Josh Heupel provides injury update heading into halftime

Tennessee heads into the locker room with an impressive 35-0 lead over Akron. It’s a warmup game for the Volunteers, who will have a massive SEC showdown against Florida next week. Even so, head coach Josh Heupel wants to see his team perform well.

Before speaking on the play of his team, Heupel spoke on a couple of the injuries the Volunteers suffered during the first half. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman went down with a lower-body injury, while Jabari Small was hurt as well. Heupel said both will be good to go, at least in the long run.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I think both of them will be alright,” Heupel said. “Whether or not they return this game, I’m not sure. But I feel like they’re good for the long run.”

Replacing Small has been Dylan Sampson. The running back earned the praise of his head coach, saying the pass protection has been really solid. Overall, Heupel is impressed with how well Sampson has been playing after being called into action.

“He’s expecting him to play the way we expected him to play, to be honest,” said Heupel. “When he’s gotten opportunities, he’s handled himself like a mature vet. Really good job in the run game, getting some blocks. Taking care of the ball in pass pro too.”

Josh Heupel evaluates first-half performance

After getting through the injury notes, Heupel revealed how he thought Tennessee played in the first half. He said they need to execute better when they come out of the locker room. Defensively, he wants to get a few sacks under their belt after applying good pressure in the opening two quarters.

“Execute better than we did in the first half,” the head coach said. “Clean some things up. Offensively, run game, pass pro, some pass and catch execution. Defensively, we’re applying pressure to the quarterback. Want to see him get down.”

Tennessee had over 400 offensive yards in the first half, with a majority coming from quarterback Hendon Hooker. Sadly, there’s little chance we see more of the first-team offense moving forward for the Volunteers. There’s too big of a matchup next week to risk any more injuries.