KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With Saturday’s home opener against ETSU approaching, No. 22/17 Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle and secondary coach Willie Martinez met with reporters to discuss the Vols’ preparations.
Halzle emphasized the importance of tempo in the Vols’ offensive identity, noting its key role in helping to attack opposing defenses.
“Our tempo is a part of our identity,” Halzle said. “What we’ve always told the guys is our tempo is a weapon. It’s not something that we’re going to do if it doesn’t make sense. We’ve been working all offseason on how do we keep creating advantages, even when we don’t have our tempo, so our tempo stays an advantage, it doesn’t just become a regular thing.”
On the defensive side, Martinez highlighted the early progress of freshman defensive back Ty Redmond, who has quickly made an impression after playing a key role in Tennessee’s season-opening win over Syracuse.
“I think the thing about Ty is he is very focused, very locked in, like a lot of guys,” Martinez said. “The moment is not ever too big for him. He’s very calm, that’s kind of his personality, so we are not surprised on how he performed.”
Kickoff against ETSU is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
Video and full transcripts from Halzle and Martinez can be seen below.
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Joey Halzle
On Joey Aguilar’s performance fundamentally against Syracuse…
“Fundamentally, in the pass game what I really liked about him was that he did everything that we were working on through that brief offseason that we had together, with his left shoulder, tracking his targets, getting out to his throws, especially to his right. It didn’t all of a sudden revert back to old habits when now it’s live fire, now it’s live bullets. He was just the same guy. He’s got that same calm heartbeat throughout. That’s what I love about this guy. When he takes the field on game day, he’s no different than when he takes the field at practice. We’ll just keep pushing to keep cleaning up all of our footwork in the run game, accelerating, keep bringing that to an even higher level, but really, really happy with the way he took the field on Saturday.”
On the tempo of the offense…
“Our tempo is a part of our identity. What we’ve always told the guys is our tempo as a weapon. It’s not something that we’re going to do if it doesn’t make sense. So, there’s multiple times where you guys saw us changing formations, going from wide to tight, tight to wide, all of that type of stuff, and that’s something that we’ve added to our arsenal that we feel really good about when the tempo’s not there to be had, whether you take a negative, whether there’s a penalty, something that knocks you off that. Nowadays, with the new rules, any time you go out on your own sideline, it slows you down. We’ve been working all offseason on how do we keep creating advantages, even when we don’t have our tempo, so our tempo stays an advantage, it doesn’t just become a regular thing.”
On how Saturday’s performance is building confidence among the offensive staff…
“We really liked the group we took the field with, but as to your point, it was eight new ones. It’s like, all right, what do we really have? Leaving the field on Saturday, we know we have a tough, smart, competitive team. If you fill your locker room with a bunch of guys that are tough, smart and competitive, you’re going to have a chance every Saturday. They grasped the stuff we were doing at a really high level. We don’t anticipate that changing, so the guys that we roll out there with every Saturday, we feel like gave us a competitive chance to go get a win.”
On the fumble on the exchange between Joey Aguilar and Star Thomas…
“It was exactly as you say, it was a miscue. Two guys that were on different pages right there, and again, to your point, that comes with time, that comes with reps. That was both of their first drive in the game together. They had no spring together to do it. They got a little bit of summer, but again, live fire is a little bit different. When something like that happens in a win, it ends up being a real positive because now you get to learn from it. You don’t have to learn from it from the side that it costs you a ball game. Getting us all on the same page, and that’s always a push whenever you’ve got a team that — I’m going to call it young, even though they’re not all young aged, they’re young playing together – getting that cohesion is always a huge part of what we push for every day.”
On his first look at Star Thomas in a game setting and his impressions…
“He was really impressive. Again, a guy that we saw a lot of flashes from in practice, but until you get to do it on gameday, he hit a whole different gear. His ability to go catch the ball, like go sky on that scramble drill where he went and got the touchdown, thought he could do it but to see it was really big time. Watching him play, just another weapon in the offense that you can feed the football to and get in space and create problems for the other team. It’s an exciting notion to have that guy.”
