I just finished watching Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel's first media session of the spring.

And it was….boring.

But not in a bad way. Heupel wasn't offering up cheesy clichés (we've seen that before from a Tennessee head coach). And he wasn't being purposefully coy (we've also seen that before from a Tennessee head coach). Nor was he being condescending (seen that many times from Tennessee head coaches).

Heupel's media session was very much a "business as usual" affair. There are no major questions that Heupel is facing this spring (aside from the lack of cornerback depth). There's no offseason drama to address.

Heupel was able to hit the ground running this spring. He's not worried about installing a new culture. The players know the expectation. They knew exactly what was awaiting them when they hit the practice field on Tuesday morning. And because of that, the veteran players were able to help guide the early enrollees who are new to Tennessee.

"[There is] so much known versus a year ago with all the unknowns of the first day, how everything was going to be handled, how it was going to operate, how coaches were going to handle themselves and communicate," said Heupel on Tuesday.

"Just a year further in that growth and development and trust, communication, respect between players and coaches. You could see that today."

Part of the growth that Heupel is seeing is players teaching other players.

"I love some of the ownership that our players are taking," said Heupel on Tuesday. "[We] lost some strong leadership from a year ago, but I feel like we have a lot of leadership in the locker room this year."

A boring spring practice is a good spring practice. The Vols' main objective this spring isn't learning a new system or finding a starting quarterback.

It's simply to stay healthy, build depth, and refine skills.

I'm sure Heupel would absolutely love nothing more than a quiet spring practice that flies mostly under the radar. He just wants to keep his head down and go to work.

And so far, that's exactly what the Vols are doing.

Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK