Comment from Josh Heupel about 2021 season should excite Vols fans for 2022
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a comment this week via ESPN about the 2021 season that should excite fans for the future of UT football. Heupel was asked by ESPN's Chris Low what he learned about his team last season. And Heupel gave the perfect response. "I think last year we probably started […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a comment this week via ESPN about the 2021 season that should excite fans for the future of UT football.
Heupel was asked by ESPN's Chris Low what he learned about his team last season.
And Heupel gave the perfect response.
"I think last year we probably started off as a team that hoped to win and grew into a team that believed that we could win," said Heupel. "I think they gained confidence in some of those close losses. I think one of the unique things for our football team is in some of those setbacks we were able to pinpoint specific things that we could control."
"We got better throughout the course of the season, and we're going to need to do that again this year. I think we'll be a more confident football team from the outset because we're doing all of the right things to put ourselves in a position to win."
Two things about Heupel's comments stood out to me:
- The Vols don't hope to win now, they expect to win.
- Tennessee identified the reasons they lost close games and worked to correct those things.
If you don't expect to win, you probably won't win. "Hoping to win" isn't a good mindset to have. It's encouraging to hear that Tennessee's mindset naturally evolved through the course of the season. That's not something that can be forced — it has to happen organically. And it sounds like it did for the Vols.
When it comes to the corrections, that's equally important. Losses can be beneficial if you learn from them. And based on Heupel's comments, Tennessee learned from their mistakes last season. That should mean that we don't see some of the same issues plaguing the Vols in 2022 (failing to get first downs on third and short or failing to stop opposing offenses on third and long).
There are a lot of positive signs flying around Rocky Top right now. Fans should still be cautious with their optimism — given how things have transpired over the last 15 years — but I think there are some legitimate reasons for fans to be excited about Tennessee football again.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
