What Josh Heupel said after No. 12 Tennessee's 49-13 win over Virginia

NASHVILLE — No. 12 Tennessee opened the season with a 49-13 win over Virginia on Saturday at Nissan Stadium. Here’s everything coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference:

Opening Statement 

“Thanks to Vol Nation for showing up in a big way. I believe we set another Nissan Stadium record for attendance. I think that happened the last time that we were here, too. Obviously everybody here understands how important the mid-state, this area, is, first of all, just our fans base, our alumni that are here, but also on the recruiting side of it. So a great, unique opportunity to open it up the way we did this season here in Nashville.

“(The) ball game, end of the day, it’s a really positive win. There’s a lot of things to take away from it on the positive side. At the same time, there’s a lot of ways that we can be a whole lot better as a program. Defensively, though, I thought the way that they started in the first half, (the first) three, four possessions for sure on the wrong side of the 50-yard line. They (Tennessee’s defense) go up immediately and hold them to a total of three points, I believe. I thought our front four did unbelievable job of playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Thought we tackled well for an opener and did a really good job. On third down, secondary was rock solid early in the football game and that carried over for a majority of the football game. Special teams, offensively (there) are some things that we needed to clean up. That happened in the first and and second quarter. I thought early in the third quarter, we played solid football and settled into a little bit more of the flow in both areas.”

“But typical, there’s things that we gotta clean up, coaching staff and players alike, at the same time. Man, enjoy every single one of these wins and learn how to get better when we get back tomorrow to Knoxville.”

What he saw as the difference for Tennessee from the first to second quarters

“There’s just some subtleties of execution, catching the football on some big plays, being more accurate with the football, being a little bit cleaner in the pocket. It’s not a major overhaul when things aren’t going well. Typically on the offensive side of the ball, 11 guys gotta operate as one. I felt like just in general, like our skill kids in general, we weren’t completely in the flow of the game. Whether it was heat, new surface, Game 1, just weren’t quite within ourselves. And as game went on, I felt like we operated better in that way.”

The decision to go for it on fourth-and-five at the 9-yard line on the first Tennessee drive

“Those are difficult situations. You’re trying to, at the end of the day, put your football team in the best position to win. And where we were at on the field opening drive, one, trusted our guys and, and two, the field obviously was flipped and they were in a tough situation if we didn’t pick it up.” 

Tennessee sophomore running back Dylan Sampson scoring four touchdowns

“That’s a good way to start. If you’re a running back, all three of those guys (Dylan Sampson, Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small) played extremely well. Jaylen Wright, I thought ran as physical as he has. The things that we saw in training camp, I thought you saw today doing a great job of hitting holes, running through arm tackles, doing a good job on the third level too. Jabari Small did a fantastic job. D-Samp gets the four touchdowns. super productive for him. I love what he’s doing. The strength of that room can never be one guy. All those guys are gonna be extremely important. You can see that, based on the number of touches all those guys got.” 

Tennessee’s defense getting better last season and that continuing against Virginia

“First of all, we’ve got a great coordinator and Tim (Banks) does a great job of developing a plan every single week. We have enough in our package that we can be multiple in the way that we attack people. On the other side of the line of scrimmage, when we first got here, we were at 65 scholarship players. We were hit heavy in the portal. A lot of that on the defense side of it, not all of it. We were extremely thin. We tried to patch it with some transfers. The guys that we brought in the last two (recruiting) cycles, I think it has done a really good job of helping patch our roster. We have more depth, we got really good coaches that do a great job at developing those guys, fundamentally. And our guys have bought into to how to compete on every single snap and so you put scheme, coaching, physical development in the weight room and depth and allows us to be more aggressive on that side of football.” 

Joe Milton’s command of the Tennessee offense

“The command was really solid. Solid. I thought he did a good job in the pocket. He escaped at times when needed. I thought his run reads were really pretty solid. There were a couple throws that you would want back. Ramel’s running right down the middle of the football field and we’re just a little bit off. And that’s where I just felt like early in the ball game, we weren’t completely settled in. But at the end of the day, this game’s not gonna be perfect in any phase of the game. It’s how you continue to respond and challenge yourselves and thought they continued to compete. Finished the first half the right way. Came out and started fast in the second (half).”

