Tennessee HC Josh Heupel excited about young Vols preparation for spring football

Nothing says college football in 2025 more than the fact that over a quarter of Tennessee’s spring football roster is going through practice for the first time as a Vol. Between transfers and signees 27 new players are going through drills for the first time at Tennessee.

So how does having that much turnover and counting on that many new players change the approach to spring drills. After all, last three they were returning four offensive line starters, their top tailback and their top three receivers. 

This spring is very different especially offensively. But head coach Josh Heupel said it’s really not.

“I do feel like, first of all in college football, there’s always a cycle. And typically you end up having a bunch of young guys (on) your roster,” Heupel offered. “That’s been the case for us since we’ve been here. This group of young guys have been really mature. I’m just talking about their approach, how they’ve handled offseason workouts to what daily life looks like as a college athlete. The extra things that they got to do to give themselves a chance to be prepared for day one out on the practice field, let alone what’s coming as we continue to grow through the spring. It’s been a really positive group. They’ve blended into the culture, the expectations of accountability, building trust and how we attack everything that we’re doing. They’ve handled that really well. There’s a bunch of young guys on our roster and when you go through spring ball, man, it’s about fundamental development. It’s about technique, it’s about learning how to play from snap to whistle. It’s learning how to reset from play to play. There’s a ton of growth that has to happen, but we have a ton of growth that we got to take them through and  it starts with all of those things that to get them to where they need to be. And we don’t kick off until, I don’t know what the date is, but September, there’s a long journey that we got to go through and they got to grow through that.”

That growth gets accelerated next week when Tennessee will have three workouts and things start to go much faster.

“I always say this to our young guys, you know, first time out on the practice field with us as you start spring ball and the first five days, man, it’s happening fast, right? The calls, formation recognition, the speed of the game, it’s all faster,” Heupel offered. “Second five (practices), you try to find your groove and if you’re doing it right, by the time you get to the end of spring ball, you’re a dramatically different football player than you were at the beginning. So just to understand that, you just got to continually invest and you’ll reap the rewards as you go through the process,” Heupel said. 

Through the completions of the COVID years, the transfer portal and well as NIL commitments to incoming freshman, college football in some ways is getting younger. But does that mean they are more ready to play coming out of high school than players used to be?

“I don’t know that I necessarily feel that way. I think the amount of mid-years, compared to a decade ago, that you have helps them, you know, get comfortable and assimilate to what’s going on as a collective group versus maybe five guys that were coming in at that time,” Heupel said. “It feels like they’re with their class, which I think is a positive thing for them. The process that we go through during the winter I think helps give them a chance to continually grow into the lead-up of spring ball where day one it is day one in helmets, but they feel like they’re prepared for that moment too.”

That moment is under their belt and now the focus for Tennessee is on day two thru day 15 which starts on Monday.