Tennessee football returned to Neyland Stadium on Thursday morning for its second intrasquad scrimmage. Afterward, Vols head coach Josh Heupel met with the media to give his thoughts on what transpired.
Heupel was asked about his quarterbacks, his defense, key players and more.
Here’s what he said.
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Opening Statement
“Happy Easter weekend to everybody. Hope you have a great time with your families. Good work today inside the scrimmage. Scrimmage number two, I thought defensively did a really good job in the early part of the scrimmage. Assignment sound, being in the right position and then getting off the field on third down. And second half of the scrimmage offense put a couple of plays together. All in all, really good work and a lot left for us here as we head into our last week of spring ball.”
On where he felt like Tennessee grew on both sides of the ball since the last scrimmage
“Introduced crowd noise this week. Simulating playing on the road. I thought the quarterbacks, operationally, did a lot better job from day one to today. Same thing, offensive line, the communication, silent count. I think defensively, some of the things that we’ve added, I thought they grasped it really quickly and handled it well. They’ve continued to grow just fundamentally and within the scope of technique, that’s inside the scheme, but also just block destruction, tackling, we took a step. Offensively I think up front we’re continually growing our ability to create movement, being better in our double teams versus coming off, those types of things.”
On what he’s seen from Tennessee transfer defensive lineman Xavier Gilliam so far in spring
“He’s a guy that has played some football. Has familiarity with the scheme. Had a really good offseason in our winter program. And then as we’ve continued to go through spring ball, I think he’s flashed more and more, the deeper that we’ve gotten into it. First and second down, really good at the point of attack. Not getting moved versus double teams. Does a good job using his hands. I’ve shown him a couple of times in our block destruction drill that we do up front. And then you look at some of what he’s done in our pass rush. That’s our pass rush period. It’s also during team. He showcased the ability to play on an edge and affect the quarterback.”
On where Tennessee quarterbacks George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon are right now with their decision making
“In general, I’ve been really pleased with their decision-making, taking care of the football. There’s been a couple of things where they’ve maybe not seen it right or as the play has broken down and had to move body and upper body position where they haven’t been as accurate or sound in the decision-making. Collectively as a group they’ve been really good. There’s a couple things that each of them got to continue to grow in, but that’s spring ball and through the course of summer and and training camp too.”
On how quickly Faizon Brandon has been able to grasp the offense as a freshman
“For a true freshman, getting here in January, seven weeks off season, what we did, and then hitting the ground in spring ball, through today he’s been really sound in what he’s done. I think the pass game, certainly there’s a lot on our quarterbacks in the run game too. And that’s an area that at times can be the hardest part for our quarterbacks. But he’s continued to progress in that. There’s still a lot left for him and everybody in that room for us to do what we need to. But as a true freshman, certainly pleased with what he’s done up until this point.”
On if he can see and test the comfort level of players when they scrimmage in Neyland Stadium
“Yeah. All of our guys, 105 of them. Excited to see those guys compete. Practice is really important. This is as close as you get to true game day. All the coaches on the sideline. You got to operate. So you want to see how they function and operate. You want to see how they handle apositive play, how they handle one that doesn’t go their way too. The only play that matters is the next play. Creating that mindset, that maturity to go play the next play as the first play and play it independently is really important in learning how to play smart football. So a lot of positives from today. There’s some things that certainly in all three phases we got to get better at too.”
On TE Dasaahn Brame’s development
“Certainly a guy that, because of what he did in high school, how he grew up inside of the game, very natural. As a route runner, understanding space, leverage, being able to go up and high point, big catch radius, created a big play today down the middle of the football field. He has definitely grown in becoming a complete tight end, being able to play in the run game and protection, too. And so I’ve been really excited about what he’s done. I think I said last time we talked, too, that’s a guy that missed a bunch of time with an injury coming out of high school a year ago. Certainly grew throughout the course of the season as he got healthy, got exposed to more things, but expecting him to play a lot of football and play at a really high level.”
On if he wants the format of spring practice changed
“I do like the opportunities that we get. I think your team is different, what you need to get out of it every year is a little bit different, as far as how many veteran players that have played within the scheme. You still have to develop your young players. I like the opportunities that we get. You know, you still get time with your players during the course of summer. That rule changed a handful of years ago. Do I like what we do? Yes. Could it move further back? I can see that too, but I certainly like the timing of what we’re doing right now because of the amount of physical work that you can get. Some of that’s in team where you got a lot of periods.
“And then certainly you look at some of the fundamental and technique work that you got to get in what I call group work, where you’re going to get somebody on the other side of the ball in a real setting. I think the timing of what we’re doing right now gives you the ability to do more of that than if it moved into late June.”
On what he likes about his secondary
“I feel really good about the group. The guys that we brought in through the portal, young guys that we signed, they got real traits. And the guys that were here on campus that were young a year ago, some of those guys played a lot on special teams, the growth of those guys, as well. Coach’s best friend is competition. We certainly have that on the back end at every spot. I think they’ve grasped what we’re doing defensively really well, playing assignment sound with good eyes. The communication’s been really good. So in general, really like what we’re doing. There’s still a lot left out there for us, but from corners to nickel to safety, I like what we have on the back end.”
On the pass rush, Chaz Coleman particularly
“Just in general, I think the pass rush has been good. That’s certainly an area that as we continue to go through the rest of spring and the training camp, point of emphasis for us, being able to play with different personnel packages as we find out who are our best and make sure that we got those guys on the football field. Between these four-man rushes, we’ve been able to apply some pressure certainly in the scope of our pass, our blitz pass packages, as well. It’s been good, so we just got to continue to grow on that side of it. Certainly a point of emphasis for us as we finish out spring ball.”
