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Josh Heupel discusses his team, their off-season and the start of spring ball

On3 imageby:Brent Hubbs•03/20/23•

Brent_Hubbs

Josh Heupel
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel looks on as his Vols start spring practice.

Tennessee kicked off year three of the Josh Heupel era on Monday with the start of spring practice. The Vols will wrap up spring ball on April 15th with their annual orange and white spring game.

For Heupel and his staff, this is the deepest this team has been since his arrival with more competition at spots then they have had to date.

“You walk out there and you can see the difference in depth, really at every position,” the head coach said. “The new guys and young guys that we’ve added, they have length and athleticism – size on the offensive and defensive lines. Skill spots, same thing.

“For us, this spring, we are truly going to be able to get reps for an entire roster of guys.”

Much of that increased competition is on defense with the arrival of a highly decorated recruiting class as well as transfers at all three levels of the defense. 

Offensively, it’s competition time at quarterback where Joe Milton has the inside track given his experience but freshman Nico Iamaleava has had a good off-season since his arrival in January and the coaching staff has made it clear to everyone that the quarterback position is an open competition. 

“He’s going to be pushed extremely quickly,” Heupel said on his freshman signal-caller. “Just because of where we are at [ numbers wise] at the quarterback position. A great urgency is going to be needed for him. He’s extremely coachable.

“He’s been phenomenal. He has great urgency and prepares a great deal about learning his craft an learning our offense. He takes coaching extremely well. He resets and moves onto the next play. He’s come in and and he’s worked. Guys believe in him just how he carries himself and you can slowly see him start to grow into taking more ownership.”

Following Monday’s workout Heupel met with the media to discuss Tennessee’s off-season, leadership, goals of spring and much more. 

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