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'Experience makes you better': Peyton Manning explains what he wants to see from Tennessee this season

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•08/15/23•

GrantRamey

Tennessee football
Megan Briggs/Getty Images

Peyton Manning doesn’t have huge expectations for Tennessee football this season. He just wants to see the Vols continue moving forward after their magical 11-win season in 2022.

“You just kinda want see development,” Manning said Sunday during an appearance on ‘The Nation’ on WNML-FM in Knoxville. “You want see the freshmen and sophomores that played last year be better this year. Experience makes you better.” 

It has been rapid development in two years under Josh Heupel.

Despite inheriting a Tennessee program that was under investigation by the NCAA in January 2021, and taking over a roster that had been depleted heavily by attrition through the NCAA transfer Portal, Heupel has won 18 games over the last two seasons. 

He took the Vols to seven wins and a berth in the Music City Bowl in Year 1 and started Year 2 with a perfect 8-0 record, debuting at No. 1 in the College Football Playoff Top 25 last November. 

Vols won 11 games last season for first time since 2001

Tennessee ended the regular-season schedule with a 10-2 record before beating Clemson in the Orange Bowl in December, the program’s first trip to a New Year’s Six Bowl in the playoff era. 

The Vols beat Florida and Alabama at home and won 40-13 at LSU on the way to the 8-0 start. They fell 27-13 at Georgia in November then saw their playoff hopes dashed in a loss at South Carolina, which included losing Heisman Trophy candidate Hendon Hooker to a torn ACL.

“Obviously, playing in some big games and knowing that we can win some of those big games and learning from that loss at Georgia, right?” Manning said of the continued development of the program. “Everybody that’s back this year ought to be better, like you said. 

“I know (Joe Milton III is) getting a lot of the attention, but the defense ought to be better. Offensive line ought to be better, right? That’s the key to me as a college player, are you learning from the experience from the year before? You’re learning from the tough losses?” 

‘If you’re gonna go get somebody, you gotta go and catch them’

Manning was known throughout his career for his obsessive amounts of film study. That’s where learning from those tough losses starts, he said Sunday night. 

And it has to be candid film study.

“It’s the time to watch the film of those games that you didn’t play as well and to be honest with yourself and improve through the spring and summer,” Manning said. “I can tell those guys are working hard in the weight room, should be a lot of guys that are stronger and faster this year. 

“Hopefully that transfers onto the playing field. It’s a brutal conference. We all know that. Nobody comes back to you anymore. If you’re gonna go get somebody, you gotta go and catch them. You gotta get better. So I think that’s the key for us in order to just take that next step.”

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