Josh Heupel made an interesting admission about his evaluation of quarterbacks after Tennessee’s first fall practice
The Tennessee Volunteers held their first fall football practice on Wednesday morning.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel made an interesting admission about the way he evaluates quarterbacks following the Vols’ first fall practice on Wednesday.
Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon are battling for the Vols’ starting quarterback job. Heupel isn’t expected to make a decision until later in August (likely after Tennessee’s second scrimmage).
For now, Heupel isn’t tipping his hand either way. It’s believed that MacIntyre and Brandon are starting fall camp “even” in this battle.
Heupel, though, made an interesting comment on Wednesday when asked if it’s difficult to be patient with the quaterback battle.
The sixth-year Tennessee head coach gave a coach-speaky response before revealing when he becomes “concerned” about a quarterback.
“You want to see your quarterbacks, and it’s true for every player, just continue to get better,” said Heupel. “But guys that keep making the same mistake twice — the third time, that’s when I get concerned. It’s a player’s responsibility to learn it, earn it, and take it and prove he’s going to play at a championship level. And to do that — to get to that point — you’ve got to be able to progress from day to day and rep to rep.”
Heupel, of course, understands that mistakes are going to happen — that’s where growth comes from. And he understands that sometimes a young player will make the same mistake twice. But when they make it a third time? That’s when Heupel is raising his eyebrows and wondering what’s going on.
That’ll be something to keep in mind as this quarterback battle progresses in August. If we hear that one quarterback is consistently having trouble in a particular area, it could be a sign that the battle is trending toward the other guy.
