Josh Heupel says Tennessee's resurgance is 'what you envision'

Tennessee‘s dominant 44-6 victory over Kentucky extended their flawless record to 8-0 this season, and also bumped them up to a No. 2 ranking in the AP Poll tied with Ohio State. The Volunteer’s new ranking is their highest since the 2001 season, and their eighth win surpasses their win total from last season where they finished the year 7-6 in their first season under head coach Josh Heupel.

Prior to Heupel’s arrival, the Vols finished the 2020 season with a 3-7 record, a remarkable turnaround compared to where they stand now ranked as the second-best team in the country. Heupel was asked if he anticipated this quick of a turnaround when he was hired in January of 2021 following their win over the Wildcats.

“I don’t know if the first day that I took the job I stood up here as I was getting introduced, this is what you envision man,” Heupel said. “You start a journey that you understand the type of team that you want to build, how you want to play, everybody together, but then you’re in the nuts and bolts of just continuing to grow, and compete, and get better every day, and small decisions affect the road.”

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Heupel’s only in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach, spending three years at UCF before becoming Tennessee’s 27th head coach in program history. He’s clearly got the hang of being a head man and turning a program around fast, and also attributes the growth of Tennessee to the players on his team.

“But this group of individuals, this is the group of individuals that chose to stay, they wanted to be here. They’ve grown individually, just who they are, what they’re about, how they compete every day, and collectively you can see that they care about each other and once you start having a group like that you can cover a lot of ground really quickly as a football program,” Heupel said.

Heupel did have a strong senior class that had the decision to play at the next level or stay for their final season at Tennessee, including key players like Hendon Hooker, Trevon Flowers, Byron Young, and others that decided to stay for one final, special senior season that has certainly lived up to the hype so far.

The Vol’s turnaround and season have been nothing short of remarkable, but their biggest test of the season is right around the corner, as they take on No. 1 Georgia this weekend in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the entire college football season.

“And obviously, we’ve taken some huge strides, next week’s another big test, but we’re looking forward to it,” Heupel said.