Josh Heupel opens up on growth of Squirrel White

Josh Heupel is elated with the performance of Tennessee wide receiver Squirrel White thus far in 2023.

As the No. 21-ranked Volunteers travel to Lexington for an SEC East rivalry matchup against Kentucky, Heupel took some time to wax poetic about one of Tennessee’s most dangerous weapons. Evidently, the Volunteers coach has realized what fans’ eyes have seen from White this season.

“He’s had some of those performances throughout the course of the season. At the end of the day, when the balls coming his way, he’s played really effectively,” explained Heupel. “For us, as a young player, he’s done a great job of continuing to develop. He did that last year. He’s done that during the course of this season too.

“We knew this football game was going to be one-on-ones, out on the perimeter. He’s got to playwith great technique, and go win some of those matchups.”

Coming off his best game of the season against Alabama, where White amassed ten catches for 111 receiving yards and a touchdown, the wide receiver will be looking for a repeat this weekend.

Tennessee didn’t get the victory over the Crimson Tide, but Squirrel White did his part. If he continues to put up performances like the one in question, Josh Heupel and the Volunteers will have a lot of winning to do over the next couple of weeks.

Josh Heupel shares his impressions of Devin Leary, Kentucky offense

Meanwhile, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has a new Wildcat quarterback to silence in Devin Leary, after two years of keeping Will Levis in check.

Despite his dominance over Kentucky, Heupel respects Leary and realizes how important he is to Kentucky’s offense — which he has a plan for.

“He’s an experienced player. I think within a new system for him, he’s continued to grow throughout the course of it. I think he does a lot of the line of scrimmage,” Heupel said of the Kentucky quarterback. “And in the run game does a really good job controlling. You see them and their efficiency within that. The play-action pass, he’s continued to grow on that. 

“We gotta do a really good job of having our eyes on our keys. One, to play the run with great gap integrity, but as their boot package and play-action pass happen, we gotta do a great job matching bodies up.”

While Leary’s ability to lead an offense isn’t in question — his performance is another. Leary has thrown for over 200 yards one time since beginning SEC play, which was 205 yards against Vanderbilt.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this article.