Tennessee's Josh Heupel updates status of Daevin Hobbs, David Sanders on The Mike Keith Show

Everything head coach Josh Heupel said during his appearance on The Mike Keith Show on Thursday, looking back at the bye week and previewing No. 12 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) vs. Arkansas (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday (4:15 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network):
Balancing calling the game and adjusting on offense
“Depending on how drastic the structure changes are, you have to make adjustments. That’s why it’s important your staff, but your players, adjust well, communicate well and are able to go execute during the course of the game. In this one in particular, it’s kind of always been true for us the last couple of years. You’ve got to expect the unexpected. So, during our week of preparation, you try to prepare our guys for certain things that you think might pop up that are unknowns and ultimately, you go play ball.”
His staff helping prepare and adjust
“Depending who is in the box and who is on the field, the iPads are a big help when there’s drastic changes for them to tangibly see it, not just from on the field, but on the sideline and in particular, the guys that weren’t out on the field, to be able to make some of those changes. Be able to point out how things are getting played, fundamentals, the technique of what’s going on upfront or structures on the back-end. Cohesively, get everybody on the same page.”
Arkansas having big personnel on defense, what that makes it tougher to do on offense
“I say it every week, but it does start up front. Big, physical guys in their front. You talk about structure changes, being able to identify the front. How our schemes adjust based off of those things. Going to be really critical. Got to get really good movement. That’s on your double teams and ultimately you got to connect with the right hats. That’s a huge part of this football game and our wide receiver tag game or blocking off of it, all of that’s got to sync up to give us the best opportunity to execute.”
Left tackle Lance Heard
“Lance continued to grow throughout the offseason. Last year was a young player, having been in college football six months before he came here, got dinged up during the course of spring ball, but in particular training camp and the early part of the season. Limited his opportunity to get reps. As a young player, that’s really important. Had a great offseason and has developed into a good leader inside of that offensive line room. He’s played with good fundementals, technique and that’s allowed him to play in the run game and in pass protection at a really high level.”
The next step for freshman lineman David Sanders Jr.
“Listen, David had a great offseason, great training camp. Really grew throughout the course of the summer, post spring ball and during the early part of the season here. Getting him back healthy, he was gone for four and a half, five weeks, where he didn’t have much contact. Just getting back into the flow of those things will allow him to go play his best football. He’s had a really good week of practice.”
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Getting defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs back
“I think just his overall athleticism. Ability to play vertical, jump the football. The twitch that he has on the inside is something that we are excited about getting back in our front. It also gives us the opportunity to rotate more guys and stay fresher throughout the course of the game.”
Getting close to having the full rotation on the defensive line
“Up front, we’re close to having everything that we thought we would going into the season. Now, it’s about those guys just continuing to get ready to go play their best football.”
His comfort level with Tennessee’s rotations in the secondary
“I think we’ve played more consistent. That’s just depending on the formation, the route structure that we’re seeing, us playing better man principles, but in particular, zone principles. We still have given away a couple things with a couple of busts on the back end, but we’ve continued to grow in that area. It’s going to be important in this one. A quarterback that can run, scramble, extend plays, you’ve got to be able to match those things out once he breaks contain in scramble drill. You’ve got to play with great discipline when the quarterback is playing at a really high level.”
Giving Tennessee’s freshmen a break during the bye week
“There’s a break built in. There’s an extra day on the front end. We finished up on Thursday as coaches went out recruiting. Had good work in our preparation and growth. Fundamentals and technique being a point of emphasis. There’s a natural break. Everybody in the program needs that. Coaches needed it on a Saturday afternoon once they got back home from recruiting. But it’s also about continued development. The guys that have played, they’ve done some great things. There’s things that we need them to continue in to be ready to play inside of this league at a championship level.”