Tennessee releases hype video ahead of season opener vs. Virginia

Tennessee opens the 2023 football season in Nashville, playing a neutral-but-friendly site game against Virginia on Saturday at noon. And the Volunteers are making sure fans are ready and rocking for the season opener.

On Friday evening, the Volunteers social team put out a hype video for the game, featuring few words and many sights and sounds from fall camp. The lone narration comes via a pair of quotes from head coach Josh Heupel transposed together.

“The standard at Tennessee is to win championships, it’s pretty clear. For us, that starts in the eastern division,” Heupel said in a quote from SEC Media Days.

Tomorrow… It's football time in Tennessee#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/i5mBpwnXHL

— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 1, 2023

Shortly after, it added another remark from the team media days.

“At the end of the day, right now, this time of year, you gotta show that you can master what we’re doing and go take a job,” Heupel said.

Interspersed are plenty of cut ups from fall camp practices and 2022 highlights. Quarterback Joe Milton is featured frequently.

At the end, a solemn message comes across the screen.

“Tomorrow, it’s football time in Tennessee,” it reads.

Heupel and Co. are prepping for Virginia QB Tony Muskett in his debut

Tennessee won’t be the only team in Nissan Stadium in Nashville debuting a starting quarterback when they face Virginia this Saturday, as the Cavaliers will be starting newly acquired transfer Tony Muskett under center.

Muskett has spent the last three seasons at Monmouth, where he was a standout quarterback for the Hawks. And ahead of his Virginia debut, Heupel was asked what he’s seen from Muskett in his film study.

“A guy that’s played at a really high level,” Heupel said. “And obviously transferring into a little bit of a new system, I anticipate his experience, he’ll be ready to play at a high level.”

Muskett was a three-year starter at Monmouth, where he threw for 5,687 yards and 51 touchdowns on an efficient 64.3% completion percentage. He was named the Big South Offensive Freshman of the Year following the 2020-2021 season, then followed that with two straight First Team All-Big South Conference selections in his sophomore and junior seasons.

He placed his name within the top five of various statistical categories in Monmouth’s record books, and will be looking to bring similar success to Virginia this season.

“For us we gotta do a great job of affecting the run game, eliminating that on normal downs, and trying to get them into some third and long situations,” Heupel said.