Watch: Josh Heupel talks after Tennessee's second scrimmage of fall camp

Head coach Josh Heupel met with reporters on Wednesday after Tennessee football held its second scrimmage of fall camp, as the Vols continue to prepare for the September 2 season opener against Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville:

Opening Statement

“Good day out there. Good energy on both sides of the line and scrimmage. Got some good special teams work. Did some normal drive work, got some coming out and then finished it with some overtime. Plays on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Offense got some things going early. I thought defense did a really good job in the middle part of the scrimmage, getting off the field. Third down defense was really strong for the most part. And in the overtime I thought the defense did a great job. They played really good football in the overtime period.

“So all in all good day’s work two weeks away from kickoff, two and change. And got a lot of things that we gotta continue to clean up on both sides of it. The communication side I thought could’ve been better offensively. Just some of the mechanical stuff, but all in all, good, good work. It also lets us know where we gotta improve before we get to Nashville.”

If it’s fair to say the offense made a jump from Tennessee’s first scrimmage to the second

“Don’t know if (the offense) made a jump. I thought they made some plays. Some of our vets we did let go in this one. They got some early work in it and they got out in the middle part of the scrimmage. I thought there were some really good things that happened up front protection, early in, in the football scrimmage. There’s some things just mechanically, how we function and operate that we gotta get better at too. And it was all positions.”

Confirming that Tennessee defensive line Tyree Weathersby and running back Desean Bishop are out with an injury

“Weathersby will be out for the year. DeSean is not out for the year, but he’ll be out for an extended period of time, probably a couple months.”

If there’s an update for the injury to Tennessee center Cooper Mays

“We believe we’ll have an opportunity to get him back. He missed training camp and had the issue that he had. But at the same time, and it’s true for every position, but in particular the offensive line, you better have contingency plans and you don’t know when that’s gonna happen. You know, guy gets an ankle. You guys have seen that since we’ve been here, so every week you gotta understand where you’re at going into the game, how you wanna manage and play those guys if you’re healthy. But if something happens to one of those five guys, somebody gets nicked up, who’s the next in? You know, how are you shuffling? You’re front five if in particular center goes down. So those are things that you work through every training camp throughout the course of the season.”

Tennessee’s offensive line play in the second scrimmage 

“We’ve had multiple guys go at center. Like I said when I talked about Cooper (Mays) being out, all those guys handled it as far as the communication, once they got the play call, in a really positive way. I think our protection with the (first) group in particular has been pretty sound for the most part. And those guys gotta continue to grow. We’ll find out as we continue to finish up training camp where we’re at with who will run out there with the first group the first (game).”

Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III’s accuracy in the second scrimmage and in camp

“Really decisive. Been a really good decision maker. I don’t know if he’s (thrown) a pick all training camp. Been in control of protections for the most part. And we’ve continued to push their hand on that side of it. That’s Joe, but that’s the guys behind him right now too. And I think they’ve continued to grow in that way.”

If the problems Tennessee has in camp right now are normal for this time of year

“Some of, some of it is. The first scrimmage in all reality was probably a little cleaner than, today’s was just operationally off the sideline play clock, you know, getting things settled as we get out there on the field. First play of drive. I’m not worried about where we’re at. We’re pretty intentional on working those things during practice. I thought today could have been cleaner but it wasn’t just one guy. It was all of us. Just need to be a little bit cleaner.”

Tennessee redshirt freshman Kaleb Webb taking advantage of his reps during camp

“Yeah from the offseason to where we are today, he has been very intentional. I don’t know if anybody spends more time in the building catching balls off the jugs. He’s always coming back for extra work in the middle of the day to understand what he’s doing, what he’s seen, to continue to grow within our offense, understand defensive structure. He’s just gotten a lot stronger. His lower body in particular that’s helped him, speed getting in and out of breaks. He’s just continuing on his football journey with a real purpose every day. And small strides end up being big gains by the time you get to kickoff. Really pleased with him. Chas Nimrod is guy that’s done the exact same thing. He’s continued to grow, he’s played multiple positions within our offense and (we’re) really excited about Chas and Kaleb.”

