WR TK Keys
“He’s a guy that right when you see him, you can tell he’s got a natural skill set. He’s got all the tangibles that you want, and he’s just like any young guy that is coming in. He’s extremely talented. He makes plays. You just gotta work the mental side of it to where we can trust him to be where we want to be, and he’s working his butt off to do it. He’s done a great job. But it’s always the young guy thing, and especially with a talented guy that you wanna see on the field. He’s gotta earn the right that we can trust that he’s gonna be where he needs to be, where he’s supposed to be. He’s working towards that, but that is the big challenge of take all the little things. When you’re not just taking off down the field, and you can go make a great catch, can you be in the right position to block the right guy on the run play that’s coming at you? So that’s the fight that those guys gotta get into.”
On Colorado transfer QB Ryan Staub
“Ryan’s a guy that if you looked at the plays that he made, he did a really good job extending plays. He does a good job improvving. We talked about with Faizon and George as far as anticipating. That guy can throw windows at a really high level. He shops windows. He feels timing. He understands all that. So he has really good feel for the game. He’s a highly intelligent kid. Like you can put the offense on him and let him go. You know what I mean? And, he’ll be okay in it. And he does a great job using his mind, using his quick twitch ability to get the ball out and get the ball out on timing. He does a good job of that, so he’s a guy that we feel very comfortable with as well.”
On young QBs processing quickly vs. improvving with their feet
“Absolutely. Like the processing quickly part, like you hear a lot of people talking about quarterbacks and intelligence and smart and all that, and that’s true, but it’s really about the ability to process. Like how quickly can you process new information and make a decision without getting paralysis by analysis on it? Like that is playing the quarterback position. People scheme you too much, they’re never just gonna roll out of a vanilla look anymore. It’s just not gonna happen. So how do you process it? How do you understand where people are going? Who’s going where? Where am I going with the football like that? And then to your point, if a guy has that eject button with their legs, man, when it is a bad look, we’re gonna put you in a bad position at some point with a play call. Can you get us out of it? And we do have guys that can extend plays with their legs and make big plays in the passing game because of their legs and running the football as well. So their ability to move is a, is a huge asset.”
On the offensive line
“To the point about what, you know, (Derek Owings) and his staff have done, they’ve done a great job. Like they look right standing up there, and we’re not even at full healthy yet with everybody that’s gonna be out there. So, it’s exciting that you got a veteran offensive line that looks like they got the ability to move people off the ball. In this league, you can do as much good scheme stuff as you want. So when it come down to at the end of the day, can you move somebody forcibly against their will? If you can, you can win ball games. If you can’t, you’re gonna come up short. So, the way these guys are walking around and the intensity that they’re going about the walkthroughs and the mental side of the game makes me feel good about what we can do with those guys up front.”
On RB DeSean Bishop returning
“DeSean having him back is huge for us. You got a back that went for over a thousand yards in this conference. That’s not common. So the fact that we got him sitting in there again, and we’ve added some really good pieces around him where he doesn’t have to carry the ball 45 times a game and get broke down by week eight, excites me for what we can do in the run game. He is a guy that is, if not the best, note-taker on the team. You want him at every team meeting, every unit meeting. That guy writes down everything you say. He’s got it all organized. There’s no protection he doesn’t understand. There’s no run scheme he doesn’t understand. The mental side of his game, he has really jumped into that and really embraced that, and it’s why you saw last year his game go to another level, and why I think it can even go even higher.”
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