Everything Josh Heupel Said on Monday Ahead of Ball State

Tennessee will open its 2022 season Thursday night against Ball State. On Monday afternoon, Head Coach Josh Heupel met with the local media to discuss preparation and more. The full transcript of what he said is below (courtesy of UTAD Athletics Communications Department)

Opening Statement…
"Feels different in here today than it ever has. Some might think it's game week, but we are all graced by a Hall of Famer, Jimmy (Hyams), congratulations. Congratulations on everything you've done in this area covering UT for a long time but the area as well, so congratulations for everything that you've done.

"Awesome that it's game week man, let's go play ball. Excited to get into Neyland Stadium. Obviously, a long training camp here with our players. We're at the point where it is time to go play and find out where we're at. We are in the middle of our preparation right now. Today was a Wednesday (practice week wise). Energy, focus (were) good. Things we still got to clean up here before we get to kickoff, but excited to go compete with these guys on Thursday night. Really excited to see Vol Nation out. Our student body, there has been a huge amount of ticket requests by them. Excited to feel their energy inside of Neyland Stadium (and) the Vol Walk. I know our guys are extremely excited about that, too. You look back at the process all the way since Jan. 24 – I think that is when we got here – and a ton of work has gone into it. Excited to go play and compete with these guys and our fans that are in the stands, as well. Thursday night ballgame, one benefit for us as a staff is we have the opportunity to go recruit on the backend of it. At lot of our staff will be out on Friday and have the chance to go watch some high school kids play football in the state and across our region, (so) excited about that as well."

On WR Bru McCoy's eligibility being granted…
"Certainly, a small sense of relief. More than anything just excitement when I got the news. Man, it sent chills down my spine. I'm so excited for him. A young man that has done it the right way since he has been here, and he has gone through a long, windy journey to get to this point. Now he has the opportunity to move forward with his future and go compete with his teammates, his brothers. Having the chance to tell him and hear him tell his dad was one of the great moments in my career. You can just tell the sense of excitement and some relief from them that they are just able to move on and go compete. Really special for him and his family."

On feeling ready for the season opener…
"I think as a coach you're always, 'man we've got to go play'. At the same time, you always want more time to continue the preparation. You've got a checklist: offense, defense, special teams, special situations/circumstances that you try to put your kids in. We've run the gamut on that. We've gotten into our normal down, situational preparation for this football game. There's still a lot of things here in the next 72 hours that we get a chance to clean up. At the end of the day, you get to this point through the course of training camp, it it's time to go play ball."

On Bru McCoy's progress…
"The beginning portion of practice we were kind of methodical in ramping him up as he came off of not being quite 100 percent at the beginning of summer. So, we have built him up. He has got a good understanding of what we're doing. He's operated fairly efficiently in what we are doing offensively. For all of our guys that are out there playing on the offensive side of the ball with our tempo the first time – you think back to a year ago, it'll be their first time experiencing it – so, there will be some things that we are going to have to grow through and clean up. He has got a really good understanding of what we're doing. He has continued to get stronger physically, been more fundamentally and technically sound in what we're asking him to do. There's a lot of positive things as we have gone through this training camp with him."

On offensive line growth this year…
"In some ways, just like our program, much further ahead. They understand how we play, the ability to communicate. You guys saw that growth with them a year ago. We're healthy at this point in the season, which is exciting. We need to stay that way. A lot of guys have played a lot of football there for us."

On dividing quarterback reps during game weeks…
"In what we do, Hendon (Hooker) is going to get the majority or all the one work. Joe (Milton III), at times, will get a majority of the two reps. We have a plan for all of our twos. Offensive line, skill guys, tight ends to get a good amount of reps. That's when we're going against practice squads, that's also when we're going against some good-on-good looks."

On his thoughts on Ball State…
"Week one, just in general, you're never sure exactly what you're going to get. Some of that can be personnel based. They have guys that graduate, new guys come in, where are they going to place them? Schematically, things tend to change in week one. Everyone went through a self-scout process from the previous year, they made changes to what they're doing. Things really big in week one that your players have an understanding in what you anticipate to see, but they have the tools in their tool bag to adjust to what they're actually seeing. Staff and everybody being able to adjust and subtlety tweak and change things as the game unfolds."

On what the wide receivers can do to get into the starting lineup and get reps…
"A big part of that last year was being in year one. New in what we're doing offensively. Velus (Jones Jr.) being nicked up during the course of training camp kind of changed the way the season started for us. Some guys coming on strong. That's the inventible beginning of a season. Some of those things will happen as this season unfolds too, but in particular in year one. We'd like to play more guys at the wide receiver position, guys that are ready to compete and perform in the way that we need him to. Be in the right spaces in the right time and have a trust with the quarterback. I do feel like we'll play more guys than we did a year ago at this juncture of the season."

On injuries and how he'll manage reps at left tackle in the opener…
"I think at this point we're pretty healthy heading into week one. You guys know there's still a long time before we actually kick off. Unless it's a major injury where guys won't be available, I tend to not make a decision on Wednesday afternoon and wait just a little bit longer.

"The left tackle position, both of those guys are going to play. Somebody will run out with the ones. I haven't watched Wednesday's practice yet, Coach (Glen) Elarbee hasn't. As we go back and evaluate it, we'll have a plan for those guys to rotate during the course of the ball game. What percentage each of them play and who runs out there first, I don't have an answer to yet."

