Josh Heupel Press Conference - 8.12.21-following scrimmage

[Sara Clark]

 

[preacherwebb]

Since we don't have practice vids, I suppose I'll settle for hearing from the HC.
Thanks Sara.

 

[butchna]

Haven’t seen or heard Gustavo at any of these PC’s. Does he immediately get quarantined upon sight?

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

He seemed a little annoyed. I’m assuming he didn’t love what he saw in the scrimmage.

 

[Sara Clark]

He seemed a little annoyed. I’m assuming he didn’t love what he saw in the scrimmage.

Well, I'm trying not to read too much in to it, but yes, I wondered the same thing. Looking a little stressed after this scrimmage.....or at least that's the feeling he gives off.......hahaha, who knows!?

 

[bloodtype_orange]

Looks a little frustrated

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I have not even heard him say a single word yet bc I’m at work and I got interrupted and you can tell he’s pissed.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

He seemed a little annoyed. I’m assuming he didn’t love what he saw in the scrimmage.

Well, I'm trying not to read too much in to it, but yes, I wondered the same thing. Looking a little stressed after this scrimmage.....or at least that's the feeling he gives off.......hahaha, who knows!?

I think he pretty much spilled the beans on why he looked frustrated--almost pissed off--with his opening statement. He "damned by faint praise" the offensive effort, mostly by comparison with the defense:

I'm proud of...uh...of a lot of things that we did, on both sides of the football. Overall, I think defensively we played with great effort, energy, strain...uh, competed extremely hard, tackled well in space, ummm, a lot of positive things from them.

Offensively, uhhh, showed glimpses of those things. Didn't string it together the way that we want to or need to, but a lot of things that we'll be able to learn from here as we move forward. And, umm, you look at it, we're halfway through training camp here, and gotta keep pushing.

Need this to be a great afternoon too, of growth, as we go back and look at the tape.

He's an offensive coach. His system lives and dies by scoring, fast and frequently. The offense clearly seems to have showed that they are not yet ready to carry the load in that way.

That would be troubling for a coach named Heupel, mmhmm.


note: that final line of his opening statement implies the lads are going into position rooms for tape study this afternoon. Josh seems to feel great need that they learn a lot from their mistakes (again, particularly the offense). CJH seems intently aware of those grains of sand falling through the hourglass. He's worried he'll run out of time to get all the right habits and patterns and knowledge in place before the season begins.

 

[LittleVol]

Notes:

- Defense won the day. Played physical and tackled well in the open field.
- Brian Maurer's status is still officially TBD. A conversation to be had with him on the off-day.
- The 3 QBs operated well in the pocket.
- The offense as a whole didn't execute well consistently, but had it's moments.
- Offense IS on track of where it needs to be
- Loves the RB room
- Had a good energy. Consistently having good energy throughout camp.
- WRs have made competitive plays all throughout camp.
- Majority of offense and defense has been installed, but there is still more.
- Darnell is a natural Left tackle...(wth Pruitt...)

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

He seemed a little annoyed. I’m assuming he didn’t love what he saw in the scrimmage.

A little scary when Heupel is more impressed with his D than his offense in a scrimmage a few weeks before game 1.

His going back several times to "playing as one" makes me nervous that he's not at a point where we've got 1s on offense in several positions and that's going to affect cohesion and "negative plays" like false starts, motion, etc.

 

[LittleVol]

A little scary when Heupel is more impressed with his D than his offense in a scrimmage a few weeks before game 1.

His going back several times to "playing as one" makes me nervous that he's not at a point where we've got 1s on offense in several positions and that's going to affect cohesion and "negative plays" like false starts, motion, etc.

That's why the sooner you have a QB #1 the better. Helps everyone get on the same page....

 

[VFL28]

Are you telling me the offense, is still not there yet? Color me unsurprised, it’s going to take work to fix Cornbreads 2 TD a game offense.

