Everything Tennessee OC Joey Halzle said following the Vols third workout

Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle met with the media on Wednesday where he discussed the leadership development of his quarterback as well as the needed growth for the offense for the 2025 season.

Joey a lot of the big voices of last season are gone. They were at pro day yesterday. Is there a developmental thing with Nico that he’s needs to move forward with a louder voice, bigger part of the culture? 

A hundred percent. That’s been a big part of what we talked about too. Everybody knows what he is as a player, as an athlete on the field. He’s an elite player, but the challenge this year has been okay, you have that. We know about that. Like let’s take the step off the field. You’re the one that’s gonna have to be the united voice with no Cooper Mays, with no Dylan Sampson, with no Bru McCoy in the building anymore. A guy like him can step in and really take it over and lead it his way. He can’t be fake, he can’t be something you’re not, but you do have to be willing to step out, step in front of the team and address guys and clean things up especially when they’re not right. 

What’s the biggest jump that Jake Merklinger has made there and and just how much more confident you guys feel in him to, to run this obvious than did maybe a year ago? 

First of all, going through your first spring as a freshman, your first fall camp as a freshman and you’re drinking from a fire hose right from the rip. So he has a different feel out out of the field. He is not pressing, he’s calm. You can see it in the pocket when your feet, you’re calm, your eyes are calm in the pocket, you can drive the ball all over the field and he’s had a really good good start. I’m really happy with where he is at. He’s really focused on cleaning up his fundamentals and all that’s translated to a pretty high quarterback playoff on the field right now.

Star Thomas. What’d you like about him that you wanted to bring him in? How does he fit into that running back room? 

Physical runner, tons of experience. We were young moving from being old in that room to young in that room guys without a ton of game experience. He’s got a bunch of that. He’s played at a high level in a big conference. So he’s a guy that comes in. He’s not gonna step into any moment that feels too big for him. He’s got a skill set that goes and translates to the SEC. He’s a real solid pick for us 

Cooper, Dylan, Bru that was long talking last year. Were there ever a point in time him being the quarterback last year that he took control? 

Absolutely, yeah. He’s never scared of the spotlight. He’s not scared to step out. It’s just not his natural personality to be boisterous and jump out in front of a room. Especially when you got guys that he respected in that position. There’s no need to talk over a Dylan Sampson or Cooper Mays or Bru McCoy when when they’re handling something they can handle. And that’s the biggest jump is it’s not now like picking your time. It’s like it is your time every single time. It’s your time to be out there. It’s your time to put yourself out there and and be a little bit vulnerable in front of the team and everything that comes with that. Because if you’re gonna step out there, then you gotta be doing everything right off the field as well. 

What all does that look like? I mean it’s not just rah rah, right? So what do you need him to do so that it’s not fake? Can you kind of break down what that looks like?

Yeah,if he tried to start going rah rah now it wouldn’t hit ’cause that’s just not him and he doesn’t do that. But what he did, like he did it today, he didn’t like something he saw, he called the guys up and said, Hey, he addressed it right now and we moved on. Like he’s not gonna ever just start screaming and like throwing stuff that’s not him. But what he will do is step up and see something that he doesn’t think is right and he stepped in front of the group and addressed it in the way that fit him. It was assertive but it wasn’t anything that wasn’t him. 

When you look to his production on the field, where do you think is the number one priority for him that you would like him to take the next step? 

I think for all of us as an offense it is hitting the big plays when they present themselves, it’s hard in this league to get big plays and when they present themselves you gotta make ’em, You’re never gonna bat a thousand, you’re not gonna hit a hundred percent, but we gotta hit those at a higher clip this year from Oline to quarterback to wide out to back to tight end. We’ve all gotta step up and we gotta make those plays. 

How do you feel that Jake is able to learn more from Nico now compared to last year at this time? 

I think when you first get here at this time you’re just trying to learn your job. You’re just trying to learn like how do I go on the field and call this play correctly and get my eyes in the right spot so I don’t look bad. That’s like the classic freshman thing is I just don’t want to go out there and not do good. He’s done with that. He’s way past that now. So now he’s taking the what can I learn from how he plays, how he sees they’re talking through intricacies of a play and yeah, we have our base rules but ok, what about when this happens? How’d you see like you’re seeing a ton of conversation between those two after every play.  The two of them have a really good working relationship together. 

Joey, I understand over the past couple seasons you guys have brought in the talented freshmen you’ve recruited and maybe those guys haven’t made a huge impact as freshmen now with the room, the way it’s looking now you might need a Travis Smith, some of those guys play a lot more. How do you expedite that process for them to get them to be a little bit more ready and or you get to a point where you just kind of have to throw them out there?

There’s a little bit of both, right? No matter what a true freshman looks like going through spring and fall camp, you don’t really know what you have until you get under the lights in front of a hundred thousand people and now what’s somebody gonna act like? Both those guys are mature beyond their years that are here right now. They’re playing really well. They have the physical traits that hold up where they don’t feel like they’re gonna get broken when they step out on the field. So now it’s our job to make sure that the learning process isn’t what keeps them off the field and then they have to go show that against the league competition. They can go make plays. 

It ends up being you can know what to do, you can be in the right spot all the time, but if we throw the ball to you are you gonna go make that play? And that’s what the young guys are pressing to make sure they get themselves in that spot. 

