Josh Heupel paints picture for future of Tennessee football

Josh Heupel just wrapped up a phenomenal second season at Tennessee with an Orange Bowl win over Clemson. Now, from what he says, he wants the 2022 season in Knoxville to be the standard for what they do moving forward.

Heupel spoke about the future of his program during the postgame press conference in Miami. The way he described what he wants the next Tennessee teams to look like is exactly what this year’s team excelled at doing over their 11-2 campaign.

“Playing electric football on the offensive side, scoring a bunch of points. Defensively being aggressive, fearless, ferocious, and being the best in the country. And then having that same mentality on special teams,” said Heupel.

This was the best record by a Volunteer team since 2001. However, it’s the excitement that they created around the program that can sustain this success for seasons to come.

Heupel is hoping they inspired exactly that, especially when it comes to recruiting. He says yet another high-level performance on the biggest stage from his team was just another positive step on the campaign trail to show recruits why they should come play for him at Tennessee.

“We’re just getting started in what we’re developing here. I love coming to work with these guys every single day,” Heupel said. “Tonight our brand was in front of everybody again on a national stage. This was a primetime game. And they got a chance to see who we are, how we play, how we compete together. Our connection, the energy.”

“I think if somebody wants to play an exciting brand of football and have more fun than they can imagine? This is a great place to come compete. On Rocky Top in front of an unbelievable fanbase,” said Heupel.

Tennessee will have a lot of work to do in order to replicate or improve on the success of this season. However, with this energy, several returning players, and a Top-15 recruiting class on the way, Heupel has plenty of tools to make a run again in 2023.