What Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday on the SEC Coaches Teleconference

Everything Tennessee Football head coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday on the SEC Coaches Teleconference, previewing his 15th-ranked Vols against Chattanooga in the season opener on Saturday (12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, TV: SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Good afternoon, everybody. Obviously everybody inside of our program is excited and anticipating kickoff, entire offseason. Really proud of the way our guys have grown throughout the entire offseason, what they’ve done during the course of training camp. Excited to go play with these guys on Saturday afternoon. And excited to see our fans. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in the stadium, so ready to see Vol Navy as we drive in and, and be greeted by 35,000 on the Vol Walk and get a chance to run through that T. 

“And (we’re) playing quality opponent in Chattanooga. It’s a program that’s had a lot of success. And for us, just on our three units — offense, defense and special teams — (we) want to come out and play extremely aggressive, but play, play smart football as well here as we grow this year.”

What skillset they saw in James Pearce that made them know he’d fit in Tennessee’s LEO position on defense

“Just his length and explosiveness, his short-area quickness, his long speed, were all raw traits that we really liked. As we got to know him through the recruiting process, just how competitive he is in his makeup. And felt like he was somebody that had an opportunity to really develop and grow into a really good football player. And James has grown so much off the field, on the field, his work capacity, how he approaches every day. 

“What people probably don’t understand about James is how smart or how high of a football IQ he has. With us, that position moves around within the structure of our defenses and he handles it really well and he has become a guy that really does a great job in helping the young guys, the new guys inside of our program in particular at his position, grow in what it means to play within the scope of our defense. So I’m really proud of the steps that he has taken  and need him to go play well this Saturday.”

The value of having a veteran backup quarterback in Tennessee fifth-year senior Gaston Moore

“Gaston’s experience inside of our offense for a long time, at two stops, is something that we place the value on. But his teammates can understand that too. He’s got great command of what we’re doing offensively. He’s played really well throughout the course of training camp and since we got back in January, has continued to really develop physically, his movement skills and has played at a really high level through the course of spring ball and training camp. And everybody’s got a lot of comfort with him. He started to take more ownership, more of a voice within our program as well. So really excited about what he’s done and got a lot of trust with him.”

How deep he believes Tennessee’s defensive line is, how competitive that group has been through the offense and fall camp

“Yeah, a coach’s best friend inside his position room is competition and we have that every single day inside of our defensive line unit. They’re big, thick, strong physical. They’ve done a really good job of growing just in their fundamentals technique using their hands. I really like the development of that group within Coach (Tim) Banks’ structure and what Coach (Rodney) Garner and Coach (Mike) Ekeler and Coach Chop have done. They’ve done a great job of developing those guys. We have a lot of trust in them. On game day we’ll be able to rotate a lot of guys and keep those guys fresh and ready to go play physical.”

The personal spin he has put on Tennessee’s uptempo offense, compared to what he was exposed to as a player and coach during his career

“It has been a combination of a lot of different things that I’ve been exposed to and that’s going all the way back as a player, to the different offenses I’ve been involved with throughout the course of my career. I think one of the things that has allowed us to be consistently one of the better offenses in the country is the ability to adapt and change and evolve in structures that we see from different defensive changes. 

“You take your personnel into account starting with your quarterback, but then your front five and the skill guys that you have and put them in a position to go be successful. And that’s why just over my career there’s been some things that have probably been at the core for most of it, but we’ve also been able to adapt and change.”