Tennessee QB Joe Milton makes big statement about Josh Heupel's desire to win the SEC East
The Tennessee Vols haven't been shy this summer about sharing their goals for the 2023 season. Tennessee wants to win the SEC East this fall. Anything less than that will be a letdown for a program that's looking to take a big step forward in Josh Heupel's third season leading the program. And UT's players […]
The Tennessee Vols haven't been shy this summer about sharing their goals for the 2023 season.
Tennessee wants to win the SEC East this fall. Anything less than that will be a letdown for a program that's looking to take a big step forward in Josh Heupel's third season leading the program.
And UT's players aren't just hoping to win the SEC East in 2023 — they expect to win.
"We expect to win games, we expect to win championships, but it's going to come day by day," said Vols pass rusher Roman Harrison this week. "We know it's going to come with hard days. We're gonna have to work every day for it…under Coach Heup, you know, we just expect to win.”
That belief and confidence comes straight from Heupel. According to Tennessee starting quarterback Joe Milton, you can look in Heupel's eyes and see how badly he wants to win the SEC East.
"Coach Heup gives you real life examples — from the team meeting room to whenever he approaches the quarterback room — he just gives you real life examples [of] things he went through," said Milton during a recent appearance on Marty and McGee. "Coming from JuCo to Oklahoma, winning a national championship, having that mindset to win — that's pretty much all he's known for is winning. Winning, winning, winning, right? Just being in the team meeting room when he said he wants to win the East, you can look in his eyes and you can tell that he really wants to win the East."
"So being able to go in there and lead the team the right way to get that done for him? That's what I'm willing to do," added Milton.
The politics of the sport drive what's said by a lot of coaches. But that's not the case with Heupel. The former Heisman Trophy runner-up just wants to win. Heupel's extreme competitiveness is contagious. And it's clearly spread to his team.
A team, by the way, that badly wants to deliver for its head coach.
No one knows how far the Vols will go this fall, but there's no doubt that the entire team is rowing in the same direction. And that's a prerequisite for a special season.
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Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
