- Josh Heupel Press Conference
- Dayne Davis Media Availability
- Miles Kitselman Media Availability
- Jakobe Thomas Media Availability
- UT Game Notes
FootballOctober 07, 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Following a pair of hard-fought SEC road battles, No. 8/9 Tennessee returns home for the first of four consecutive conference games inside of Neyland Stadium when it hosts Florida on Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
The Volunteers will be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season, falling on the road to Arkansas in what turned out to be a low-scoring battle.
UT has been dominant in front of its home fans over the past two-plus years, posting an impressive 15-1 record in Knoxville since the start of the 2022 season with its only loss in that span coming to No. 1 Georgia last November.
Saturday’s night game will also feature the iconic checkerboard pattern throughout the stands as Checker Neyland presented by Pilot, Tennessee’s popular fan-driven initiative, returns for the eighth time in program history. The Vols have won their last two #CheckerNeyland games, topping Florida, 38-33, in 2022 and defeating Texas A&M, 20-13, last season.
“It’s been a month since we got the chance to play in there and see our fans,” head coach Josh Heupel said on Monday afternoon. “We are looking forward to seeing them. We need to create a great environment, and I know we will like always.”
Tennessee will be hoping the raucous environment of Neyland Stadium, which will be sold out for the 16th consecutive contest, can provide a boost to the Big Orange, especially on the offensive side of the ball after an uncharacteristic performance last weekend in Fayetteville.
“We need the Neyland Effect to be in effect on Saturday night,” Heupel said. “It’s our responsibility as a football team to prepare and practice the right way to go play. Our fans need to be a huge part of the environment and the football game.”
Videos and quotes from Monday’s availability with Heupel and select players can be seen below.
Head Coach Josh Heupel
Opening statement…
“I hope everybody is doing great. The morning got off to a good start with the guys. It’s obviously the opportunity and time of the week where you look back at the football game and figure out how we get better, whether you win or lose. It’s important by the time that you go out on the field with the guys, you flush it and move on. As competitors, you’re only as good as your next one. Everybody in the building is disappointed with the outcome on Saturday night. You can’t do anything about that at this point other than take the lessons, push forward and continue to grow as a football team. In that way, no matter what happened the previous week, you have to move on. Guys were good, took the information and had good demeanor out on the practice field. It’s important for us that we get off to a good start and prepare the right way just like it is every single week.
“For us this week coming back home, we are excited to be back in Neyland Stadium. It’s been a month since we got the chance to play in there and see our fans. We are looking forward to seeing them. We need to create a great environment, and I know we will like always. We need the Neyland Effect to be in effect on Saturday night. It’s our responsibility as a football team to prepare and practice the right way to go play. Our fans need to be a huge part of the environment and the football game. Looking forward to it. Florida is playing its best ball right now. They continue to get better throughout the course of the season. That’s really in all three phases. Defensively, they are long, athletic and have speed. Offensively, both of their quarterbacks are playing really good football right now. The offensive line is really solid.”
On what’s prevented the offense from getting tempo lately and the areas of offensive struggles recently…
“This past week, offensively, you look at the football game and there were so many self-inflicted wounds: pre-snap penalties, playing penalties, missed communication. At times, you aren’t playing on tempo. In the course of drives when we’ve wanted to play with tempo, we’ve been able to do it and play efficiently. There was Dylan Sampson’s big run and multiple instances of it. At the end of the day, you have to play smart and effective football. The prior week, I certainly slowed things down in the second half and played a different style because of the flow of the football game. I try to play all three phases together. For us, we have to do the ordinary things at a really high level. Last week, we didn’t do that very well. The game before that, we did a lot of things really well.”
On if the issues were more pre-snap or post-snap and why odd number fronts have given the offense issues…
“Structurally, the odd-numbered fronts have been what our last couple opponents have decided to play against us. We are certainly capable of attacking it and performing better than we did in the run game and pass game. I’m not taking anything away from Arkansas, but some of the things that we control, we did not handle very well. You heard me say it already, but communication was a big part of it. The penalties just change the way the game is played. Too many third and longs. We have to be ready to go attack what we see on gameday.”
On if Oklahoma and Arkansas did anything to confuse Nico Iamaleava with their defensive scheme…
“No, Nico played really well a week ago. He was clean in his decision making and was decisive and accurate with the football. This past week, he rips a nice ball on the first play of the ball game. Some evolved parts as the game went on, we didn’t play as clean. Some of that is Nico, and some of that is the guys around him. The quarterback position takes 10 other guys around you playing at a high level too. All 11 doing ordinary things at a really high level consistently was the difference in the ballgame the other night.”
On playing different defensive fronts and structures…
“The last couple of years, we’ve seen four down, five down and three down. We’ve seen those structures. We have to go attack it and play well.”
On how he would assess Lance Heard and John Campbell Jr. at tackle and what the next step is for them…
“I love those guys and believe in those guys. Those two, and pretty much everybody offensively, can perform at a higher level as we go, and have performed at a higher level than they did the other night. Some of that’s just ordinary things: fundamentals, technique, alignment-assignment and technique.”
On if Arkansas’ pass rush success was due to poor communication or one-on-one battles…
“Some of that’s just one-on-one battles.”
