KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With Tennessee football treating this week as though it is a game week, the Volunteers completed their 18th practice of preseason camp Wednesday morning. Offensive coordinator Alex Golesh spoke to local media after practice with the season eight days away.
“We’ve taken this week very much like a normal game week,” Golesh said. “This has worked out for us really well scheduling wise with the guys getting into school and us really essentially having almost two weeks to prepare like there would be a game this Saturday. Honestly, us as coaches needed that, to go through a normal game week… The players needed to see it.”
Something that has stood out to Golesh is the bond and work ethic of the quarterback room. Battling fiercely in practice, pushing each other to get better, all the while leading by example for what it means to be a Volunteer.
“All three are incredible human beings, they are all students of the game, they are up in the office hanging out the entire day,” Golesh noted of Harrison Bailey, Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III. “Literally you walk into coach Halzle’s office, one of those guys is sitting in there. They are the model of what we want in a Vol football player. Tough, blue collar, gritty, hard-nosed football players.”
Head coach Josh Heupel has consistently produced some of the top offenses in college football in recent seasons, and this year’s Vols have a chance to join that group if they hit their keys.
“We’ve got to be consistent in what we do,” Golesh closed his availability saying. “I think that’ll be the sentiment all year offensively for us. What we do, consistency, playing harder than our opponent and I feel like we’ll be alright.”
Tennessee begins the 100th year at Neyland Stadium, Shields-Watkins Field next Thursday against Bowling Green with kickoff at 8 p.m. ET.
Tickets for the Bowling Green game, as well as season tickets and mini plans are available on AllVols.com.
The full transcript of Wednesday’s availability with coach Golesh can be seen below.
Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Alex Golesh Transcript
On who will be calling plays on gameday…
“We’re working through all of that right now. We’ve genuinely done so much as a staff. There is so much different stuff coming in from what we were able to do at UCF to what Kodi (Burns) has brought, what Jerry Mack has brought, so we’re working through it. At the end of the day, that’s a good Coach Heupel question, and we’ll kind of settle on that as we get closer to gameday.”
On the versatile backgrounds of the coaching staff and how it helps the develop the offensive scheme…
“We’ve tried so much. A lot of it has to do also with the tempo of play. We’ve tried to put in through spring and summer, really all of those ideas. We spent a bunch of time pre-spring, we spent a bunch of time in spring, spent a bunch of time in May. We didn’t have the luxury to go out on the road (recruiting), so spent a bunch of time really tightening those ideas down. As we tightened them down—we had all summer, the NCAA allows you now to be with your kids in the summer—allowed us primarily to specialize packages. The situational football—third down, red zone—kind of bridge those ideas together, put the plan in place through the summer and fall camp. So now, we have a grab bag of things we can go to.
“The tempo of play, you try not to do a whole lot new week-to-week. Obviously, you end up scheming certain things to certain looks to certain things you’re expecting. Jerry Mack brought some awesome ideas, Kodi (Burns) brought some awesome ideas. Kodi is kind of like my go-to on, ‘man, how does the SEC do this? How do defenses attack certain things?’ Then obviously, (Coach Heupel) has been in this league, Glen (Elarbee) has been in this league. I don’t want to say grab bag, but it’s been a conglomerate of ideas through the summer. Put a bunch in fall camp, and now we’re kind of grab-bagging as we get pictures we’re presented. This week (is) a unique challenge with a new defensive coordinator (at Bowling Green).”
On how Joe Milton III has adapted to learning a new system…
“He’s really done a good job, really a great job of fitting in, adjusting, learning, growing. He spent a bunch of time in May, June, July learning the system. He’s a football-smart young man. He’s played in games that matter. For him, it’s just been a terminology, a progression, a read. The way we coach quarterbacks is unique. I think Joey (Halzle) has done an incredible job with him, doing the very best he can to prepare him. Really all of those quarterbacks, all three of those guys (Milton, Harrison Bailey, Hendon Hooker), we’ve put them in tough situations. Tried to create tough situations in practice and in scrimmages. I think Joe has caught on really, really well. He’s progressed. He’s gotten better. He’s had bad days, we all have, but he’s had bad days. My biggest point of emphasis offensively for us in general, quarterback position specifically, how do you respond to the bad day? I think in general, that’s been the message. The quarterback position, every position, right? A bunch young guys, a bunch of guys that haven’t played a whole lot, trying to instill confidence while bringing adverse situations into play. You can say, ‘adversity’s going to come. Adversity’s going to come. Adversity’s going to come.’ You just hope it doesn’t come for the first time Sept. 2 at Neyland, so you’re trying to create those situations. To me, not coaching the quarterbacks, I want to see how they respond. I think Coach Heupel’s in the same breath, and I think us as an offense are in the same breath at that position. Adversity’s coming. How do you respond and continue to instill confidence through those adverse situations? That has been the focus at that spot.”
