Tennessee Vols fans might owe Josh Heupel an apology
It might be time for (some) Tennessee Vols fans to give head coach Josh Heupel an apology. For the last couple of weeks, a section of the fan base has been very critical of the way that Heupel handles injury updates — specifically when it comes to center Cooper Mays. Heupel has always been vague […]
It might be time for (some) Tennessee Vols fans to give head coach Josh Heupel an apology.
For the last couple of weeks, a section of the fan base has been very critical of the way that Heupel handles injury updates — specifically when it comes to center Cooper Mays.
Heupel has always been vague with injury updates — that's something that's true of most college football head coaches — but some fans thought he was misleading when it came to updates on Mays' status over the last couple of weeks.
The third-year Tennessee head coach seemed to indicate that Mays would be back against Florida. But Mays didn't play in the Vols' loss in Gainesville. The senior offensive lineman also didn't play the following week against UTSA.
After the UTSA game, VolQuest reported that Mays had surgery "to repair three hernias and an abdominal wall repair during the second week of August".
Mays is expected to play against South Carolina this weekend.
The Mays drama the last few weeks could've been avoided if Heupel would've told reporters in mid August that Mays could be out for up to a month. That would've shut down most of the questions (and Heupel would've answered any questions with "he's continuing to work his way back" anyway) and speculation about Mays.
But there's likely a reason why Heupel didn't take that approach. And it kind of revealed itself this week.
In last week's win against UTSA, Vols quarterback Joe Milton suffered a knee injury that forced him to wear a brace in the second half. Milton had some imaging done on the knee after the game, but he's expected to be good to go for Saturday's game against South Carolina.
But how healthy will he be against the Gamecocks?
No one really knows because Heupel has discussed Milton's injury this week the same he's discussed Mays' injury/ailment and most other injuries since he arrived in Knoxville — very vaguely.
"For us, I know there’s a picture (of Milton waiting on an MRI) out there, but for us routinely on Sundays, we’re going to make sure that our players are healthy," said Heupel on Monday. "We have a diagnostic (setup) inside with our doctors. But we’re going to make sure that medically they check up on them as well. Joe’s been good, feels good. He was with us today, so anticipate him being ready to go play really well.”
There's undoubtedly some gamesmanship at play with the way Heupel talks about injuries. But it's not like keeping Mays' status hidden for the Florida game significantly impacted the way the Gators prepared for that game. What that approach did, however, was show Heupel's consistency when taking about injuries.
You can't look at the way that Heupel discussed the Mays' injury for clues as to what it means about Milton.
That's especially important this week when it comes to Milton and his ability to run.
The most important thing Tennessee did against UTSA was the first play of the game. Milton kept the football instead of handing it off or passing it and took it 81 yards for the score.
Getting that play on film (along with Milton's elite speed) gives teams one more thing they have to prepare for. So when the Vols are in that same formation, defenders have to respect Milton's home run speed. And that can open up some other options for the Vols' offense.
Milton's ability to outrun defenders is something that South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer mentioned on Wednesday during his appearance on the SEC weekly coaches teleconference.
"It's a big challenge," said Beamer about stopping Tennessee's running game. "And then you throw in the quarterback who went 80 or 75 yards on the first play of the game on Saturday. He'll run as well. I know he ran a quarterback draw in for a touchdown this year."
South Carolina obviously sees Milton's legs as a threat that they have to be prepared for on Saturday night.
And they can't sleep on Milton's ability to run (especially on QB keepers) just because of a potential knee injury. For starters, Milton doesn't run often enough to spy him, so it's not like the defense will be tilted toward stopping him. Secondly, and more importantly, there's not much for South Carolina to glean about Milton's condition based on Heupel's comments about the (potential) injury.
I understand the way Heupel talks about injuries might be frustrating for some fans. But there's a reason why he talks about injuries the way that he does. And Vols fans received a perfect example of that this week with the Milton situation.
Will being vague about injuries help Tennessee beat South Carolina? Maybe not. But there's a chance that a defender pays a little more attention to Milton instead of his responsibility. And that might open up a passing lane for the Vols.
In game that could be close, that one play might be the difference.
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