A lot of change on the offensive lines. The two transfers of course. David Sanders, I know today was day one in pads but what have you seen from that group here in the early stages? 

I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen so far. One of the best things that’s going on in that room is there’s a ton of competition like you said, but it’s healthy competition. It’s us all trying to work in the same direction. So the team is where it needs to be while everyone’s fighting to get on the field. So there’s a bunch of mix and matching different guys are going with the ones and two every single day and it makes for a really fun camp when there’s that much competition, especially at that ’cause that’s what makes you go and it’s it. They’ve done a really good job the first three days 

When you did self-scout, I know you talked about making the plays that are there. When you did the self-scout this winter, what did, what did you take away from last year that is the bucket or the priority list, punch list if you will, to really improve on now? And secondly, how beneficial is an extra set of eyes, like a Seth Littrell just being in the room with the experience that he has to help you? 

The main thing we took away was we left a lot out there on the field. We had a lot of opportunities to go make big plays and for whatever reason from us on the sideline to the guys on the field that didn’t fall that way. That’s a big part of what we’ve talked about is hitting those big crossing rounds at a high clip. Getting a guy like Seth (Littrell), whenever you have good football coaches in the building, man that’s a positive thing. So extra set of eyes that know what they’re looking at, been through and have done it at a high level. Having those guys in the room, having those guys in the building is always a huge asset. 

Mike Matthews obviously flashed a few times last year. What’s the next step for him and what does he need to be to help Niko? 

I think what you said is kind of my answer to the question he flashed last year. He needs to go from a guy that’s flashy to a guy that we can consistently count on to do it week in and week out, that’s a guy you can target. It doesn’t matter who they have on him, he’s got the skillset, he is got the ability to go win. So for him, it’s been about working to be really technical. He’s getting his strength and his weight up. He’s working at a really high level, which is allowing him to play at a high level right now. And that’s one of the things from kind of like what I said with Jake, your first year, a lot of times you’re trying to just learn and do the right thing and now you’re getting into the detail of, okay, now I know what route to run, how do I run this best versus this look versus this look versus this look what are my adjustments? 

So you talked a little bit about the offensive line, particularly those two transfers. What did you guys like that you saw from them at other stops and how do you think they can come in and help you?

Guys that play football one at a high level, you know that the guys that they’re playing against are, are real dudes. They’re guys I don’t know what all the stats are, but you didn’t see them give up pressures, you saw them in the run game. Being able to physically move people. They’re guys that can step in there right from the beginning if they end up on the field and they will look like they’re supposed to be out there on the SEC offensive line. They can move well, they’ve got the size and strength they can hold up in the run game, they can hold up in the pass game. You can move bodies with them. So they’re two guys that allow you to be really versatile on the offensive line with the plays that you can call either way to both guys. 

With so much open competition and fresh faces across the field on offense, how do you maybe self-evaluate how those guys or position groups are reaching goals during spring practice? 

I think a lot of that with the young guys, especially the new faces, whether they’re a transfer or a freshman is you gotta take the first couple days with a grain of salt. Sometimes guys will come flying out the gate because it’s the same things they’ve been doing for a week and now you put something new on them and maybe they slow down a little bit or vice versa. Guys are a little slower, then they hit the ground running. So with any of the new faces, with any of the new guys, the biggest thing is is just keep getting them on the field, keep getting reps with them and you get a picture over time and not making a snapshot decision with them after four days, it’s like, all right, that’s the guy. It’s like, man, you really don’t know the answer to that question. They still haven’t been out there in spring with no coaches behind them with no help or they’re completely on their own. So all that is we just keep working through spring into summer and fall. It’s gonna kind of help shape what this unit looks like at the end. 

Again, following up with that, I know you, you gotta wait and see, but what do, what do you think you have in Daune Morris? 

I think you’ve got a guy that’s got a chance to be a big play potential guy. When he has a ball on his hand, he’s shown flashes where he can put a foot in the ground and get north and south really quickly. He’s got high end speed. He’s got really good weight also for him. Again, it’s gonna come down to we know what you can do with the ball in your hands, but are you gonna,  protect the quarterback when the ball’s not in your hands? Are you gonna be in the right spot at the right time on pass plays and run plays, but you’re also gonna follow the right track. So we’re not taking negatives on the play that should have hit inside and bounce it. So with young backs, a lot of times early you see the flashes of what they can be and for them getting on the field and contributing at a young age, it’s all stuff that maybe you don’t see as much that we gotta go and do a good job in film evaluation and practice. 

William Satterwhite. What does this offseason look like for him? And if he is a guy that earns a starting job, what gives you confidence you can do that? At a high level? 

With Sat (Satterwhite), the big thing for him is just the size and strength of going from a freshman offensive lineman to now you’re in your second year in the program and holding up for 17 weeks in an SEC schedule. So that’s first and foremost with the guys up front is they have to be able to physically not just survive, but physically dominate up front for 17 weeks. What gives you a ton of confidence about him is that’s, he’s a highly, highly intelligent guy. He was the guy from the time he got here, knew the calls, knew where he was supposed to go, could make the adjustments. It didn’t seem like he was a true freshman out there mentally. 

And now that his physicality is matching up to that, you’re excited about what he could do. Replacing the guy like, like Cooper Mays out there, that position where you couldn’t show Cooper something he hadn’t seen before. Now he hasn’t played that much ball, so I’m not saying it’s the same thing, but you feel like he can get himself in that same place.