Watch: Tennessee coach Josh Heupel Thursday's press conference
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel on Thursday met with reporters for the final time before the ninth-ranked Vols (1-0) host Austin Peay (0-1) on Saturday (5 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+/SEC Network+) in the home-opener at Neyland Stadium.
Here’s what Heupel said during Thursday’s press conference:
What he’s been emphasizing to Tennessee players this week, ahead of the Austin Peay game
“It all starts with the guy in the mirror and then ultimately everybody inside of that team. Preparation has been really good. It’s been sound, today was good. Continue to win the preparation battle here. You get ready for kickoff. You gotta be consistent and your preparation and your competitive nature when you walk out on that field. So, first ball game inside of Neyland, expect our guys to be excited and be ready to go compete for 60 minutes in all three phases. Just early in the year, there’s so many things that we needed to grow from last week. And I think our guy have been intentional in that.”
Sophomore running back Dylan Sampson having a leadership role on the Tennessee offense
“He’s very confident in who he is. He knows what he’s doing. He knows who he is outside of the building. And he brings great energy, but he demands things of guys around him and he is willing to act. And that’s the first step of leadership. He’s got a great football future, but great, great leadership traits inside of our building that has been huge for us.”
Intensity increasing for young linebackers like sophomore Elijah Herring and freshman Arion Carter, with middle linebacker Keenan Pili out with an injury
“For all those guys, you’re gonna see those guys play a bunch of football. You’ll see us rotate a bunch there. For those guys, to be honest, I haven’t seen anything a whole lot different than other than who they’ve been up until the moment of opportunity here with Keenan’s injury. And I think that’s a compliment to them individually, but also Coach BJ (Brian Jean-Mary) has done a great job of developing that room. Those guys would be excited to play. Expect whoever is in to play a really high level. Continued growth and understanding our gaps, gap assignments those assignments. Keenan was a great leader and did a really good job, had a great football IQ. His communication was big for us. Those guys got to do a great job of that Saturday night.”
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Tennessee having more defensive depth this season and relying on that depth to replace Keenan Pili
“I think just being in year three of the guys that have been with us for a year or two years ago, better understanding of who we are and what we’re about. The competition of that (linebacker) room has forced those guys to compete on and off the field every single day. The depth of our football program helps you at any position when somebody gets banged up, but we’re gonna need to continue to have that as we go through the season.”
If the plan is to continue to rotate players on Tennessee’s offensive line or find five guys and stick with those five
“Guys that are gonna prove that they’re gonna play at a really high level, that we have great trust in, those guys deserve the opportunity to play. And I anticipate us at this point to continue to rotate.”
