Josh Heupel admires growth of Jaylen Wright

Tennessee sophomore running back Jaylen Wright is coming off one of his best performances of the season in the Volunteers demolition of Kentucky. It was enough to have head coach Josh Heupel praising the strides that Wright is making.

Wright took seven carries for 73 yards and a touchdown against the Wildcats as the Vols romped to a 44-6 win. Heupel is impressed by his confidence and growth — and how much room there still is for improvement.

“Yeah, confidence, which stems from understanding, practice habits, doing the little things at a really high level every day. He was proud, excited,” Heupel said. “We recognized in the building, just his ball security last week and some of the unique body positions that he got into that are tough to do that in.”

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Wright has carried the ball 92 times for 478 yards this season, already exceeding his 2021 totals in one fewer game played and while bumping up to 5.2 yards per carry. He’s also got five touchdowns, one more than he had a year ago as a freshman.

Currently, Wright has capable company in the Tennessee backfield in the form of junior Jabari Small. Small has 110 carries for 475 yards and eight touchdowns. It’s a tandem that’s given the Volunteers a dose of hard running to balance out with Tennessee’s electric passing attack.

Eventually, though, Wright should get his looks as the lead back. And Heupel is excited to see where he can go.

“He’s still a young football player,” Heupel said. “He’s a year and a half into his college career. He’s going to continue to get better at everything that a running back needs to do. But certainly playing with a great amount of confidence right now.”