His assessment of the Tennessee run game after saying that group closed strong in the first scrimmage

“We’ll be able to see more as you go back and watch it. With all the bodies and the moving parts up front, I thought at times we’re really efficient and effective. There’s some things that are unique within our run game that I thought our guys handled really well. Some of that in our pull schemes. I thought the backs did a really good job of pressing, making cuts. Some of that coming out the back door. We manage the load the guys that you’ve seen play a lot of football here. A lot of our young backs got a lot of work today. I thought they handled and operated better than they did in the first scrimmage as they continue to get comfortable in how we play.”

Where Tennessee’s pass rush is at this point in camp

“Not just the scrimmages, but the practices are extremely important too, to evaluate where you’re at. I know that we’ve taken strides, that’s in the interior, that’s on the edges. We’ve added depth, which allow those guys to rotate more and stay fresh. I’m excited about what we’re doing on the front four at this point. And some of the things that we have to grow in, in particular, pass defense in general, but third down, defense, third-and-long defense in particular as well. A huge part of that’s the back end, your backers included, but it starts with getting a really good pass rush. I’m excited about the growth that I’ve seen so far.”

What he has seen from Tennessee defensive linemen Joshua Josephs and James Pearce Jr.

“First of all, those guys dramatically changed their habits off the field. They changed their bodies because of that. Within what we’re doing, strength and nutrition. And their level of play and understanding of what we’re doing has continued to grow in a really big way. I’ve said this before, but you know, there’s a difference between guys that come in mid-year. I’m talking about true freshmen and guys that show up late May, early June/ Those guys were both June arrivals last year. They did some really positive things last year but they’ve had a really good off season of continued growth.”

If there has been any separation among Tennessee’s defensive backs

“Well similar to offensive line, right? You gotta have contingency plans as far as where guys are going to truly navigate to get your best five on the field. You gotta have some depth at those positions too, and rotate some during the course of a ball game. We got some young guys that have really grown here over the last 11, 12 practices. Excited about them. They’ll play some defensive snaps, but to play a ton of on special teams too. Our vets, I’m excited about the guys that maybe missed a little bit of time last year are here early in training camp. I feel like they’ve really grown in our schemes, understanding communication, fundamentals and technique. The next couple of weeks are hugely important, as we get everybody back healthy, to make sure that we grow the right way before kickoff.”

Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright’s performance in camp, staying healthy

“Yeah, he’s been healthy throughout the course of training camp. His body is dramatically different. He was one of the guys that we recognized as we started training camp, just for what he had done in the off season. The changes that he had continued to make to his body, been very intentional in his work. He’s continued to grow and just being able to have a championship mindset, be able to reset from play to play, play with passion, not playing just straight out of emotion. Been great with the young backs. He’s been a great leader, great teacher for those guys.

“He’s into it when he’s not even the guy that’s getting the reps. On the football side of it, he’s a guy that early in his career just wanted to run around everything and just use his speed to his advantage. That’s how he had kind of developed as, as a young back in high school with some of what they did. He can still do all those things, but he’s got really good vision. He understands blockers, he understands how to use them. He delivers double teams to the second level. He finds space. His vision on the back door cuts has grown. He’s doing it at the right time. He’s playing at a really high level.”

Tennessee’s defense being deeper at linebacker and in the secondary

“Yeah, we absolutely are deeper on the second level or second and third levels. The growth of the young guys inside of our program that can be at the linebacker spot – guys that were here, playing a lot of special teams last year like Elijah [Herring] and Kalib [Perry]. Those two guys in particular. The young guys that we’ve added, the true freshmen at that position. Aaron Carter has had a great, great training camp. I said it I think a week ago, he’s taken a major step just from where he finished spring ball.

“I’ll say the same thing about [Jeremiah] Telander and Jalen [Smith], too. On the third level, the young guys are going to play some snaps for us. We have great competition that creates urgency in the meeting room – creates urgency in the off season. It shows up in the way they play and compete on the practice field. Today when we’re inside the stadium, we have guys that are vets that played a lot of football last year. Those guys have all taken a step in their understanding of how we want to play, too. We absolutely have more depth, more competition. As we get closer to kickoff, figuring out the rotation, so those guys continue to compete and show that they’re going to play at a championship level.”