On the team treating this week of camp as a game week…
“We’ve taken this week very much like a normal game week. For us, today was a Wednesday practice, yesterday was a Tuesday practice. This has worked out for us really well scheduling wise with the guys getting into school and us really essentially having almost two weeks to prepare like there would be a game this Saturday. Honestly, us as coaches needed that, to go through a normal game week before the normal game week. The players needed to see it. Again, the tempo of play, how we operate on offense, we don’t have a vast menu of a million plays. Hence, we’ve got to tighten it down and really prepare as if Saturday was gameday. I think Coach Heupel allowing us to do it this way has really helped. Again, yesterday was a Tuesday, today is a Wednesday, we walk off the field in a normal game week and tomorrow would be a walkthrough. Then we have fast Friday on Friday. As we’re treating it like a game week, do I feel like we’re ready? I’m glad we have an extra four days, but I think we’re about as ready as we’re going to get as if we were playing on Saturday.”
On the QB battle throughout camp…
“To be honest, tried to go in with a totally blank slate. All three of those guys have played a bunch of football. Hendon (Hooker) finished his career at Virginia Tech, started 23 games, you kind of had a feeling for what he was going to be because of what you saw on film, there was a ton of film to see. Harrison (Bailey) finished the season where you kind of had a feeling, but he was a young guy, he was a freshman, bullets were flying, he (handled it) how any 18-year-old kid would. Then Joe (Milton III) had some body of work, not a ton, so we went in with a completely blank slate. Literally, those guys split ones, twos and threes as we went through camp, with a fourth, and we gave them all an equal opportunity with the best skill guys, the best o-line, as we shuffled those skill guys and o-line, gave them the best opportunity to be successful. At least personally, I tried to have a really clean slate. I didn’t go into it with a hope that one guy was going to win it and another one wasn’t. Obviously, you want to clear the situation up and you genuinely hope that there are three fully capable guys to go do it. I truly believe we have three fully capable guys, who comes out first on gameday, I leave that up to coach Heupel and let him handle that situation, but I didn’t go into it with a preconceived notion. It probably was perceived that way by some, I had zero thought of it. All three are incredible human beings, they are all students of the game, they are up in the office hanging out the entire day. Literally you walk into coach Halzle’s office, one of those guys is sitting in there. They are the model of what we want in a Vol football player. Tough, blue collar, gritty, hard-nosed football players. Coach Heupel refers to it as poor, hungry and desperate, those three guys are, they resemble that. That’s what you want in a quarterback, that’s what you want in a leader. In terms of what I thought was going to happen, we kind of saw what happened and they had an equal opportunity to go do it.”
On freshman tight ends Julian Nixon and Miles Campbell…
“Julian has done a pretty good job of learning. When I say pretty good, he has never blocked a soul in his life (played mostly WR in high school). He’s also never weighed 257 pounds, so there’s such a growth process. He’s the ultimate needs a year to get his butt whooped in the weight room, to wake up early and go through the grind of what college football is and should be, play on the scout team (to) learn (and) grow. I’ve been really pleasantly surprised with Julian. I had no idea what to expect. There’s a big body. I didn’t meet him until he moved into the dorms. Had film but didn’t have any idea of what the body was going to look like, mentally what he was capable of. He’s done a good job adjusting, he’s done a good job learning. I’ve been hard on him because I want to see if he’ll push through the hard and he has pushed through the hard. He’s had tough days and we’ve kind of kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I do think there’s a bright future for him. I think he does some really good things out flexed. I do think he’s a willing blocker (but) he’s got to become a tough blocker. But I think he’s learning and growing, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with him.
“Miles was sick early in camp and lost some weight, (he) has bounced back and tried to recover from that. My hope is still that Miles helps this year at some point. I would say right this second, he’s fighting and battling to be in the rotation, but my hope is by middle of the year – which I said early on, I have never played a freshman tight end, ever, and I’ve been coaching for a while, never done it. Guys that are capable, that have played in the league, guy that was a Mackey finalist last year, never played those guys as freshmen. My hope is we still get Miles to that point. I think if he hadn’t gotten sick, it would’ve been a little bit easier for him to bounce back. It just took him two weeks to get back in the swing of things and he is still learning and figuring it out. I think mentally he’s capable, I think physically he’s willing and capable. I think we forget sometimes (with) freshmen – class has started, there’s obvious distractions now going on. It’s figuring out, what is a game week? We talked about this is a normal game week for us – well he’s got tutoring, he’s got class, football, got to watch film on his own, got to learn, got to grow, got to figure out the game plan. There’s a lot going on for a young man, for an 18-year-old. That’s not an excuse for him, it’s just going to take him a second to put it all together to be able to line up on a Saturday at noon and play. My hope is still that he can play this fall for us and help us, I just don’t know how early that’ll be in the season.”
On how the running back room has progressed, especially the depth of the room…
“(They’ve) done a really good job of figuring out the scheme. I think Jerry Mack (and) Matt Merritt, those guys have done an incredible job teaching those guys. That’s one position that I’m uber excited about going into gameday.
“Jabari (Small) has had the camp we all hoped he would. Tiyon (Evans), honestly in a lot of ways has surpassed my expectations. He’s started to figure out what it is to be a Division I college football player. He was here in the spring – I’ve recruited junior college my whole career – you come in from a junior college and it just hits you in the face, and it took him a while to figure it out. It really did. From how to take care of my body, how do I sleep, when do I go to tutoring? All of that, just how do I figure that out? It took him a minute (and) he was resistant a little bit at times to figuring it out. There was some nudging there. But I think time has put it all together. Having only football for three weeks for Tiyon was really, really good. I’m excited to see what he can do. He’s a different back than those other guys in the room. He’s a bigger back, been really pleasantly surprised with him. Jaylen Wright, man oh man, really excited about Jaylen. He is everything we had hoped he would be. Still a freshman, same sentiment as Miles Campbell. Now we just threw class on him, we threw the distractions around campus at him. He’s got to learn and grow, but I think he’s got a really, really bright future.
“The other guys in that room, with Marcus (Pierce) and Dee (Beckwith) and those guys, we’re still figuring out how the rest of that back end of that rotation shakes out. I think it will truly be by committee on the back end of it, and I think it will be by committee on the front end of it. We really need four guys ready to rock n’ roll Sept. 2. Obviously, those guys get nicked up as the season goes, COVID is a real deal right now, we got to have five to six of those guys ready. I’m excited about the three. I think Marcus has been steady Eddie for us and we’ll continue to kind of figure it out. I think it’ll be by committee on the back end of the rotation, but really excited about that group. I think it’ll be fun. I think those guys all bring a different element. It’s fun to be able to run different types of plays with those guys and they have the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, which is an element that has been really, really fun to keep messing with.”
On if there has been any separation on the offensive line and his thoughts on Bowling Green…
“Offensive line, I think we’ve started to kind of hone in. Coach (Glen) Elarbee really wants to have a true two-deep. I feel like we’re close to that, but you really want on gameday – six, seven, eight guys that can go. Again, the tempo of play, you’d like to be able to roll some guys in there. We’ve done that. We did that at the previous spot where we were able to play six and seven guys in a game to keep guys fresh and keep them going. I think we’re really close there. I feel like we’ve got somewhere between seven and eight that we feel really, really good about rolling with, but again, until bullets are flying and it’s real, it’s really hard to tell. There is some experience there. You feel really good. I feel as good about the o-line probably as the running back spot, where we feel like we’ve got a little bit of depth and we can rock n’ roll – knock on wood injury bug – but we feel like we’ve got a little bit of depth to be able to get through and plug. We got to stay healthy there.
“Bowling Green presents a challenge in the sense that (they have) a new defensive coordinator (Eric Lewis) that hasn’t been a coordinator in a while. Last time he was a coordinator was at Weber State, prior to that Eastern Michigan, so a lot of unknown. You’re watching film – he was on the staff (but) he was not calling the plays (last season at BGSU). So, fun challenge for week one. I think you feel like you’ve got some feel for what’s going on, but I think a little bit of it will be figure it out kind of as you go. We’ve got to be consistent in what we do, and I think that’ll be the sentiment all year offensively for us. What we do, consistency, playing harder than our opponent and I feel like we’ll be alright. But, in terms of scheme, a little bit of a toss-up. They could come out and do whatever they please, so it’ll be fun. Ask me after the game.”
-UT Athletics
