Everything Josh Heupel said on SEC Coaches Teleconference

Ahead of the game, third-year head coach Josh Heupel made his 2023 debut on the weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday to talk fall camp, preparation and preview the Cavaliers.

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Here is everything Heupel said.

Opening statement

"Entire team and program are excited to kickoff the season here. Unique that we get a chance to kickoff in a neutral site game but it's inside of our home state here. A lot of our alumni, fans reside over there in Nashville, in the mid-state, so excited to have the opportunity to go play a really good Virginia football team over there. You know, training camp has been really good. The week, so far, of game prep has been really good. Great energy and focus from our players. Getting close to being time to just go kick it off and see where we're at.

On Bristol Motor Speedway recognizing offensive lineman Dayne Davis and defensive lineman Austin Lewis as "Neighborhood Heroes," what they bring to the program

"Couldn't find two guys inside of our program that are better representatives of what a college athlete should be but what a Volunteer stands for. Those guys care so much about the guys around them. They bring their lunch pale and compete and work extremely hard every single day. You know what you're going to get from them every rep, every single day. Both guys that have continued to grow inside of our program and guys that have a huge impact here. They do it right off the field, too. Two great representatives of Tennessee football."

THE VOLREPORT SHOW: It's finally Tennessee football game week

On Doneiko Slaughter settling in at corner

"He's got so many skills that, you know, early in my tenure here, he's played multiple spots and I think that's a strength for him because he understands the game from all the different perspectives on the back-end. He's been in all of those positions. Understands the coverages. But I think having a home here at corner since late last year and really being able to refine his fundamentals and technique has allowed him to really continue to grow and blossom as a player. That also allows him to be extremely confident in what he's doing. So, he's had a great training camp. Expect him to play at a really high level this season, but on Saturday as well."

On Tennessee not having a defensive player named to the All-SEC preseason teams

"Our guys probably saw that. It's not something that we talk about as a coaching staff with our players. You know, preseason ballots have little to nothing to do with what transpires in the fall, so for us, since we've gotten back in January, it's about competing at a really high level every single day, individually, collectively as a football team. It's about making the right decisions to put yourself in the right position on a consistent basis and compete at the level that you want to here. Our guys have been really good all offseason, they've been great through training camp. Love the mindset that we see from these guys and at the end of the day, you know, postseason stuff happens because of the team's success. It's all about this football team."

On what it takes to be successful in Tennessee's tempo offense

"You can be successful doing a lot of different things. That can be on offense, that can be on defense. There's a lot of different schemes. You have to have great trust and confidence and belief in what you're doing. You have to work at it every single day. No matter what you're doing, it comes down to execution. So our players having a great understanding of the concepts that we have, how to play within the tempo to be able to get your feet in the ground. Communicate at a really high level and then go play with great fundamental technique and execute. (That) has allowed us to be successful and at the end of the day, it always comes down to the players. We've had a bunch of guys that are still with us that have played at a really high level and guys that have moved on (to the NFL) because of the way that they played. We've got great coaches. Coach (Joey) Halzle, coach (Glen) Elarbee, O-line guy. Coach (Jerry) Mack, coach (Kelsey) Pope, coach (Alec) Abeln—all of our guys have been in this system for a long time. We have great understanding of who we are, what we want to do, how we want to attack people and also have the ability to adjust over the course of a ball game and put our players in the right spots."

On talking with quarterback Joe Milton III how to protect himself as a runner

"We talk about that with all of our guys. You know, situational football is going to dictate that you have to go pick things up and in some ways sacrifice your body at certain moments over the course of the ball games. At the same time, you need to take care of yourself and so understanding when you've drained everything you can out of a play—obviously unless it's third down or in the redzone—but those are things that we've talked about with all of our quarterbacks in the meeting room."

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