On the guys who might not have gotten a chance to play in the opener but they feel good about…
“Yeah, we feel like there is a really talented young roster here, and I’m actually talking about the young guys that are year one or year two here. A lot of them did get on the field but we feel really confident with all of those guys getting their chance that they’ll come out and show out at a high level. Again, throwing those guys in trial by fire, sometimes it’s a necessity but a lot of times for truly young players, letting them feel the way and getting them under the lights, getting them in the big situation but not throwing the whole game on them right from the rip allows you to have a whole season where guys can come in and be actual contributors and you’re not killing someone’s confidence in a week one when, different from high school football, (it’s) in Atlanta against a Power Five team.”
On the assessment of the tight ends and specifically Ethan Davis…
“We had him a couple of times, didn’t end up connecting to him. One time the ball went another direction that he ran a beautiful route on. I feel like he’s a guy that can create mismatch opportunities for us, especially as you get closer to the end zone. He did an elite job blocking in the core, that guy has come a long way blocking. He had a big-time game, so did Miles Kitselman. Kitselman had a couple big-time catches for us where him and Joey (Aguilar) actually got on the same page. Two of those were broken plays that they just got on the same page on – one, a big first down, one a big touchdown to seal it there at the end. So, I feel like that room is operating at a really high level. They’re coached very well, they’re all ready to play the multiple different spots that we have for them, so it’s a room that we can use again to try to create competitive advantages on Saturday.”
On the biggest improvement Joey Aguilar can make going from week one to week two…
“I think it goes back to his decision making was really, really good. I just felt like a couple of them we got a little accelerated on the run-pass stuff where we’re reading conflict players and all that type, where we got a little accelerated and we weren’t as accurate as we could be in those situations. If we grow in that area, the completion percentage just jumps up, the yards per attempt jumps up. Quarterbacks know we always talk about that type of game, we create the runs-after-catch with the accuracy of the throw. If you’re a little bit off, even subtly, it shows with how much the receivers can stretch the run on the backend. So, we’ll just keep growing with that and just defining our eyes, defining our feet. That’s something that every quarterback has to continually improve on because it happens so fast, there are so many different looks, especially when we’re pushing the tempo. It’s just a more difficult thing than I think people realize, so he handled it at a high level, but again loved to see it grow even a bit more.”
On Joey Aguilar’s ability to spread the ball around to numerous different receivers…
“That is something that we’re priding ourselves on, is that there’s not just a guy. There’s a place for this guy, a place for that guy, a place that you just call and who’s open gets it. But, it is a testament to how hard Joey has worked. He’s put in so much time with these wideouts, so much time on his own, the guy lives in the film room. He’s up there with Landry Jones or Jared Peery, two other quarterback coaches, going through cut ups or going through personnel tape or going through the call sheet. You’re rarely in the building and he’s not in there getting some kind of work in. He prepared at an elite level, don’t expect that to change, and that’s why he played at a really high level on Saturday. Every Saturday is different, you have to go out and prove it every time you take the field, but the preparation that he put in, the film study, the work, all the extra walkthrough time, it showed on Saturday.”
Secondary Coach Willie Martinez
On how Rickey Gibson III’s status affects depth at the cornerback position…
“Yeah, obviously we recruit athletic kids here that can be very multiple. We move it around. We have actually practiced guys at different positions, even though you haven’t seen them in games playing the position. So, we are going to rely on our athleticism. Some of the players that have been bouncing from left to right, whether it’s a young player like (Timothy Merritt) or (Dylan Lewis). They have the skill sets, so that gives us the opportunity to — Tre Poteat — that’s how we make it. Obviously we have some veterans like William Wright, who did a really good job this last ballgame. We kind of shuffle them around. You have Jalen McMurray, you have Boo Carter, I mean you have guys that can play a lot of different positions, so we’ll use that. We’ll just mix it up, and we’ll play the best lineup at the time, but will be very versatile as far as moving them around.”
On how you balance the best position for Jalen McMurray…
“He is a really good player. Just like a lot of the guys we have on the back end, they’ve been practicing it. They’ve been back and forth, you know what I mean? It will be very natural whenever we mix it up.”
