Tennessee Vols redshirt sophomore quarterback Brian Maurer wasn't at practice on Wednesday and he wasn't UT's first fall scrimmage on Thursday.

But that doesn't mean he's left the program. At least not yet.

On Thursday morning, Vols head coach Josh Heupel met with reporters after Tennessee's scrimmage. And the first question he received was about Maurer's status.

Heupel told reporters that he talked with Maurer "a few days ago" about quarterback reps moving forward. That conversation is likely what led to Maurer's cryptic Instagram post on Tuesday night (the post has since been edited).

When a reporter followed up about Maurer's status on the team, Heupel declined to elaborate. Instead, Heupel said he'll have a conversation with Maurer in the coming days.

Heupel didn't comment further on Maurer after those comments.

I think this was absolutely the correct way to handle this situation.

Neither Heupel nor Maurer needs to make a rash decision right now. I'm sure it wasn't easy for Maurer to learn his reps would be dwindling — even though it's the right call by Heupel.

Taking a couple of days to assess the situation, let emotions die down, and think clearly about the next move is the professional way for Heupel to handle this. And that's exactly what he's doing.

I still think Maurer can be an asset for Tennessee (I wrote this week that UT should consider moving him to wide receiver to utilize his athleticism and open-field skills), which is why I think the Vols should hope the Florida native stays at UT.

A situation like this is one that previous Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt probably would've botched. Heupel, however, has plenty of experience handling these types of situations. He's been a quarterback at Oklahoma, he's coached the position for years, and he's been a head coach. This isn't the first time Heupel's told a quarterback they wouldn't be the starter. It's not the second or third time, either.

It may not seem like much, but Heupel showed me a lot on Thursday by the way he handled the questions about Maurer. He was honest — he could've sidestepped the question about whether or not Maurer was at the scrimmage. And he showed he was fully prepared for the questions.

Heupel showed me on Thursday he's a legitimate SEC head coach. He's a true CEO of a program. And he can handle the questions that come with the tough scenarios that he'll inevitably have to deal with at Tennessee.

Featured image via Knoxville News Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK