Josh Heupel sends message to Joe Milton and the rest of his Tennessee team
It's been a tough week for the Tennessee Vols after their 29-16 loss to the Florida Gators in Gainesville last weekend. Josh Heupel, quarterback Joe Milton, and the rest of Tennessee's roster have dealt with a significant amount criticism this week, which is new territory for the program under Heupel after nearly a year of […]
It's been a tough week for the Tennessee Vols after their 29-16 loss to the Florida Gators in Gainesville last weekend.
Josh Heupel, quarterback Joe Milton, and the rest of Tennessee's roster have dealt with a significant amount criticism this week, which is new territory for the program under Heupel after nearly a year of unbridled adoration from Vols fans.
Offensive play-calling, quarterback play, offensive line issues, and poor tackling from the defense have all been sources of frustration for the Vols fan base after Tennessee's first loss of the season.
The outside noise has been loud enough that Milton and his teammates have likely had trouble avoiding it all.
On Thursday while meeting with reporters for the final time before Tennessee plays UTSA, Heupel was asked what his message is to Milton when it comes to handling the outside noise.
"Listen, and this is for everybody in the building — if you think your value is based off of outside opinion when it’s going well or when it hasn’t gone as well as you would like it to, you’re putting yourself in a situation to be up and down," said Heupel on Thursday. "Be consistent in your preparation, we got a plan for the guys every single week. The end of your routine doesn’t ensure that you’re gonna play perfect. It’s hard in this game to do that. You got 11 guys on the other side of the football, you got strategy from the coaches. At the end of the day, you prepare the best you can to put yourself in a position to go play your best."
"Joe’s got things that he can do better, but the guys around him gotta do things better, too," added Heupel. "And at the end of the day, if you’re in second-and-20 all day, it makes things real difficult. Offensively, we gotta control the control both. You can’t have a bunch of self-inflicted wounds. You gotta play smart football. You do that, you give yourself a chance to move the football and score points.”
Tennessee hasn't played anywhere close to their potential during the first few weeks of the season. In fact, it feels like the offense has regressed each week.
But a breakout game against UTSA, a good Group-of-5 team that's capable of upsetting Tennessee, will quiet a lot of the outside noise. And it might be all the Vols need to start firing on all cylinders.
If Tennessee doesn't turn things around quickly, the noise is only going to grow louder.
But if the Vols come out on Saturday and look like a different team, the fan base's concern will start to ease and the good vibes that followed the program all offseason will soon return.
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Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