On difference between integrating transfers into the defensive scheme versus true freshmen…
“I don’t think it’s any different. The only difference would be that the high school kids are young. They’re young, don’t have the experience. But like we say, young guys can’t stay young anymore. Guys that have been here since December and January, we don’t view them as young anymore. The transfer has obviously the experience coming from somewhere at the college level, and that’s where he has a little bit of separation.
“But you look at a guy like Ty Redmond, who really did a great job this last ballgame. He was ready for the moment. I just think it’s our culture. The standard’s the standard; the expectation is the expectation. You recruit really good players and put them in spots that they give you a chance to be very multiple. We’ve said it since we have been here. We’re going to recruit guys that are very multiple, that have the skill set that can play in any position, and we can just (do) exactly what’s happened here. Take a kid that can’t play man, and you have to play man, you know? Could be a corner, it could be a STAR, it could be safety. You have to be able to play man because at some point in time in that game, all of them are going to have to play man. Whether you’re a safety, linebacker, again it gives us the opportunity to move guys around, and it’s not their first time doing it.
“I guess I’ll try to answer the questions. They have been at corner, they’ve been at star, they’ve been at dime, they’ve been in free (safety), they’ve been at strong (safety). We play left and right the whole time we practice out here. That schematically helps us, but also too, it builds depth. It builds continuity, and obviously gives us a chance to play like we did this last ballgame here, where nobody flinched and here we go: next man up, and they produced.”
On what he was most impressed with from freshman DB Ty Redmond…
“I think the thing about Ty is he is very focused, very locked in, like a lot of guys. The moment is not ever too big for him. He’s very calm, that’s kind of his personality, so we are not surprised on how he performed. He is like that everyday, and he has made a bunch of plays out here at practice, as he did when he was in high school. It’s been a continuation and I think the way he handles stuff, the moment’s not too big.”
On his evaluation of DB Edrees Farooq in first start against Syracuse…
“He did great. He obviously had a little bit of cramps opening up the second half and had to continue to get some fluid in him, but I thought he did really good, outstanding. Made some really good plays on the ball in the air and obviously was solid in the run game. Very good communicator too.”
On DB Ty Redmond’s recruiting process, focus and readiness as a player…
“Man, he comes from a great high school program. He’s got great coaching going on there. Now, he ded transfer from another school and that school had some really good coaches. I’m going to give credit where credit is deserved there. It starts there, because that’s kind of how we are when we recruit. ‘Where are they coming from? Who’s developing the guys?’ You know, he’s got a solid family that is very competitive. So from a personal standpoint, when you get to talk to them and build a relationship with them, you can see the fire, see the competitive edge in him. But I think he’s training, he’s a guy that’s always training. Always when he was young, whether he was a young man, eighth grade, ninth grade, I mean it’s been in him. I’ve had a lot of success with guys who were always a player. If he’s a player young, he’s probably going to be a player when he’s older, you know what I mean? He just buys into the work that it takes, and he has, in knowing him.”
On what DB Colton Hood shows in practice to receive high praise from Josh Heupel…
“High energy, locked in, really good with players, his teammates, fits in right away since the day he walked in here. He wasn’t with us in the spring. It’s going to take a special person to do that. ‘How do I blend in here?’ So, he’s got a great personality. He’s always upbeat, high energy dude. It’s not hard to figure out what his personality is, because he’s the same dude every day. He’s very talented.”
On tightening up zone coverage that Syracuse hit on…
“Yeah, play better technique. Have a little bit better thought process in the downs and the (down and dirty) of what we’re doing. We got third down and long, and we have certain guys that are not seeing it as third down and long and seeing it as second down and medium, where they think the run is still a part of it. That’s on us as coaches. Just executing not only the job itself, but the fundamentals that go along with it. Eye training too. We had some missed assignments, because of our eyes, and that’s always going to be a battle. I keep on coaching that. You know, you have to put your eyes where they belong so you can get the right keys. It’s easy when you play man, right? That’s my man. That’s when you really get mad. That’s your guy, that’s your guy, that’s your guy. That’s the him coverage. Don’t mess that one up.”