On if he wishes he would have called a timeout in the last minute of the game…
“In hindsight, yeah, for sure. As I recognized that we weren’t immediately ready, I thought about going to a timeout and I thought we were ready to get the ball off in the next couple of seconds. Every timeout at the end of the game creates a different scenario where you are not forced to push the ball into the end zone. So, yeah, absolutely.”
On the challenges of preparing for two quarterbacks in preparation for Florida…
“I think both of them have played smart football. They’ve been accurate with the football in particular the last couple of weeks. They both operate within the system extremely well. They both have the ability to run the football, move, extend and make plays. The young kid (DJ Lagway) is dynamic with the ball in his hands.”
On the game plan to get ready for the blitz against Florida…
“They’re multiple in what they do. That’s their fronts. That’s their coverages in the backend. It’s the pressures they apply. They can get to the quarterback in just a four-down front too. For us, communication, understanding where we’re working to, recognizing the pressure—that can be front five guys. It’s your back, it’s your tight end at times as well, they all have to be in sync. Then, you have to play good football. You have to play with good fundamentals and technique and win your one-on-ones. Another part of that is going and winning on the outside, doing it quickly and the quarterback being decisive. All 11 guys have to play together.”
On if he sensed anything different in last week’s preparation coming off a bye week…
“I thought Tuesday’s practice of bye week was really good. Wednesday’s was a different type of practice. I thought our preparation was solid last week. At the end of the day, we didn’t go perform how we needed to. So, that’s personal accountability and team accountability.”
On if there are any updates on Bru McCoy’s or Squirrel White’s injuries…
“None of the injuries are long-term season ending injuries. As we go through the week, we will find out exactly where everybody is at. You guys can look forward to the injury report Wednesday night.”
RS-Senior OL Dayne Davis
On the defensive fronts they were facing against Arkansas, and how they changed it up..
“It wasn’t anything we haven’t blocked before. I think the pre-snap movement was a big thing. Obviously, looking back at the penalties, pr- snap penalties. Just being able to adjust when we are out there. Shifting from four-down to three-down or vice versa. Just being able to go block it like I said, nothing I haven’t blocked before. Just have to clean it up and get ready for the same thing this week.”
On what he has seen from the guys in getting ready for this week…
“I think the response has been great. Everybody in the building, we believe in each other, and we know Saturday we didn’t get the job done. We know we didn’t play to our standard, so just coming back in, learning from the game, learning from the mistakes and being ready for this week.”
On his GoFundMe for disaster relief to Northeast Tennessee and Western North Carolina, the region where he is from…
“A little story I just want to say about that. Obviously, a lot came through my region back home. I was able to go yesterday, back to Neva, Tennessee, just above Mountain City, which is probably a good two-and-a-half, two hours and 45 minutes, it’s a good little drive. We took about 4,500 dollars’ worth of groceries and other items that were needed to Elizabethton and Parks & Recreation. One of my best friends who I fish with a lot in the offseason … His family owns a farm, they have lost four houses on that farm that were swept away by what was about a six-foot wide creek. Just to see the videos and everything. We were able to drive up there yesterday. You are just driving up the mountain and you look off of the side of the road, and there is a car wrapped around a tree, there’s a house that has been completely ripped off its platform. There’s a lot of people up there that need help. It’s just really sad to see what’s come to the region, so I’m just trying to use my platform to help those people back home. If there are people out there that are able to donate, there are people that really need it.”
Senior TE Miles Kitselman
On if he sensed a different vibe from the team during practice today…
“Yeah. Definitely just came into the building today with an emphasis that everything that we want, all of our dreams and our goals are still in front of us. Learn from this, get past it, flush it and onto the next week.”
On how important it is for skill positions to help in pass protection against a tough Florida defense…
“Just details and everything. Being on the same page, knowing who we are working to and knowing our assignments are going to be everything. Just diving into preparation.”
On Florida’s rushing defense…
“They have a good front, and they have good linebackers. Their safeties are going to fit in the run. They play really hard. They’re really physical. It’s just going to be another week of diving into it, getting our minds right and ready to roll.”
RS-Junior DB Jakobe Thomas
On what led to breakdowns in coverage against Arkansas…
“We just didn’t execute. I think we prepared really well for that receiving corps last week, and we went into the game prepared very well. We just didn’t execute. We didn’t stick to the code. We just didn’t play like ourselves last week.”
On the defense’s ability to adjust during the game, especially for Florida that plays two quarterbacks…
“They do have two quarterbacks. Two really good athletic quarterbacks, so we have to prepare well for that. I think we adjusted really well last week. You know, back to what I just said, we didn’t execute as much as we wanted to. It kind of caught up to us, so going into this week we are going to do our best and prepare just the same way we did. This time we are coming out there executing.”
On Arkansas’ ability to attack the center of field and what led to that success…
“They attacked some of our zones, and they hit some. There’s not much to say about it, but they hit us in weak spots we weren’t defensively in, in the DB room. We weren’t in the right spots when we needed to be in the right spots, and we gave up a couple of explosive plays. Those are the things we have to go back and watch on tape today, tomorrow, and whatever we need to do to get those things fixed because teams are going to attack those spots for us now.”
