Josh Heupel raves about Bru McCoy after injury, relays message
On Saturday night, Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel watched as star wide receiver Bru McCoy suffered an apparently significant leg injury. It was a scary moment at Neyland Stadium and one that put a damper on the game.
After the game, Heupel shared that he should have more information on McCoy sometime soon.
“Hate what happened to Bru,” Josh Heupel said. “We’ll have more of an update tomorrow or on Monday, I’m sure, but everybody saw it was a lower-body injury that didn’t look good.”
Heupel also praised McCoy for the impact he’s had on the team as a leader and noted the impact that he has had on the teammates around him.
“So, there’s nobody better than him. Great teammate, great leader. Tough as they come. Works extremely hard to be his best and to make sure his teammates do that too. So, I hate it for him.”
Tennessee was able to handle the emotions of the injury and go on to beat South Carolina 41-20. That wasn’t an easy thing for the team to do, but they did it for Bru McCoy after Josh Heupel delivered a message to the rest of the team for him.
“That’s a tough moment when you know that one of your brothers has had a tough injury, and getting carted off like that. So, emotionally, for those guys, being able to get in control of your emotions on the back end of it, to be able to reset. Bru said he wanted those guys to be able to go play their you-know-what off and win the freaking ball game too. So, I relayed that message,” Heupel said.
“But it shows maturity from those guys that no matter what’s going on, being able to reset and refocus and go compete hard.”
In five games this season, Bru McCoy has 17 receptions for 217 yards and a touchdown.
Josh Heupel praised the defensive effort
Following the game, Josh Heupel praised Tennessee’s defensive effort against South Carolina.
“There’s not a better environment than Neyland Stadium in all of college football. Love the way our fans showed up and showed out tonight. We’re gonna need ’em the rest of the way, too. Really proud of our team. I thought they prepared really well defensively. Our D-line really dominated control of the football game. We did a good job of matching ’em,” Heupel said.
“James Pearce, Tyler Baron and the rest of the crew coming off the edge were really good up front. The inside, too. Our pressure package worked tonight. Really proud of their effort defensively for most of the night besides the way we started the third quarter. They were dialed in and competed really hard.”