Joey Halzle explains how Josh Heupel creates a real family environment at Tennessee

Over the past couple of seasons, Tennessee has seen its program go through a kind of Renaissance under head coach Josh Heupel. A large part of that change, according to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle has been the family environment within the program.

During a recent press conference, Halzle explained how Heupel created that family environment.

“It’s awesome and it’s uncommon in this profession,” Joey Halzle said. “Like, everyone loves to pitch that family tagline out there in recruiting but most people don’t actually live by it.”

Halzle emphasized that Heupel is more than happy to have families in the team facilities, making it a better environment to work in all together.

“It’s great that when your kids are out there, you don’t have to worry about if they’re loud in the hallway and he’s like looking around, like no. They’re kids. They should be loud. Like he wants to hear your kids out there running around, ripping footballs around the hallway, like banking them off the walls,” Halzle explained.

“It’s just nice that you can have them up there and while they’re up there, you’re not worried about they have to be like, perfect. It’s like, man they’re at a football practice. Let them run around, let them make noise, let them be loud. You know, like the fact that that’s not only okay but that’s how it should be, it’s awesome.”

It’s a good relationship that Joey Halzle has with Josh Heupel overall. The two work closely to implement Heupel’s high-speed offense and even though the offense is Heupel’s design, Halzle is never afraid to speak his mind thanks to that relationship.

“Like, we have that trust where we can — like, he can say things to me, I can say things to him and we both know that what the other person’s intent actually is. You know what I’m saying? Like, no one’s trying to cut somebody down or trying to be, you know, disrespectful in any type of way. It’s, ‘hey, this is how I see it and this is what I feel the information that needs to get conveyed to you.’ And whether it’s going from me to him or him to me it’s always received that way,” Halzle said.

“We’ve been together for so long, we have that relationship, we understand that both of us have the best of intentions for the other person. So now, we can just communicate and have that relay of information. It’s free-flowing. There’s no — like, I hope he takes this the right way or I hope he doesn’t see this — there’s no walking on eggshells, it’s just he says he wants communication in the building, so that that’s what he gets.”

Joey Halzle explained what Tennessee needs in a quarterback

Tennessee runs an offense that can put up massive numbers. However, to do so, it needs the right quarterback. Last season, that was Hendon Hooker. In 2023 it looks like that’s going to be Joe Milton with Nico Iamaleava lined up for the future.

Now, Joey Halzle has explained the secret to being a great quarterback in Josh Heupel’s system.

“I think if you look at what the guys have had success doing what we’re doing have in common, they have that mindset of they’re ‘ballers,’ for lack of a better term,” Halzle said.

“When something breaks down they can get you right. When something is not the perfect play call or defense has a call against ‘ya, they get ‘ya out of it. That mindset of just being able to kind of wheel-and-deal and be the type of guy that can make the play.”