There's one thing Josh Heupel believes in that Butch Jones didn't that will be huge for Vols in 2022
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is entering his second season as the head coach at UT with some high expectations. Heupel led the Vols to a 7-6 record last year in his first season as Tennessee's head coach. The previous season, the program went 3-7 under Jeremy Pruitt. The quick turnaround is responsible for […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is entering his second season as the head coach at UT with some high expectations.
Heupel led the Vols to a 7-6 record last year in his first season as Tennessee's head coach. The previous season, the program went 3-7 under Jeremy Pruitt.
The quick turnaround is responsible for those high expectations.
Heupel, to his credit, isn't running away from the expectations. He's not necessarily embracing the outside noise — he made it clear this month that preseason rankings/predictions mean nothing — but he's not trying to quiet the noise, either.
Instead of proactively making excuses for the 2022 season — which he could easily do because the Vols still don't have enough depth — he's approaching his media sessions with a strong sense of optimism.
Heupel told reporters this past week that he feels like Tennessee has a much deeper team than it did a year ago.
Heupel's comments about depth are very different than former UT head coach Butch Jones' comments about depth before his second season at Tennessee.
"On average, a third of college football teams change, the dynamics change, you have to reinvent yourselves each and every year," said Jones in 2014 at SEC Media Days.
"For us at Tennessee, we're a little bit different," added Jones. "We're not at the norm in terms of having to replace a third of our football. We're having to replace almost half of our football team…We're the only school in the country that has to replace both starting interior lines, both offensively and defensively. We have to replace our entire kicking game."
Butch loved lowering expectations by using excuses. Heupel, on the other hand, just tells it like it is. It's refreshing to know that Heupel doesn't have a hidden agenda behind his words. Instead, he just answers questions from reporters and goes on about his day.
That's not the only key difference between Heupel and Jones that I noticed this week, either.
One of the things that constantly perplexed me about Jones was his non-belief in "gamers".
Jones was a big believer in "you play as you practice". In other words, he didn't believe that a player could perform better when the lights come on.
"It's rare," said Jones of the idea of gamers in 2014. "I don't believe in that. I don't believe in gamers. I call those floaters, just float along because eventually, it catches up to you. I just had this talk with a prospective student-athlete. By far the best practice player I have ever, ever been a part of is Antonio Brown. There's a reason why if he continues to do what he's doing he will be in the pro football hall of fame."
For the most part, he's probably right. But there are plenty of cases of players who were poor practice players but excelled in game situations.
Josh Dobbs, who played quarterback for Jones for four seasons, was one of those players.
Dobbs wasn't a good practice player at all. I was at many of those early practices in 2013 and 2014 and it was clear that Dobbs wasn't the best player on the field.
But when it came game time, Dobbs was by far the Vols' best option. He was a gamer — Dobbs performed well under the bright lights.
(Despite Dobbs' strong play in 2013, Jones named Justin Worley the starter in 2014. That decision likely cost the Vols a win against Florida that season.)
Heupel has a different view of "gamers". He feels as though you don't truly know who a player is until you see them play in a game — especially young players.
"You're going to find out a lot more about your young guys, guys that haven't done it, when the lights come on, for sure," said Heupel this past week. "Is the stage too big, is it not? Are they able to cut it loose and go implement and incorporate all the fundamentals and technique, understanding of scheme and go make plays? We try and put them in those stressful situations."
"At the end of the day, gameday is its own thing. We'll find out a little bit more about those young guys for sure. Our veteran guys have been playing. We have a pretty good understanding of how they are going to react to those situations."
Heupel's philosophy on gamers sounds like a 180 from Jones' philosophy.
And that's a positive for the Vols.
One of the most frustrating things during the Jones era at Tennessee was watching other teams put young players on the field and having them excel while the Vols buried young players on the bench and settled for the status quo on game days.
That shouldn't be the case under Heupel. He's going to give players a shot to prove themselves. And when you do that, you might be surprised to find out that a few players who may not have elite practices are elite when it counts.
It's just another reason why Tennessee fans should feel confident for the first time in 15/20 years that the Vols are finally on the right path.
Featured image via USA TODAY Sports
