Everything Josh Heupel said after Tennessee's first spring football practice on Monday
Tennessee football started its spring football practice with a workout on Monday morning in Knoxville. Here’s everything head coach Josh Heupel said during his press conference after the workout:
Opening Statement
“First, just want say good luck to Coach Harper and Coach Barnes, the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Great time of year for basketball. Look forward to seeing them all compete. Have a great, great month here. For us, Day 1 on the practice field. Great to get out there. We got a bunch of new guys, I think we got eight transfers, 14 midyear high school guys. Kaleb Beasley, Edwin Spillman joined us here today. They weren’t with us at the beginning of this semester, but they were able to join us today too. So great to get on the grass with those guys and start our on-the-field journey for this season. And the have guys done a great job in the first quarter of our off season transition here into spring ball. In a great spot to go compete and get better every single day and start it.”
What he knows about this Tennessee team that he didn’t know leaving the Citrus Bowl in January
“That’s a different team than it was at the bowl game. There’s a lot of guys that are here with us. Obviously December is a different month, whatever it might be. You have some midyear enrollees that are there, but it’s their first experience. A bunch more are with us now. We’re in Orlando with us. Every year, it’s always been true, but certainly rosters turn over more frequently at this point and this time in college football. So it’s a process. It’s a journey. You can’t short change it, you can’t cut it. And for us, strength and conditioning, the accountability factor, being intentional and trying to develop leadership, communication from within the locker room. I thought our guys handled that extremely well. Grew throughout it. Some great days, some, some tough days that we had to learn from, too. But that’s all part of the process and the journey. What I do like about this group is that they do compete extremely hard. They care about one another and they’re willing to get coached. And today is just the beginning of the on-field stuff for everybody in the building. Man, fundamentally getting better, growing technique, mastering that, then the scheme, your eyes, your hands. It’s a long ways to go until we kick off. We always challenge the guys. Don’t make the same mistake twice. If you do that spot, by the time we get to kick off the identity of this football team, our makeup, we’re still a long ways away from being what I hope us to be, but also what we should be. That’s all part of it.”
If Tennessee’s transfers can afford to ease their way in during this transition period, or if there needs to be more urgency to fill roles on the field in the fall
“You see urgency from everybody that’s putting helmet on, going out to practice. I don’t care how long you’ve been playing. The best in the game are always working on their craft. It’s Hall of Famers, 15-year vets. Same at this level, man. There’s constant growth and all our guys got areas that our strength staffs pinpointed, our coaches have pinpointed in areas that they got to get better at. So continuing to compete every day. Guys that compete the hardest and the do it the longest are typically the ones that win out. That’s true in a position battle, it’s true when you get out in the field on Saturday afternoon, too.”
How much they’ll work with in-helmet communication this spring, what he needs to see from it to feel comfortable with it in the fall
“Yeah, really have an idea, but you’re going to kind of tinker with it (on) both sides of the football. Don’t have as many available right now, I think that’s true across college football, as what you’d like to be able to look at on both sides of the football every single day, every rep for guys that would potentially be wearing it. But a little bit trial and error that will happen in practice and scrimmages and kind of figure out how to navigate it, where it’s most advantageous to our program.”
What he’s seen from Tennessee freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger
“Talented guy that works extremely hard, cares about his craft, cares about his teammate in a really positive way. And he’s had a workman-type mentality since he got here. You get thrown into bowl preparation and it’s all come really quickly at you, certainly at that position with everything that you got to navigate. Continuing to get better fundamentally. He’s grown in understanding our schemes. He hasn’t mastered anything yet, but he shouldn’t at this point either. I’m really excited to get out there and continue to compete with him throughout the course of spring ball. At quarterback, and it’s true at every position too, but the fundamentals of the position, if those aren’t right, it’s hard to be consistent in what everybody’s going to see the accuracy of the football when you’re throwing it. But continuing to grow that way. And then mastering our schemes here and winning seeing on the defensive side of the ball. So for all of the young guys that are in spring ball, and it’s almost like thirds, man, the first five days are really tough. It’s hard. The second five days was usually a dramatic growth from the first five days. And by the time you get to the end of it, you don’t resemble the player that you were the first five days. So being confident, continuing to work hard, not lose any confidence as you’re learning, as you’re going through making some mistakes.”