Rotations on Tennessee’s offensive line

“All of it was planned, that we’re gonna rotate those guys. (We) have great trust in those guys as the season goes on. You inevitably need to have depth and be able to move people around. So, look forward to getting Cooper (Mays) back here, hopefully pretty soon. And at the same time, what we’ve done with the guys that have been at center, but the moving parts that we’ve had, how they’ve competed and played, believe that. We’ll find more out as we watch (the film) today, but I thought all in all, really solid performance from all those guys.”

Tennessee’s depth showing Game 1

“We planned on playing a bunch of guys because they shown that they deserve the opportunity to play. And taking some of those snaps at the end of the day makes us a stronger football team in Week 1, but throughout the course of the season too. There’s still some moving pieces. And when I say that, man, the depth chart (in) Week 1 is not the same that it’s gonna be Week 2. There’s continued growth and opportunity for everybody inside of our program and just for myself. Really good football teams continue to get better. That’s mature, veteran guys. It’s young guys inside of your program. So continuing to grow and compete is something that we’ve already talked about inside of our locker room.” 

If the Vols showed a level of maturity by responding to some early adversity 

“There’s a level of maturity that your defense has to have, as many of those situations come up where the ball is on the wrong side of the football field. And to have no panic, no pointing of a finger, just, hey man, a look in your eye and a common thread that we’re gonna go out and compete and get off the football field here. I love that maturity from those guys and from our staff on that side of the football. Offensively there wasn’t any panic. We talk about it every day that if it’s not going good, it’s typically not some major overhaul. It’s 11 guys that gotta operate as one. So there is some maturity in that. There was no panic from them. They were extremely confident. There’s gonna be more hostile environments that we’re gonna play in where that maturity will be tested even more. We gotta continue to grow together for us to handle all of those situations the right way.”

Not having many penalties in the first game

“(It’s a) point of emphasis all offseason. How you do anything is how you do everything. And the maturity off the field, the maturity inside of our building, the maturity on the practice field, something that we continue to stress. You guys know that I have liked the competitiveness and the accountability and the maturity of this group as we’ve grown the entire offseason. This is step one of the journey. We gotta be true to that every single week, but it certainly was a step in the right direction on the game field for us on that side of football.”

The biggest fix he wants to make for Tennessee between Week 1 and Week 2

“Some real subtle things just in personnel and communication between coaches at times, so nothing major, but continued growth.”

Tennessee punter Jackson Ross having some short kicks 

“Man, imagine going over to a foreign country and playing a game for the first time that you’ve never played. Did I anticipate it? No, but do I understand it? Yeah. He’s gonna be a really good player though. Some of what you saw late from him is what we’ve seen all training camp, so we believe he’ll continue to get better. Believe in Josh (Turbyville). too. I mean, he saw some big-time kickoffs from him and saw a couple that aren’t up to our standard, but both those guys will be better for it.”

What he saw from Tennessee freshman QB Nico Iamaleava when he get in during the fourth quarter

“Same things that we’ve seen. Really calm, cool. Good demeanor, able to communicate, handle all the pre-snap stuff the right way. Gets his eyes in the right place. I thought (he) showed some athleticism. I love the feel in the pocket, being able to step up and get out of it and go make a play with his feet. He’s athletic enough to be using the run game and escape the pocket. And I thought some of the run-pass stuff, he did a good job. A big, athletic throw, didn’t complete it, but throw across his body on a little slight route that ended up not being completed. But all in all, really solid performance from him.”

What he saw from Tennessee kick returner Dee Williams

“Talk about maturity, like competitive composure. I think these as great of an example of that as anybody during the course of this football game. We talked about the specialists earlier, being able to handle something that doesn’t go right and come back and compete. Dee’s dynamic. You see him on all of our core special teams unit, cover units. He’s running down there, making plays. Elite return man. Dynamic, and (he) changes the way the game’s played because of the field position. everybody in our program loves Dee, who he is, what he stands for. The teammate that he is. And we love how dynamic he is with football in the return game.”