Four downs with Huepel: Bye week update

Tennessee rolled into its open date with some tangible momentum, fresh off of a 38-33 win over Florida. That win propelled the Vols into the top-10 and has fueled all kinds of optimism in a starving fan base.

Next up for the Vols is a road trip to Baton Rouge to face LSU and the hope on the Tennessee side is that they’ll be a healthier team when they hit the Bayou than the were last week against the Gators.

The highest priority on the injury list is obviously wide receiver Cedric Tillman, who missed the Florida game with an ankle injury.

In typical Josh Heupel fashion, the head coach didn’t have much in the way of a prognosis for Tillman at this point of his recovery.

“Not right now,” Heupel said when asked if he had an update on Tillman’s status. “Obviously, we are a long way away from game time. We are hopeful that he will continue to make progress and be available when we go down there (to LSU).” 

Hendon Hooker had an historic day against the Gators, throwing for 349 yards and adding 112 yards rushing. He also made a couple of visits to the sideline injury tent during the game, leading some to wonder just how healthy he was exiting the weekend.

Heupel indicated that Hooker was on the practice field this week.

“He was out here today and he looked good, so we anticipate having no problems,” Heupel said of his quarterback.

Other players who missed the Florida game and have been battling injuries were Dylan Sampson, Dee williams and Warren Burrell.

Heupel was vague about the status of that trio.

“We’ll just see where we get to when we get to next week. We are a long way away. That’s the advantage of a bye week, to just see where we’re at,” the head coach said.

SECONDARY EVALUATION

The most encouraging aspect of the Florida game for Tennessee fans was undoubtedly Hooker’s performance.

The most discouraging detail of the game for fans was also easily identifiable and that would be Tennessee’s pass defense.

After surrendering more yards through the air than any other team in the SEC last year the hope was that the Vols would be improved in the back end.

That didn’t look to be the case on Saturday with Florida’s Anthony Richardson shattering his career high with 453 yards passing.

“Some of it, you have to give (Anthony Richardson) credit, and give (Florida) credit too. He’s a good player and made some plays with his feet and with his arm, too,” Heupel said in evaluating his team’s pass defense from Saturday.
“Some of their max protections, they were able to block it up pretty well and give him time to push the football down the field. There were things that we have to do better, starting with tackling, assignment, understanding.

“We were not playing with the right angles and technique that maybe allowed him to get outside the pocket. The tackling down the football field at times was not good enough. There were some coverage lapses, too. In what we do, that can be all three levels.”

HEAVY WORKLOAD FOR ‘BIG O’

Looking over the stats from this past weekend one of the biggest surprises of all the numbers coming out of the football game was the amount of snaps Omari Thomas played.

The junior defensive tackle logged 64 snaps against Florida, a huge number for a defensive lineman and about three or four times the workload that Thomas was accustomed to getting last year.

Thomas finished the game with five tackles, deflected a pass late in the final minutes and made one of the biggest plays of the game when he forced a fourth quarter fumble that Tennessee recovered to stop a Florida drive that had reached the red-zone.

“He has been probably as consistent as anybody has been in the interior,” Heupel said of Thomas. “Continuing to change his body has allowed him to be more explosive, play in a better football position and play with better fundamentals and techniques over the duration of the football game.

“His continued growth as a leader has been important inside of our defensive line room. He is continually getting better, and doing a better job of snagging off and making plays in the run game and being able to push and affect the pocket and create some big plays there too.” 

YOUNG GUNS GETTING SOME RUN

Sticking with the topic of the defensive line, that’s the spot where Tennessee is currently getting the most production from its freshman class.

Both Joshua Josephs and Tyre West got some meaningful work against the Gators and based on what they showed on Saturday their snap counts aren’t going to do anything but go up as the season progresses.

West recorded a tackle and gave the Vols some valuable snaps in the middle. Josephs snagged two tackles and was credited with two quarterback hurries.

“I thought they played really well – gap integrity in the run game and being able to affect the quarterback in some of the passing situations,” Heupel said of the freshmen duo.

“Tyre (West) had some tackles that were behind the line of scrimmage. I think those guys are going to continue to grow here as we go. We’re deeper and able to play more guys who are able to play harder for longer and play at a higher level. Those two guys’ continued growth here is something I’m really excited about seeing here on the back two-third of the season.”