Lebby, Heupel bringing long history together to Davis Wade on Saturday

Jeff Lebby and Josh Heupel have a history together that dates back oveer 20 years.

With Lebby’s playing career as an offensively lineman cut short before it really began, he joined the coaching staff instead and adjusted his career trajectory. Lebby spent his college career on the sidelines learning from Bob Stoops as a student assistant and quickly would make his way up the coaching ranks.

Lebby had just missed Heupel’s playing career when the talented quarterback helped the Sooners to a National Championship and a second place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting. After a short stint in the NFL, Heupel returned home to get his first coaching job as a Graduate Assistant for the Sooners and he and Lebby built a relationship during the 2004 season and then again in 2006 when Heupel was coaching quarterbacks.

Fast forward 12 years later, Lebby was a rising assistant and Heupel made his way to Central Florida to become a head coach. Heuepel called Lebby to be a part of his staff and he’d spend two seasons there coaching the quarterbacks and eventually leading the offense.

While Lebby has drawn a lot from several different great coaches over the years, Heupel truly helped form how he ran the day-to-day operations in his building. Six short years after getting his opportunity with Heupel, Lebby was putting it into action.

“Having the ability to be able to work for him for those two years, it’s been a long-lasting relationship there,” Lebby said. “Able to see him in the moment, in the building every single day, as a leader and a first-time head coach. When we went to Orlando together, there’s a ton of things I learned in those moments. Incredibly appreciative of that time I got to spend with him.”

Heupel has built strong foundation in Knoxville

Heupel has had two strong stints as a head coach. He led the Knights to a 28-8 in three seasons with a conference championship. At UT, he inherited an absolute mess from Jeremy Pruitt and not only pulled it out of despair, but he’s flourishing.

The Volunteers were 7-6 in his first year and have since had three seasons of 10 or more wins out of the last four. He’s 40-16 with a playoff berth last season and he’s earned multiple wins over Alabama following decades of dominance by the Crimson Tide.

A big reason for the team’s success has been Heupel’s explosive offense. The two offenses on Saturday will have a lot of similarities, but UT’s is even more sturdy at this point due to the five seasons Heupel has had it implemented it.

The offseason brought some tumultuous times after quarterback Nico Imaleava decided to transfer during the spring. The Vols essentially traded out quarterbacks with UCLA as Joey Aguilar transferred to Knoxville and the early returns are a major win for UT.

The Vols (3-1) enter Saturday’s matchup with over 280 passing yards per game from Aguilar as he’s notched 1,124 yards, 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Running backs Star Thomas and DeSean Bishop are both at seven yards per rush and a combined seven touchdowns and Chris Brazzell is averaging over 100 yards receiving through four games with six touchdowns.

Lebby is most impressed by the offensive line. It’s a unit that has made everything tick.

“They are playing really well up front. That is one thing I did last night was watch their offense vs. Georgia and that’s what stuck out to me. The way they’re playing up front right now, having the ability of keeping the QB clean and the ability to push the ball down the field and make some competitive plays jumped off the tape,” Lebby said of the UT offense. “For us, it’s going to be about stopping run first. That will be a huge part of it. They want to get the run game going. That’s when they have their most success. So we have to find ways to limit that.”

While Heupel’s offense makes the team tick, Tim Banks has been an unsung hero since he arrived as Defensive Coordinator. The Vols have had one of the better defenses in the SEC and the attacking style has created issues for opposing teams.

That side of the ball has been decimated with injuries this year including the loss of star corner Jermond McCoy and fellow starter Rickey Gibson. But UT has already racked up 15.0 sacks on the year and the strength of the team is getting after the quarterback.

“There’s constant pressure on the quarterback,” Lebby said of the defense. “They’ve given some things up. We will see if some of those guys come back in the secondary, but what sticks out is how they’re getting after the quarterback. We’ve got to keep Blake (Shapen) clean to go play the way we want to play.”

Another massive opportunity ahead for Bulldogs

A huge challenge awaits the Bulldogs (4-0) but the last meeting with a top 15 team at home was one to remember.

Since State’s win over Arizona State in the second game of the year, the narrative is beginning to shift on what was a 2-10 team a season ago. People are beginning to keep an eye on the Bulldogs and plenty of people will be tuned in on Saturday afternoon at 3:15 to see what happens. With a sell out looming, many fans will be there to try to change the outcome as well.

“We got so much in front of us,” Lebby said. “Having the ability to have a conference opener at our place in front of an incredible crowd and great environment, that’s going to be huge for us on Saturday. That’s something that is really important to have, a sold-out crowd and have the energy that we need. We got to take this thing one game at a time. As we look at our goals ahead, there’s a lot out there to go accomplish. But there’s no way to do it if we don’t do it one game at a time.”