Josh Heupel Discusses Orange Bowl Prep, Opt Outs, Newcomers, and More

Following Tennessee’s Saturday morning practice, Josh Heupel met with the media to discuss the prep, newcomers, opt outs and more. You can read our observations

Following Tennessee’s Saturday morning practice, Josh Heupel met with the media to discuss the prep, newcomers, opt outs and more. You can read our observations below.

Quarterbacks Look Crisp in Limited Viewing

Tennessee's quarterbacks mostly worked underneath on shorter throws on Saturday morning, but they did look crisp. They worked different routes with the running backs out of the backfield early on as well. Joe Milton spent time coaching Nico Iamaleava up after each session, as the two seem to be hitting it off well. As expected, Iamaleava's off is live and certainly looks like he has the zip and touch to make all of the throws Tennessee will want him to make.

Wide Receiver Rotation as Expected

Tennessee will be without its top two options at receiver in the Orange Bowl with Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman both opting out. Today, we saw Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton and Squirrel White first though the line as expected. Keep in mind, the Vols will certainly need younger guys to step in behind those guys, as Jimmy Calloway and Jimmy Holiday both entered the transfer portal earlier this month.

First Look at Early Enrollees

Multiple Tennessee early enrollees rolled into campus over the past couple of days, we complied a list at the end of the article, but they all looked the part today from a physical standpoint and are what you would expect a top-ten program to bring in. However, they are clearly going to look like guys that are just starting their careers as they adjust to the pace and feel of practices and learn new drills. This is just a nice early time for growth. Sham Umarov had a couple of nice reps with his feet working with the offensive line. Did not have a chance to see all of the defensive guys.

Participation Notes

No reason for concern here as Tennessee is likely just using caution with its top two running backs, but Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright sported non-contact jerseys in the open viewing periods. The two had some tough, high carry games down the stretch the Vols, and this is a typically common practice.

Christian Charles worked to the side.

Trevon Flowers and Bru McCoy both were in non-contact, but no surprise as they both had dealt with injuries late in the season and the team was not really doing any contact drills today anyways.

Jeremy Banks was available on the practice field.

Overall, not a lot to report on from the first three periods of the day for the Vols. Everyone was flying around and the intensity appeared where you would expect it to be leading into a high-caliber bowl game.

Below is a list of the freshmen that have joined Tennessee for bowl practice so far.

QB Nico Iamaleava

OL Sham Umarov

OL Vysen Lang

DL Nathan Robinson

Edge Caleb Herring

CB Jordan Matthews

CB Cristian Conyer

CB Rickey Gibson

WR Nathan Leacock

Safety Jack Luttrell

Safety John Slaughter II

Linebacker Arion Carter

Linebacker Jeremiah Telander

Linebacker Jalen Smith