Josh Heupel claps back with sassy response at critics of the Tennessee Vols’ offense
The Tennessee Volunteers’ offense during the Josh Heupel era has been heavily criticized for its lack of pro-style elements. Tennessee’s offense, however, evolved in a big way last season.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel clapped back this week at the many critics of his offense.
Heupel has had to deal with a negative narrative surrounding his offense for the last five years. It’s to the point where some NFL teams say they won’t take a wide receiver from Tennessee because of the Vols’ offensive system.
“The teams I talked to, a couple of them said, ‘I’m not picking a receiver out of Tennessee,’” said longtime NFL insider James Palmer earlier this month. “I’m just not doing it. … I had a text yesterday from somebody that said, ‘I’m not taking a Tennessee wide receiver.’”
Former Vols defensive back Charles Davis, now an analyst for CBS Sports, says the narrative around Tennessee’s offense is a “real thing” and that the program is dealing with negative recruiting because of it.
“When you have quarterback coaches like Quincy Avery put out there [that he] would never send a kid to Tennessee because of the system, those types of things hit,” said Davis. “And until other people show differently, [the narrative won’t change]. (Former Vols QB) Hendon Hooker has not helped, quote, unquote, because he hasn’t broken through as a quarterback in the NFL. So when people are recruiting and talking and all of that, you know darn well that the people recruiting against [Tennessee] are going to use those sorts of things. So I don’t think that what you’re saying is hyperbole. I don’t think what you’re saying is out of line.”
Josh Heupel claps back at the critics with sassy response
Tennessee’s offense evolved in a significant way last season (more condensed sets, less tempo, etc), but the criticism hasn’t stopped.
Heupel joined 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL on Wednesday evening during a Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville and was asked about the criticism of his offense, specifically as it relates to wide receivers and the NFL Draft.
“The guys that keep saying something about wide receivers, I’m not sure they watched any tape this offseason,” said Heupel.
“The league, defensively and scheme (wise), is dramatically different than when we first got here,” continued Heupel. “And that’s just the game. It’s a never-ending evolution and cycle. And so [there were] some things that we needed to add to our arsenal to help us out offensively.”
“We always evolve,” added Heupel. “Every single year we truly do.”
Heupel is doing a good job this offseason of fighting the negative narrative surrounding his offense, but he’s clearly got to keep the fight going as there are still folks out there trying to harm Tennessee’s offensive reputation.