On his comfort level for himself compared to last year…
"You can see it as we transition from how we practice during training camp to the season. Just the comfort with our players and what we're doing. That's true for our coaches, too. We're in sync. The ability to communicate. Our players have a clear vision of what's going to happen here up until kickoff. The standards that we have. Year two should be a lot different than year one. It has been. I don't think you're ever where you want to be as a coach because you're always trying to find ways to be better. At the same time, have a pretty good idea of the guys that are running out of that tunnel. Who they are, what they're about, how they're going to play and compete, how they're going to handle positive plays, negative plays. Now it's about us continuing our preparation and be ready to go kick off."

On growth in preparing for a football game…
"A year ago, early in the season – the last 48 hours in particular – in the early parts of the week I didn't think we kept what should be important, important all the time. Got sidetracked by things that have nothing to do with us as individuals and collectively as a football team going out and playing our best. I do believe we're a more mature football team. I'm saying that because of how they've handled everything since we've gotten back in January. The issues from day-to-day are so different than they were a year ago because our players are different. True to the characteristics of accountability, trust and respect and competing extremely hard. I do anticipate us handling the last 48 hours the right way as we head into Thursday night. Inevitably, you always have new players inside of your program. Year two for me, I've been able to be clear in my message to them about my expectation on the front end of it. They have older guys that they can see and are role models for them as well. I believe that we'll handle it in a lot better way."

On what his emotions will be like going into the Vol Walk and running through the T on Thursday…
"A year ago, I had no idea. I talked about the experience of it. To be honest, I had heard so much about it, I had thought it would be really hard for it to live up to that. Vol Walk, in particular. It superseded my expectations. I'm excited to get off the bus with these guys and go down the Vol Walk, enter gate 21 and then get ready to go compete. It will be a great atmosphere, electric. Since our students have come back you can feel the energy and the buzz around here, in particular too. Our guys, you think all the way back to January. That's a long process. I'm excited to run out with these guys and go play."

On evaluating game performances when looking at position battles…
"Certainly, the game is going to matter right? It's the realest thing and the most important thing that we do is perform in those moments. I think as you go through a season, you got to understand that players are going to grow and change and evolve. They're going to get better. In particular, the young players inside your program. You got to have a really good feel for who he is, how does he prepare and his ability to handle the moments in the biggest moments. We're going to need a lot of guys. A year ago, we were the thinnest football team in America. We need to be deeper than we were a year ago. To do that, some of your young guys, you got to let them grow and evolve throughout the course of the season. There's a plan at each position to play certain guys. The game is going to unfold differently too, and so just because you have a certain plan going in as a coach doesn't mean that it's clear and cut and that's how it always unfolds. Being able to evolve and understand the ebbs and flows of a football game and put guys in the right moment is critical for me, but it's critical for our coordinators and our position coaches as well."

On assessing the secondary…
"I like the maturity and competition that we've had at the STAR position. T-Mac (Tamarion McDonald) and Wesley (Walker), feel really confident in both of those guys. T-Mac has been as consistent as anybody we've had since we hit the grass day one of training camp. What he did a year ago on special teams in particular, I think has really allowed him to grow and gain a bunch of confidence, and then his work ethic since the offseason started. The cornerback position, I believe we will see multiple guys that will play there. I like a lot of what they've done up until this point. Obviously, want to see them go out and preform at a really high level on Thursday."

On the status of LB William Mohan…
"I don't have an update. We put out as soon as we received information that he was suspended indefinitely from the program, and we will let that process unfold here."

On the secondary being motivated from the game last year against Purdue…
"I think it should spur and motivate you to get kicked off in the offseason the right way, and it certainly did. The guys that we have inside the building, they have prepared in a really good way since we started our offseason. Each quarter of our offseason, from strength and conditioning to spring ball to what we've done in the summer. Now it's being able to handle everything that comes with gameday: formation recognition, coverage adjustments, the ability to communicate, have your eyes in the right place, you know trigger when you're supposed to and go make plays, handle the 50/50 ball, be patient and calm and glove it. So, all those situations got to unfold, and I believe in the guys we have back there. I believe they'll play really well for us."

On the importance of growing depth and the growth and development through special teams…
"The fundamentals that you have to have to play special teams show up in everything that you are doing on offense and defense. The ability to move your feet, have your eyes in the right place, play with fundamentals and technique, hat, hands and feet, be able to block people, be able to destruct a block, all of those things correlate over. We talk about that and show that in our special teams meeting all of the time. Coach (Mike) Ekeler does a great job with that, and our players have bought into that. A lot of, almost all the great ones that I have been around – I say almost because there have been a few guys that are outside of that – they end up starting in special teams and they gain confidence. That was certainly the case for T-Mac (Tamarion McDonald). The need for us to be deeper is true. We have to play more people than we did a year ago, however, you can't force that like you're saying. Guys have to show that you can trust them on the football field. That's playing their assignment and then being able to make plays. That's what training camp has been all about, 'who are the guys that can do that in this point in the season?' We've gone through that process. We will play a bunch of guys on Thursday night. We're going to come back, we're going to evaluate the film and see who handled it the right way and who can continue to grow. That will push us towards the following week."

On how much Cedric Tillman has changed…
"Last year at this point, nobody knew who he was and certainly did not know what he was about on the football field. For him, he's been so consistent. You guys see the confidence, who he is, and what he's about. He's got a great understanding of how to prepare. His on-field performance has continued to get better. I expect him to have a big night and have a big year."