Tennessee Vols fans are completely split over a controversial decision made by Josh Heupel, and both sides have a point
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a decision this week that has the fan base split a little bit.
Tennessee starting center Sam Pendleton didn’t play in the Vols’ season-opening win against Furman, and Josh Heupel’s postgame comments about the absence have led to an interesting debate among fans and media.
After the game, Heupel said Pendleton went through warm-ups and that Tennessee made the decision not to play him, adding that he expected Pendleton to play against Georgia Tech in Week 2.
“Just went through warm-ups and ultimately made the decision (to not play him),” said Heupel. “Expect him to be ready to go next week.”
Most fans (and some media) took Heupel’s comments to mean Pendleton was dealing with an injury. And that made sense. If Pendleton had been banged up during the week before the game, there was no point in risking further injury against Furman with a massive road game against Georgia Tech looming in Week 2.
Tennessee’s backup center is sophomore Nic Moore, who has limited experience. Holding Pendleton out against Furman allowed Moore to get important live game reps in case he’s needed down the road.
That’s why not too many eyebrows were raised when Pendleton didn’t play.
On Tuesday, however, the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks reported that Pendleton was actually suspended for the game because of a DUI that occurred in May. Tennessee confirmed to Sparks that Pendleton was suspended for the game.
Some fans believe Heupel was being misleading in his postgame press conference with his comments about Pendleton. Others saw no fault with what he said. I don’t really have a strong take on it because I understand that Heupel was trying to protect his player. He disciplined Pendleton in-house and was trying to keep it quiet. Plus, we don’t know the entire situation with Pendleton. His attorney, in fact, has since released a statement that maintains the offensive lineman’s innocence, so there may be more to the story that we aren’t aware of at this time.
What this tells us about Josh Heupel’s approach to player availability and injuries
I think the biggest takeaway from this situation is what it reveals about Heupel’s long-standing habit of being extremely vague when it comes to injury updates. Most have have assumed that his vagueness is simply about not giving opponents any added information about what an injury may be – though that approach, at times, has been completely pointless because there’s no obvious edge Tennessee was going to gain by not revealing that a player was going to be out for an extended period of time.
I think this situation with Pendleton shows that Heupel isn’t being vague necessarily to withhold information from opponents about injuries. I think it’s because it allows him, in situations like the one with Pendleton, to be vague and then no one really questions it. If the report from the Knoxville News Sentinel doesn’t come out (and I’m not faulting them for doing their job, because that’s what a journalist is supposed to do), then this whole situation may never become public. Nobody would have thought anything about Heupel’s response in the press conference because that’s how he handles every situation when it comes to injuries or a player not playing.
Heupel always has the same vague approach, and we’ve seen this for several years now. It’s clearly by design to protect players in all scenarios, not just when it comes to injuries. It gives Heupel room to always be vague no matter what the situation is, and, in essence, control the narrative.
Fans want to trust Heupel, and I get that. But I also get Heupel wanting to protect his players – again, especially since we don’t know the full details of what went down behind the scenes with Pendleton – so I can see why he answered the way he did.
Both sides have a point.
Ultimately, I think Heupel handled it all as well as he could’ve.
