Josh Heupel assesses the depth on Tennessee's roster this season

The Tennessee Volunteers kicked off spring practice on Monday as they look to build on their newly found success under head coach Josh Heupel. The Volunteers lost some key players from last season, but also have plenty fresh faces that will be putting on the pads for the first time for Tennessee. Heupel was asked about the depth of his new look roster on Monday, seeming pretty pleased with his current personnel.

“Yeah, I think for you guys, you walk out there and you can see the difference in depth at every position,” Heupel said. “The new guys, the young guys that we’ve added length, athleticism, size on the offensive and defensive lines. Much deeper than we’ve been, skill spots same thing.”

Heupel brought in a slew of talent from the high school and college ranks through traditional recruiting and through the transfer portal. Many of those players are already enrolled and present in Knoxville for spring practice, a huge change from Heupel’s first season at the helm when the roster was decimated by transfer portal departures.

“For us this spring we’re truly gonna be able to get reps for an entire roster of guys and in year one we were a shell of just numbers but athletes on the grass that we are today,” Heupel explained. “So that allows you to increase the number of reps that you’re going to get during the spring and it also creates a ton of competition and urgency from the meeting rooms to what you’re doing on the practice field.”

Turning a program around definitely has its perks and Heupel is now reaping the benefits by now being able to run a large-scale, efficient operation for spring practice entering his third season on the job. The Volunteers will be able to compete at a high level on the field given their new depth this spring, but according to Heupel, they’ve already been doing so off the field this offseason as well.

“The seven weeks that we had before spring break have been great. great competition, guys made a bunch of strides, changing their bodies, starting to learn our schemes. But today is day one of putting the helmets on and getting out there and doing some things for real,” Heupel said.

It sounds like the Vols have a recipe for success brewing this offseason, as their spring game kicks off next month on April 15.