Josh Heupel on depth, youth of Tennessee secondary

Thanks to 45 first-half points against Missouri on Saturday, Tennessee was able to play some young members of their defense early. 

On Monday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel spoke with the media about the opportunity and success underclassmen had in the 62-24 demolition of an SEC East foe.

“Great to get them a lot of reps,” Heupel said. “It’s gotta be next man up at any position group. I talked about that Week 1. It plays out as the season unfolds. You don’t know when it’s going to happen, so you better be ready to smash your opportunity when it comes.”

Two players that had particularly impressive afternoons were sophomores Tamarion McDonald and Doneiko Slaughter. McDonald finished the game with five tackles, while Slaughter had three. McDonald tied two other players for the second-most tackles on the day.

“Those two guys had done a really good job with the opportunities that they’ve gotten,” Heupel added. “I thought ‘Neiko’ played seamless throughout the course of the day, ‘T-Mac’ did a lot of really positive things on the back end. There’s a couple of things that he can do better with his eyes, but for young players, I thought there was a lot of positives and a lot of growth.”

Ahead of the game, Slaughter was the No. 2 at the star position behind senior Theo Jackson, and McDonald was the second safety behind senior Trevon Flowers. They are both listed in the same positions for this weekend’s game against South Carolina. Jackson and Flowers lead the team in tackles with 37 and 27, respectively. 

Slaughter, a three-star prospect from Georgia, appeared in 10 games last season and had one start. He was the sole true freshman to start in Tennessee’s season opener. McDonald was also a three-star recruit, and he saw action in seven games with one start last year.

Tennessee working with new, clear No. 1 quarterback against South Carolina

While Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker has started the last three games for the Volunteers, this week’s depth chart is the first time he has been listed as the starter over Michigan transfer Joe Milton. Harrison Bailey remains the third-string passer.

Hooker was nearly perfect on Saturday, throwing for 225 yards and three touchdowns with a 79% completion percentage. 

Additionally, Tennessee’s run game is on fire, mounting 255 rushing yards per game led by the No. 1 JUCO running back in the 2021 class Tiyon Evans. The back is averaging 6.4 yards per carry and has five touchdowns. Evans had a 92-yard touchdown run on Saturday.

Both Tennessee and South Carolina enter the game with a 3-2 record, but the Volunteers are a 10.5-point favorite.