Josh Heupel told a transfer player what Tennessee needs in order to win a national championship
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel told one of the program's recent transfer additions what UT is missing in order to compete for a national championship. The Vols recently added former Vanderbilt/BYU cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally to their roster. Jeudy-Lally announced that he was transferring to Tennessee earlier this month. Shortly after announcing his transfer to UT, […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel told one of the program's recent transfer additions what UT is missing in order to compete for a national championship.
The Vols recently added former Vanderbilt/BYU cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally to their roster.
Jeudy-Lally announced that he was transferring to Tennessee earlier this month.
Shortly after announcing his transfer to UT, Jeudy-Lally appeared on WNML's "Josh and Swain" to discuss his decision to join the Vols.
And he pointed out that Heupel sold him coming to Knoxville by telling him that Tennessee "needs certain missing pieces to be able to win a national championship".
“I went on my visit and I really liked the things that are going on with the program, the culture shift and the ability to win a national championship if the right pieces fall together,” said Jeudy-Lally.
“It’s going to be a competition regardless of whoever comes in, so I’m just looking forward to being a part of a team that can go make a national championship run," added Jeudy-Lally. "Coach (Willie) Martinez says you guys are just a couple of pieces away, so hopefully I can be the piece to be able to help that out.”
I think it's pretty clear here that the insinuation from Heupel and Martinez is that Tennessee needs to get better in the secondary in order to compete for a national championship.
Of course, that likely doesn't come as a surprise to any Vols fans — the secondary was Tennessee's biggest weakness in 2022.
It should be comforting to fans, however, that Heupel knows that the secondary has to be better. And he knows that Tennessee needs to add to that room to improve. That's why they went out and got Jeudy-Lally. And it's why they're hoping to add Ole Miss defensive back Davison Igbinosun to the roster (he's also considering UCLA, Ohio State, and Michigan).
Heupel isn't blind to Tennessee's issues. He knows what the team is missing. And he's doing his best to fill those roster holes. Heupel essentially knows that the status quo in the secondary isn't good enough moving forward.
Featured image via Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
