The Volquest chat
Tennessee was back to work on the practice field Monday in Miami as the Vols continue their preparations for Friday night’s match up against Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Everyone except the opt-outs were on the practice field Monday including the mid-term enrollees who are not eligible to play in the game.
The latest opt out for the Vols is linebacker Jeremy Banks, who didn’t opt out by choice. In Banks’ spot Tennessee is expected to split his reps between Juaun Mitchell and leading tackler Aaron Beasley. The three have split reps most of the year and it was Mitchell and Beasley who played the line share of Banks’ reps in the loss to South Carolina.
Tennessee continues to evaluate and offer players in the transfer portal as college players continue to enter in the current 45 day window.
Meanwhile the basketball team is set to open up conference play on Wednesday night as they travel to Oxford to take on Ole Miss.
We answer those questions and and much more in the weekly Monday night chat. An hour long Q and A with the Volquest staff.
The Scout for Tennessee
MIAMI — Tennessee is New Year’s Six bowl bound as the No. 6 Volunteers will take on the No. 7 Clemson Tigers on December 30 at 8 pm eastern time at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Fla. The two teams are set to square off for the 20th meeting all-time. They last met in the 2007 Peach Bowl which Clemson won 27-14.
“We are so excited to be here. We are extremely proud to be in this bowl game,” Josh Heupel said Sunday when arriving in Fort Lauderdale. Historic, iconic bowl game. It’s great to be in the city of Miami and we are looking forward to a great week of festivities with our players. We obviously have a great opportunity to play a great opponent at the end of the week.”
The Vols ended the regular season with a 10-2 record while the Tigers finished 11-2 with a 39-10 ACC Championship win over North Carolina Saturday night. It was there when Dabo Swinney made a quarterback change from DJ Uiagalelei to Cade Klubnik that sparked the offense towards the 29-point victory. The former has since transfered to Oregon State.
The true freshman, who finished the title game 20-of-24 for 309 total yards and two total touchdowns, is the expected starter against the Volunteers, as announced by Swinney after the game.
“Hopefully, first of all, great preparation like he’s been having, but playing within the system, being smart with the ball, doing what he’s coached to do. I thought he did an amazing job of that last night,” Swinney said earlier this month of what he’s expecting from Klubnik. “Really just hopefully pick up where he left off. He was accurate, made good decisions outside of maybe one or two in the run game. He extended some plays. He did some things with his legs. Just continue to, again, play within the system, bring that great energy, and protect the football.”
Clemson was a perfect 8-0 inside conference play this season with losses only to Notre Dame and South Carolina in the final week of the regular season. It’s a very sound defensive team, yielding just 331 yards of total offense and 20 points a game this season. The Tigers are exceptional against the run as opponents are averaging just 101 yards on the ground an outing – and the group has forced 21 turnovers.
