Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has a tremendous coaching and support staff that does an excellent job getting the team prepared to play on Saturdays (and some Thursdays).

Heupel, however, also has a secret weapon to help him spot things he might miss at practice.

And that secret weapon is his dad.

Heupel's dad, Ken, was a long-time college football coach at Northern State University in South Dakota.

These days, Ken is often spotted at Tennessee's practices. And he's not just there to hang out, he's observing and giving his son information as "another set of eyes".

"For me, it's almost roles reversed from when I was a kid and I was in the passenger seat on the way to the office at 5:45 in the morning," said Heupel to VolQuest.com's Austin Price recently. "[When] he's here, he's a set of eyes for me and sees it from a different perspective. As I get down in the weeds during the course of a practice, he's able to look at some things from a global view. He'll give me some nudges about 'here's some things that I see', not scheme-wise or anything like that, just pure organization."

"To have him around and be a part of this is a lot of fun for me," added Heupel.

This may seem like a bit of a "novelty" to Vols fans, but it's really not.

I don't think Heupel is about to put his dad on payroll or anything like that, but having a different set of eyes check things out from time to time — especially from a long-time college football coach — can be incredibly beneficial.

Heupel and his staff are seeing the same players, the same position groups, etc, every single day. His dad can help give a fresh look at some things that perhaps Heupel or his assistants miss. Maybe it's something small that most wouldn't notice. But the little details can be extremely important on game day.

When it comes to running a college football program, attention to detail can be the difference in wins and losses (no one is more detailed than Nick Saban and I'd say that's worked out pretty well).

So not only is it awesome that Heupel gets to share this journey with his dad, but that relationship can help Tennessee become even more successful in the coming years.

Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK