Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and defensive coordinator Tim Banks appeared on the “Vol Calls” radio show on a special Monday night edition ahead of Thursday’s season opener against Ball State.
Although Thursday games require a different game week structure, Heupel does enjoy some of the perks that come with it. Along with the extra days of rest and being on national television, it helps in the realm of scouting.
“The Thursday game allows us to get out Friday and watch some high school games,” Heupel said.
Heupel recapped fall camp as the team moved into the season. Tennessee uses four day blocks that Heupel says help keep players healthy and fresh throughout camp.
“There’s a certain amount of work you have to get in, you can’t short change it,” Heupel said. “We’ve gone in four day blocks and there’s an ebb and flow for each of those four days. We put our scrimmages on the back end of that four day block. As we finished up the fourth four day block, we finished most of our tackling work. We did more tackling and more physical work than a year ago for sure, and more than in my 10 years as a head coach.”
Part of the reason Heupel and his staff were able to focus on more physical work this year was due to the increase in depth on the roster.
“A year ago, as much as anything, the depth of our football team didn’t allow us to do those things,” Heupel said. “We had to be extremely cautious on the back end of camp.”
A common storyline surrounding this Tennessee team is how the offense will evolve in year two. Heupel is not bothered by these concerns.
“We always change from year to year, some of that is predicated on personnel,” Heupel said. “Every year plays out differently, but our year two’s have always been better than our year one’s.”
Bru McCoy, a highly touted wide receiver transfer from USC, was another controversial storyline following the Vols. After officially enrolling at Tennessee in June, McCoy was ruled immediately eligible to play last Friday. Heupel described his manner in training camp and how much we would see him in Thursday’s opener.
“He was earning his way and earning his keep,” Heupel said. “We get out in training camp and guys he’s competing with are coaching him up. You will see a bunch of Bru running around Thursday. He’s strong. He’s competitive. He’s physical at the catch point. He’s a guy who has played at this level.”
Heupel also hit on the quarterback room and the special relationship Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III share with one another, and with their quarterback coach Joey Halzle.
“Hendon coming back, his maturity, growth, his understanding of what we’re doing — he’s had a great offseason,” Heupel said. “His energy, you can feel the urgency in the way he works. Joe, coming back, talks about what Coach Halzle is building in the QB room. He’s continued to grow. They’ve pushed each other in the offseason.”
Banks joined Vol Calls following Heupel. A question coming into year two of Heupel’s staff is what improvements will be made on the defensive side of the ball. Returning a majority of the starters and adding depth are both crucial, according to Banks.
“Chemistry is big — last year was our first year all together,” Banks said. “Just having all those guys back has been tremendous for us. I am excited, we have more depth. Last season we didn’t know what we had. I feel like we’ve created some depth, some competition, I think it will bode well for us.”
Some things Banks said the defense has focused on during camp was creating turnovers and third down defense.
“We have to be diligent attacking the ball and have good ball awareness,” Banks said on how to create more turnovers. “Ball awareness on every snap. The reality of it is, we have to continue to put them in the right positions to make plays.”
He continued on to talk about third down defense, “For us, the thing we have obviously looked at is how we can be better at affecting the QB.”
The Vols open the season on Thursday night against Ball State in Neyland Stadium with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. ET.
