Something is happening that Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel isn’t going to be happy about, but there’s not much he can do
The Tennessee Vols improved to 2-0 after a big road win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets this past weekend.
It’s no secret that Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel prefers to fly under the radar.
Heupel is never going to be a loud voice in the SEC. He has no interest in doing a bunch of media to sell Tennessee football. Heupel will speak up when he needs to — like he did about Arion Carter’s suspension last month — and he’ll do media when it’s necessary, but he’s certainly not seeking out the spotlight.
That’s why I’m all but certain that Heupel doesn’t love that Tennessee, after barely being talked about by the national media during the offseason, is starting to receive some hype.
The national media is taking notice of Tennessee
The biggest question surrounding Tennessee this offseason centered on quarterback play.
“Will Faizon Brandon be good enough as a true freshman for the Vols to make some serious noise?”
Brandon hasn’t been perfect, but he’s looked incredibly poised through the first two weeks of the season. And his play, combined with Tennessee’s strong run game, has folks in the national media starting to take serious notice of the Volunteers.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, who said in May that Tennessee is trending in the wrong direction, said this week that he “really likes” the Vols right now.
Former Alabama quarterback turned ESPN analyst McElroy had a similar take after Tennessee’s win over Georgia Tech.
“[Tennessee was] down 10-7 after the first quarter,” said McElroy. “A sold out Bobby Dodd Stadium and Tennessee hung 17 points on the Jackets inside the first 11 minutes in the second quarter. So, I was very impressed to see them flip the switch. This team’s got a lot of explosives. I like what I’ve seen from Tennessee so far in the first couple weeks.”
ESPN’s Alex Scarborough is already talking about Tennessee being one of the best teams in the SEC if the Vols can knock off Texas on September 26.
“A home date with Kennesaw State next week is a good opportunity to continue to progress,” wrote Scarborough this week. “Then, Texas comes to Neyland Stadium. Win there, improve to 4-0 and suddenly we’ll be talking about the Vols as one of the top teams in the SEC.
The “rat poison” from the national media may be why Heupel seemed on edge on Monday during his weekly press conference.
Heupel took offense to the Vols’ matchup against Kennesaw State this weekend being called a “tune up game.”
“It’s not a tune up,” said Heupel on Monday when asked about Kennesaw State being a tune up game. “You better show up every Saturday. You look at the scores (in college football) and the media, your family, your girlfriend, or whoever, might want to pigeonhole you, but you decide, collectively, who you are as a team.”
“You can look at the scores every week — you better get ready to go play when the ball is teed up. You better be playing at your best. The game unfolds how it unfolds, but you better prepare to go play for 60 minutes.”
Heupel knows that positive outside noise can seep into the minds of players and impact preparation.
I mean, it happened with the Denver Broncos in their Week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
Broncos superstar cornerback Patrick Surtain II admitted the team was feeling themselves after all the offseason hype.
If that can happen to NFL players, then it can certainly happen to college football players.
And there’s not much Heupel can do about it. All he can do is continue to preach to his team that everything has to be earned, no matter how positive the outside noise is.
