What Tennessee's Josh Heupel said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference

What Josh Heupel said during his appearance on the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday, as No. 15 Tennessee prepares for next week’s game against Arkansas at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Good afternoon, everybody. Our guys got back in the building on Monday and we had a chance to watch the film. Big part of this week is us continuing to grow individually, just fundamentals, technique, eye discipline, playing assignment sound. We look back at the previous game and what are the controllables that we got to get better at. And then as we start our own field work, today, part of that, getting started on Arkansas a little bit, but again, a lot of it’s things that we got to get better at. And at the end of the week here our staff will be on the road recruiting as we wrap up the week. And I want to take advantage of that opportunity as well.”

How to prepare for Arkansas with a new interim head coach and and overhauled defensive staff

“I think you’ve got to look at some of what they’ve done and be prepared for that, but also go back and look at things that (new Arkansas defensive coordinator) Chris (Wilson) has done historically. So it’s a balancing act of all of that. A year ago offensively they had success playing a version of their three down on that night. And so we’ll prepare for that and then adjust to anything else that we see.”

If how a coach evaluates a high school quarterback often matches up with how the public perceives a high school quarterback 

“Yeah, sometimes they certainly do, sometimes they don’t. I think that position, there’s so many things that go into that guy. One, being the quarterback, there’s off the field and things inside the locker room that matter. And then, too, you look at the physical traits that you want at that position inside the scope of what you’re doing schematically. And then the ability to process and take all that information in. So there’s a lot of things that go into that guy being the right guy.”

What goes into a Bobby Petrino offense

“Yeah, offensively he’s always done a great job. I think you’ve got to be ready to handle the run game. And with who they have now (Taylen Green), the quarterback run game as well can be a huge part of what they decide to do. But he’s always got the ability to be extremely multiple. And personnel groupings, formations, motions, communication, all three levels got to be in sync. And ultimately he’s going to apply pressure to you and you got to be able to adjust and you got to go play at a really high level.”

His thoughts on former Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, who was fired on Sunday 

“Yeah, I have known about Sam for a long time. When I got to Oklahoma as a player, he had been there previously before I arrived. And guys spoke extremely highly about the character, who he was as a man, but then also as a coach. And as I got further into my coaching career, obviously, you’re able to see the success that he had, in particular with the offensive line play and coaching it and recruiting it at an elite level. As I got a chance to know him just in our head coaching meetings and crossing paths, not a better man inside of this game — who he is as a person and just conducting himself with great integrity. So a ton of appreciation for who he is and how he did his job.”

If he has any concern about Tennessee players getting distracted by changes made at Arkansas

“We’re getting ready to play a really good football team. A couple of weeks ago on the road against Ole Miss, who’s ranked No. 4 in the country, somewhere in there, the top five, it’s a one-possession game at the end of the fourth quarter. I know last week didn’t go the way anybody wanted it to, but this is a really good football team. It’s the next one for us inside of this league. Players understand you got that come to play every Saturday. You’re seeing like skill sets on the other side of the football and it’s going to be one of the details of the game.” 

What he saw on film from Tennessee’s win at Mississippi State 

“Yeah, we’ll take the win. Love the way that we finished. And the way that we played, we were willing to go out and not get too high, too low and just go play the next play, next series. So I love that part of it, and the finish. But a lot of controllables that we got to get better at in particular, offensively and special teams wise. It’s been a point of emphasis. And as we came back on Monday, had a team meeting and all that, it’s a week for us to continue to grow. Every week is that way, but we got to continue to take steps in the ownership and control the things that we can control.”

If they saw a connection between Joey Aguilar and Chris Brazzell II during fall camp 

“We believed we had an opportunity to be really good offensively. Had a lot of trust in Chris as we finished up last year. What we thought this year could look like for him, if he went about it and competed the right way and continued to grow. But for everybody in that room, Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews are playing at a really high level. In this game it’s about development of players. And we had some guys that had been in our program for less than a year that had to have a great offseason. They did. Had some young guys that were coming in that we believed could help us immediately. And some of those guys have and we’re going to continue to need more from them. So we’re pleased with a lot of what we’ve done. We expect to be a really good offense. And our guys have done a lot of positive things. But for us, there’s a lot of meat left on the bone too, and a lot of things that we can continue to get better at.”