Tennessee football took care of business on Saturday with a 69-3 win over Chattanooga.
Following the opening-day win, head coach Josh Heupel met with the media.
Here's what he had to say.
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Opening statement
"First of all, just thanks to all the fans. Hot day out there, they showed up early, Vol Walk was electric. Stadium was juicy right from the beginning. Appreciate all of them coming out. It has been a long time since we’ve been in there so great to see them back again. Liked a lot of the things that we did in all three phases of the game. Defensively, I thought just the line of scrimmage did a really nice job, played good third-down defense, tight coverage for most of it. So, really a lot of positives on that side of football. Offensively, did some really good things early. Have got to learn how to stay dialed in and finish a half, a quarter of a football game. But all in all good day and, obviously, specialists did a really, really good job for most of the day."
On rotating players throughout the game
"I know someone in here gave me a hard time for all the ‘ors’ that we put on the depth chart, but we’re going to play more guys than we have. Our roster is deeper. We’ve got an opportunity to. We’re going to need those guys as we go throughout the course of the season. I think we had 35 guys that it was the first time playing inside of Neyland Stadium playing today. There’s a lot of positives. There’s going to be a lot of little things that that we got to clean up. But it was a good start and, obviously, we got big one next week."
On if he thought Nico Iamaleava did anything wrong
"Your perspective might be a little bit different than mine. But he knows those things, too. He's a young player. Came out, played really efficiently, effectively, made plays down the field. But there’s some things that he can control and be better and he knows that and he wants that too."
On Dont'e Thornton's performance
"Last year with the reduction of scholarships, which in general I haven’t made a big deal about, from the time that we got here, you end up having to be... you've got to make decisions on where you’re going take those. And most of the time we’ve taken those on offensive skill guys because you can control your personnel groupings. Dont’e started inside because we were real thin there last year. He moved outside middle of the season. He was starting to play his best football, most comfortable. Gets injured on the long play. Being healthy all off-season, being at home on the outside, he’s just continued to be extremely comfortable in what we’re doing offensively and he’s played really consistent."
On adversity in any way
"Adverse on the scoreboard, no, but there’s a lot of things that we’ll be able to learn from the course of this football game."
On Dylan Sampson being ready to go despite limited practice
"Limited for a few days but then got back in the rotation. He’s been healthy for a while now. We expect him to play the way that he did today. Decisive, violent cuts, got pad under pad and, obviously, has the ability to do anything that you want a running back to do. When I say that, just the ability to play out in space and play like a wideout, too. So, love the performance from him."
On guys coming back from season-ending injuries a year ago
"We have a few guys unfortunately in this game. The contact is real and through their work, their effort. That’s during the rehab process and our weight room. Guys building them back up or our medical team, all those guys are in a great space and playing really good football. So, today was a big day for those guys. Bru is a captain today, Keenan Pili, because they are that type of leader in our program but also understanding what they’re coming back from."
On if he's pleased with penalties given the rotation
"All in all, yeah. We've got to continue to grow in that way but relatively efficient. I mean playing clean during the course of the game. There’s some things that we gotta be smarter with, too, but we’ll learn from."
On Bru McCoy's return to Neyland Stadium
"Huge for him, his family. I know I saw them in the hotel last night. I know they were excited, anxious, nervous, all of it and Bru was excited to play. Great that he got opportunities to get the ball in his hand, make plays and played really well."
On in-helmet communication
"Like it has in our scrimmages. Thought he handled himself really well. Effective communication. So, went well."
On the defense, the sack
"Thought they played really well. I haven’t looked at the numbers yet but line of scrimmage they dominated for the majority of the football game. Maybe gave up a couple runs and then I thought we played tight coverage on the back end and as they started to drop back a little bit more, then we were able to apply some pressure and get a sack."
On Tyre West picking up from the bowl game
"Tyre’s been really consistent in how he approaches practice every single day. His understanding of our defense has really grown, right? So, instead of thinking while you’re playing, he’s anticipating, reacting and playing to his full athletic skill set. Proud of what he did today. But just his growth inside of the program."
On how Boo Carter played
"I thought he played really well defensively. Did a nice job with the pressure off the edge. Kept contain on it. Saw him back there returning punts. So, we’re gonna go watch the tape here a little bit, too but we’re pleased with him and really a lot of our young guys. A lot of young guys got an opportunity to play and particularly in the secondary."
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