What Josh Heupel said Wednesday about Tennessee and the College Football Playoff
Everything head coach Josh Heupel said after Wednesday’s practice about Ohio State and Saturday night’s game in the first round of the College Football Playoff at Ohio Stadium in Columbus:
Opening Statement
“Good afternoon, everybody. We just finished up another day of preparation here. Excited to get to kickoff with our guys. Understand the quality of the opponent that we’re getting ready to play, the atmosphere of the game itself. Going to be electric. And everybody inside of our program is excited to go play this one.”
Tennessee not playing its best on offense but still finding ways to win big games — Alabama, Florida — if that’s talent and scheme or more about the team’s character
“Yeah. I think there was a a stretch there in the early part of the conference schedule where offensively we didn’t perform our best in the first half. And that is coaches and players together. At the end of the day, it’s always about how you finish and being on the right side of the scoreboard. I think this group as a whole, one of the things that I really appreciate about them is how they how mature they are as competitors. The ability to to play the next play independently, play for each other. Got a a great mindset. And as you get into to games like this against great opponents — and they got good scheme, good coaches, and really good personnel — (it’s) understanding there’s going be ebbs and flows in the ballgame. And you gotta continue to play and compete. So I think as much as anything, that’s a real credit to the guys that we have in the locker room.”
What Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks has done to steadily improve during over the last four years
“Well, we have taken steps every single year. And we didn’t talk much about it, but when we first got here, I think we had 55 scholarship players on campus. And as we rebuilt our roster, we navigated some of the things that we had to. We continued to to take steps. Our players got great trust in what we’re doing, but also our coaches. And when you have that, they’re able to trust in the information that you’re giving them, continue to grow and push forward, continue to get better fundamentally.
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“And (we) just added depth to our roster, the ability to play as many guys as we have. This year is has allowed us to stay fresh during the course of a ball game (and) throughout the course of the season as well. And our depth in past years have been something that kinda caught up with us at the end. But Coach Banks does a great job of leading that side of the football. Does a great job with scheme and and developing our personnel.”
How hard it is to keep quality depth on Tennessee’s roster during the transfer portal era, keeping the ability to rotate players consistently
“Roster management, I don’t think there’s anything easy as far as any of it goes in in today’s landscape. And our personnel depart department has done a great job. Our coaches evaluating and going to recruit young men. And then ultimately our players are a huge part of the culture that we’ve built here, which allows you to recruit guys. But it’s a big part of being able to retain guys as well.”