The transition for new Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims and linebackers coach William Inge
For us, the process really isn’t different. When we have an opening, you always want to hire the right person, fits the culture of the building, that’s going be able to develop and have great relationships with players. That’s going be a great teacher in the game, but help them grow outside of it, too. All of that translates into recruiting. Because to me, recruiting is about relationships. And showing the kid how you’re going to care about them, how you’re going to help them grow and become their best. And you know, for us, really excited about the two guys that we brought in. William and De’Rail are two guys that have had a ton of success, if you look at the history of their, their careers. They’ve coached at high levels, they’ve had guys that have been highly productive. They’ve come into the building and done a great job of developing relationships with their guys inside the room really quickly. But then also being able to demonstrate how they’re going help grow and the transition has been really smooth. So excited to have those guys and I know our players are too.”
The habits and personalities he’s seen from Sims and Inge so far
“They’re both extremely smart, whether I’ve known them or just went through the interview process with them. They’re both extremely bright guys. Communicate at a really high level. They have a high passion, care factor. They’ve got great energy, they’re really comfortable and confident in who they are and how they present themselves. And they’ve been really good this inside the building so far. Really high-level guys that do it the right way and are extremely competitive.”
What he’s seen from transfer receiver Chris Brazzell II and how Tennessee’s older receivers have helped him transition
“We’ve been really fortunate building a culture where the vets want good players around and want to help them grow. And that happens because of the position coaches that we have inside of those rooms. The culture that they set inside of those rooms. It happens because of the locker room. So for Chris, all the veteran guys that have been in this one, they help them grow just in how to play the game within the game. For us, the mechanics, how to process, can be specific routes. But they also help them, just the culture of the building, who we need to be individually and thus collectively as a group. And our first quarter of our off season, I said it earlier, we spend a lot of time with leadership and communication and we got good leadership. It’s got to become great leaders and we need to be championship leadership on side of that.”
Tennessee sophomore edge rusher James Pearce Jr. having to adjust to becoming more of the focal point of opposing scouting reports
“He did see a lot of attention from opponents (last season). It could be sliding, it could be chipping. Some of the route structure, getting the ball out quickly, out on the perimeter is part of it. And at the end of the day, any unit can’t just be one guy. James needs to grow as a player too and he would stand up here to tell you that as well. There’s things that he’s working on for him to become his best and to take his game to another level. But you got to have guys around you too. And that way if we’re just trying to slide to one and somebody else has got a one-on-one that they can go win too and bring some balance to what you’re doing upfront. And then for us, obviously having the ability to move him around will be a part of it as well.”
LSU transfer offensive lineman Lance Heard being a young player and having to deal with expectations in his first season at Tennessee
“Really a young player that played snap down there and played well when he had the opportunity. He’s a young player that’s going to have to continue to grow. He’s got to develop and grow into being a pro and how he handles himself every single day. He’s been awesome inside of our building. Developing relationships, how he has competed every day. Guys that we took the transfer portal, that recruitment happens really quickly. Man, it’s been a great group that has come into the building and try to blend in and mesh in with our team culture extremely quickly. They’ve handled themselves with a lot of maturity. He’s handling himself with maturity. On the field he’s a young player that’s seven months, eight months into his college football career and he’s just beginning the journey. So fundamentals, technique, understanding what we’re doing offensively, the communication that’s got to happen up front. When we play with temp, being able to function and operate within that. He’s in the beginning stages. Uber talented, being great in the building. And I expect him to grow a bunch over the next 14 practices.”
Molding Tennessee’s offensive scheme to Nico Iamaleava at quarterback, experimenting in the spring with what’s best for him
“Knowing who Nico is, but also knowing he’s still growing as a player, some core principles, some things that we believe in, that we feel like we need to have, he’s going to continue to grow in that. Some subtle things that we’ll add, just based off of the player he is and how we put him in the position to be successful, but also help us grow and change from year to year too. So we’ll tinker with some of that through spring ball, figure out things that are best for us collectively and for him. Kind of hone in on those things as we get into training camp.”
Where Nico Iamaleavea is right now from a leadership standpoint
“The quarterback position, you got the ball in your hands, everybody’s paying attention to that position. You better have some of those traits right from the jump. The hard thing as a young quarterback on the leadership side of it is you’re still pushing extremely hard on the fundamentals, the growth and mastering of our offense. Mastering what’s going on on the other side of the ball. He does a phenomenal job in one-on-one. Those situations, communication with wide receivers after a series, (the) offensive line, the growth, his voice within our entire program, he’s got to continue to grow in that role. That’s something that is true for every young quarterback though. Expect him to continue to mold into that.”