 

[Devo182]

Notes:

- Defense won the day. Played physical and tackled well in the open field.
- Brian Maurer's status is still officially TBD. A conversation to be had with him on the off-day.
- The 3 QBs operated well in the pocket.
- The offense as a whole didn't execute well consistently, but had it's moments.
- Offense IS on track of where it needs to be
- Loves the RB room
- Had a good energy. Consistently having good energy throughout camp.
- WRs have made competitive plays all throughout camp.
- Majority of offense and defense has been installed, but there is still more.
- Darnell is a natural Left tackle...(wth Pruitt...)

Like the RBs
WRs making plays
QBs operating well in the pocket

So, curious what went wrong. OL? QBs forced to scramble? Maybe just got outplayed?

 

[87&91ALUM]

This sounds good to me. Challenge this team to get better everyday. Play like you are way behind all the time.

 

[swampfoxfan]

The more I learn about CJH the more I believe he is the right hire. I look for big things at UT.

 

[MOTOWNWANG]

Seemed like any other post scrimmage presser I’ve seen. No coach is going to be satisfied. People who are trying to dissect his coach speak are wasting their time. Let the coaches breakdown the film and correct it on the practice field. If CJH ends up kicking a dry-erase board during the last scrimmage then I would get concerned. Go Vols baby!!

 

[FBtime]

He seemed a little annoyed. I’m assuming he didn’t love what he saw in the scrimmage.

Agree but I will say it's natural for defense to be a little ahead of offense early in camp. Defense knows a lot of the plays since they have been practicing against them every day. I think you'll see that start to even out as camp goes along.

 

[LittleVol]

Like the RBs
WRs making plays
QBs operating well in the pocket

So, curious what went wrong. OL? QBs forced to scramble? Maybe just got outplayed?

He also stressed the idea of 11 guys playing together every play.

 

[ChrissyJ2k]

when will the scrimage tapes be released to the public. we need transparents

 

[sjt18]

Like the RBs
WRs making plays
QBs operating well in the pocket

So, curious what went wrong. OL? QBs forced to scramble? Maybe just got outplayed?

Probably disjointed and inconsistent. Nothing to panic over until after they cull the next QB from the competition. If they’re still struggling to pull it together then…worry

 

[CobbVol]

Defense is normally ahead of the offense, especially in the first scrimmage. I am glad that is the case here as I would be more concerned if the opposite occurred.

 

[T2P_Priceless]

Notes:

- Defense won the day. Played physical and tackled well in the open field.
- Brian Maurer's status is still officially TBD. A conversation to be had with him on the off-day.
- The 3 QBs operated well in the pocket.
- The offense as a whole didn't execute well consistently, but had it's moments.
- Offense IS on track of where it needs to be
- Loves the RB room
- Had a good energy. Consistently having good energy throughout camp.
- WRs have made competitive plays all throughout camp.
- Majority of offense and defense has been installed, but there is still more.
- Darnell is a natural Left tackle...(wth Pruitt...)

Honestly I think this is great news. Defense is biggest concern. I’m not too concerned that by Pitt we’ll have the offense worked out.

Encouraged by the defense but hope they keep improving. He did mention that a coach likes to see each unit back and forth winning (O and D) and that’s what he’s seen throughout camp. He’s mostly concerned if one side is consistently dominating. I hope they keep leveling up back and forth.

 

[buckfama]

He did seem frustrated with his offense.

Maybe the defense is better than we thought they would be? Or maybe CJH is just one of those coaches thst is never happy or satisfied with their performance no matter how well they performed?

Thst first game will tell us a lot.

Plus it doesn't hurt that the defense practices against them nearly every day.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Sounded to me like we have some guys listening to chatter and didn't come to work today. Josh got annoyed at some of the questions asked also. Like the repeat about Maurer. Likes the Defense but feels the offense should be performing better he also dodged some questions about qb as individuals and preferred to give answers from a group standpoint. I don't think we have a #1 yet and the competition for qb spot is tighter then what we realize. I think they all have the ability, its gonna come down to preparedness and want too. Seems to like the recievers but wants the young guys to be more physical and attack the ball in the air. OL needs to be more consistent

 

[tennesseepride84]

The D winning the day is a encouraging sign. The D normally should be ahead of the offense at this time, for me this feels like the D must be pretty good. I don’t have many worries about the offense as the Defense they will click soon.