What Josh Heupel said after Thursday night's scrimmage at Neyland Stadium

Everything Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel said during his press conference Thursday night, after the Vols held a primetime scrimmage at Neyland Stadium for their second scrimmage of spring practice:

Opening Statement

“It was a lot of fun tonight. Just the way the schedule unfolded, decided to do a night scrimmage. Great to be under the lights inside of Neyland. Guys had a ton of energy and a lot of really good work. And defensively I thought they started extremely fast, violent, disruptive. Got off the field on third downs. Did a great job offensively, settled in in the second half of the scrimmage. So a lot of good work here for just being over the midpoint of spring ball. And obviously got a huge week next week before we get a chance to see Vol Nation out here in the spring game.”

On what he likes about Tennessee’s defense so far and if it starts with the veterans up front…

“Yeah, some of it, absolutely. Our defensive line has brought great energy and consistency every single day that we’ve been on the practice field. Veteran group, especially on the interior, that has kind of led the way. Our edge group continues to get better and the young guys and new guys have really grown inside of it really quickly and they’re playing with great pad level. They’re using their hands better than they ever have and I’m not just talking in pass rushing, in the run game too. So really like what that group’s done.”

On the strategy of building Tennessee’s defensive line and if he envisioned having this much depth at this point…

“If you want to be really good as a football team, it starts with your defensive lin. And just how we got here, everything, the circumstances that were here when we first got here, it’s taken a little time to build that group up. But certainl just the athleticism across the entire group. And so really, really like what Coach Banks, Coach Garner and Coach Inge have done with that group. And we still got a lot of room to grow before we’re where we need to be when we open up.”

On the young players on Tennessee’s offensive line growing up…

“Yeah, they’re a lot better today than they were when we started spring ball. It won’t just be on the back end of it. It’s a group that I like their athleticism. They got to continue to mature physically. Those guys, a lot of them are doubling up their reps right now with a lot of our vets, just from the end of the season, being banged up and not repping here in spring ball. With everything that we see on the other side of the line of scrimmage, the communication understanding of what we’re doing, fundamentally getting better. They’re playing so much harder than they were at the beginning of spring ball, too, so that group’s got to continue to grow. But I really do like the group as a whole.”

On Tennessee’s younger options at center behind Cooper Mays…

“(Vysen) Lang is continuing to grow. Strong kid continuing to grow in the communication side of it with his hand on the ball. (William) Satterwhite, Max Anderson’s taking some snaps. All those guys, they’re getting thrown into to, they’re thrusted into it and they’ve handled it really well. And when I say that, they handle coming back from a bad player, a bad series and reset into the next one too. So a lot of growth left for that group. But they pushed extremely hard and they did that before we got the spring ball. But they’ve certainly done it here in the middle of it too.”

On Tennessee being more athletic at wide receiver, what he saw from those players in the scrimmage…

“Yeah, guys made some plays. Some of the new guys, (Chris) Brazzell made some really nice plays today. Mike Matthews made some plays down the football field. Dont’e Thornton made some plays, continues to grow.”

On how confident Dont’e Thornton is now…

“Yeah, I think his last year with where we were at with the guys that we had, started him in the slot and he got work on the outside. He was so limited in spring ball and training camp, just got banged up. He missed a lot of practices and missed opportunities to grow within what we’re doing. We moved him outside in the middle part of last year and [he] was playing his best football – got dinged up. It’s a guy that has great trust in the coaching staff, understands just how to operate and function within our offense and understands coverages in better ways. [He] is just continuing to grow out there. I really like what he’s done.”

On assessment of Nico Iamaleava and the passing game overall…

“In general, I thought he operated and functioned extremely well tonight and made some plays. He did that with his arm, made it with his feet too. We didn’t start super-fast on the offense side of the football. Had some opportunities, but just didn’t get points out of it. I just thought his competitive composure was really big and it was kind of his demeanor in general. He is continuing to grow in the leadership role, too. So, really pleased with what he is done. That’s tonight and just through the first part of spring ball.”

On how to manage the workload for veterans such as Keenan Pili and assessment of running backs…

“It is on a case-by-case basis, amount of football that they played, their health coming back from injury, watching their loads, potentially continuing to grow that through spring ball. Smart with them on the back end of it here as we get to the back half of next week too. So, it’s a little bit case-by-case. The running backs tonight. He brought up Deshaun Bishop. I thought he ran extremely well tonight without watching the film. I’d say probably his best football that he is played this spring. He’s a guy coming back off of injury that is getting more comfortable as he’s gone through the spring and so, really like what he did. Khalifa [Keith] had a good night too.”

On the difference between growth in transfers and growth in veterans scrimmage to scrimmage…

“You hope to see a great amount of growth from scrimmage to scrimmage and that’s with your new guys in inside of your system that can be transfers and high school kids [that] came in midyear too. I thought with everything that was going on tonight for them on the field, they handled it pretty well. Now get a chance to go back and watch the film and actually see everything that happened.”

On the weather being chilly on Thursday and how that helps simulate the fall…

“Yeah, atypical spring night here for in Knoxville, but it’s an opportunity to get out and play in an environment that at some point next year that we’re going to be in. And so, the guys had a lot of energy tonight. They enjoy being out there under the lights, different types of day for a scrimmage and for us, it’s an opportunity that will parlay itself into a football game that we’re going to play next fall.”

On the running back and linebackers position groups evolving under new coaches…

“Well for those guys, the new staff members that come in here, the first thing is just gaining trust and building a relationship with your players. That dictates how they receive all the information when you get out on the field and some of your installs, too. But at the end of the day, you got that relationship, they receive the information in a different way than if they don’t. And we got two guys that that care about young people that are great teachers. The transition has been really seamless with those guys and it starts with our coordinators doing a great job of getting them on the same page with what we’re doing philosophically and within our scheme. Then those guys have been really good. That’s on the grass that’s in the classroom. They’re high-level coaches that there’s a reason we brought them here to Tennessee.”

On the guys stepping up in the secondary and the next step for that group…

“Will Brooks had a really good night tonight. Andre [Turrentine] has been really consistent throughout the course of, of spring ball. Jermod McCoy continues to play at a really high level. Those are a few of the guys that have been consistent but also showed up tonight for us.”

On the leadership of Dylan Sampson and how it’s showed up in the scrimmages…

“Dyaln has done a great job from the time that he is got here. He transitioned seamlessly into what we do offensively. Everybody has seen the plays that he’s made and he had leadership traits. He’s always brought great energy out to the practice field with him or the meeting room. But he is really, thrust himself into to a leadership role and, and we got a great collective group of leaders that are really strong right now. They’ve grown since we started our off season in January. There’s still a lot of growth for that group, but they’re intentional on impacting the people around them. When you’re out at practice seeing guys coach each other up and bringing energy to each other happens on a consistent basis – you talked about Nico – you’re using this time to get your other quarterbacks ready as well.”

On the comfort level with Gaston Moore and how Jake Merklinger improved from scrimmage one to two…

“Nico’s got to grow here as we go through spring. All those guys, excuse me. A bunch of guys that haven’t been under the lights of game day very much. Gaston’s performed really consistently throughout the course of spring ball. Been really good decision maker and has good control in what we’re doing offensively Jake Merklinger was more comfortable today than he was scrimmage one – not even close. That’s just command on the sideline in the huddle and then controlling what’s going on out there. There’s a lot of fundamental growth left from Merk that’s typical of all the young quarterbacks that come in here, but really like that group. They encourage each other and they challenge each other and obviously, the strength of any position room can’t just be one guy.”

On the secondary and how it’s looked with so much turnover….

“We knew that we had to continue to add athleticism length, playmaking ability on the secondary. The guys that have come in here, that’s high school guys and transfer portal guys, you can see that as soon as you walk on the practice field with those guys. A lot of growth left for them within our scheme. Little details, nuances of the communication, but really like where that group’s heading. They’ve made plays and continue to compete at a really high level.”