What Josh Heupel said about Tennessee-Alabama on the SEC Coaches Teleconference

What head coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly appearance on the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday, previewing No. 11 Tennessee’s game at No. 6 Alabama on Saturday night (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa:

Opening Statement

“Good afternoon everybody. Third Saturday in October. This is a great rivalry that’s been played for a long time. One that I saw as a young player, but having been in it the last few years, it’s a special game. Obviously, getting ready to go play a really good football team in Alabama that’s playing extremely well right now. Got great respect for Coach DeBoer and his staff and what they’ve done at Alabama, but also throughout his career. Offensively, quarterback is playing extremely well. Really efficient with the football. Taking care of it. You can tell he’s got great command of what they’re doing offensively. A lot of playmakers and the offensive line is playing extremely well. Defensively, typical Alabama defense. Big, strong up front. Athletic, long linebackers. Secondary that is really athletic, as well. Put that with special teams, it’s a huge test for us this week and one that everybody inside of our program is excited about. Just got to continue to prepare the right way to give ourselves a chance to play really good football.”

Revenue share, NIL and the portal impacting roster depth in college football, creating more parity

“I do think it has changed, starting with the transfer portal and then NIL. You look at the scope of this league, the universities that are involved in it, the importance of football resources that everybody has. It’s one, allowed (teams) to retain players. But I think, maybe the biggest impact, you’ve seen during the off-season, being able to, I’m gonna use the word or phrase ‘patch the roster.’ Areas where they may be thin or not have the guy they feel is ready, they’re able to get somebody that has played football at this level and played it at a really high level. It’s a combination of all of those factors and I certainly think it’s continued to tighten the gap in this league.”

Where Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has grown the most

“Joey has been an awesome teammate from the time that he got here. Came in very humble, willing to compete, willing to earn the trust of his teammates based on how he competed every single day, but who he was. I think that was a big part of earning the trust really quickly from the guys around him. Certainly had a condensed window where you’re learning an offense starting in middle of May and the season is right around the corner. Him being a veteran, there’s experiences that he can draw back from that I think can help expedite it. A guy that’s played a lot of football. That’s different offensive concepts, but also different defensive structures. Learning the verbiage and how we operate, spent a lot of time during the summer and continued to get better during training camp. Really, you can see him getting more comfortable every single day during the course of training camp. Really didn’t ever make the same mistake twice. Just continued to grow in his ability to function and operate in what we are doing. Through the beginning part of the season, has played at a really high level. One of his great traits, never gets too high, never gets too low. He’s really consistent as a competitor and can go play the next play. Is really consistent inside of the building. He’s the same guy every day. I think all that has led to him playing really well in the early part of the season. But from week one until now, comfort, obviously, as you go through the season, you’re game planning more concepts coming in and he’s handled it at a really high level. Certainly, a lot more comfortable than when we first started.”

New Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, what has changed this year

“Obviously, Coach Grubb and Kalen have been together for a long time. A year ago, you saw a lot of what they’ve done. I think the biggest difference is just the quarterback and style of play. Throughout their history together, they’ve had a lot of different types of quarterbacks and have been able to kind of push it to the skillset of the guy that they have.”

What Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop has done this year, Tennessee’s run game

“Ran it well. Certainly, times where we would like to clean some things up and be a little more efficient. We’ve done a really good job, I think, starting with Coach Elarbee and our guys on the offensive line. Coach Abeln, our tight ends coach, doing a really good job getting some new guys, young guys up to speed. The running back position as a whole is a group that we’ve got great trust in. We’ve played a lot of guys here in the early part of the year. Believe in them. They’ve handled what we’re doing in the run game really well, but also playing without the ball. That’s why you see us rotate those guys as much as we do.”