Tennessee’s football team has been quite busy this month. The Vols are about to have even less time on their hands.
With a season-opening game against Ball State lingering on Sept. 1, Tennessee’s players have to tackle their first day of class, a final week of preseason camp and the beginning of “game week” preparations on Friday. That’s a big week.
Burnout is always a concern at this point in preseason camp. Hitting one’s teammate is only fun for so long. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said the structure of preseason camp has proven beneficial for the Vols already. However, they also must be pushed to see just where their breaking point might lie.
“We try to keep them fresh physically, but also on the mental side of it and make sure they’re intentional,” Heupel said. “There’s a grind and stress to training camp. I think part of that’s necessary just to get yourself prepared for the season. The offseason is one thing in June and July in strength and conditioning, but you need some of the physicality and the stress during the course of training camp to prepare yourself for what the season’s going to be like and what those fourth quarters are going to be like.
“Our practice habits are a lot better than they were a year ago. In some ways we’ve been able to play and practice cleaner. We’ve got to do that here the next couple of weeks to make sure we’ve got everybody healthy when we kick off on Thursday night.”
The Vols will hold a light walk-through practice on Monday followed by full-padded practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. Classes begin on Wednesday so there’s a full-day, midweek hurdle to be wary of. Heupel said it’s imperative for the Vols to close out preseason camp strong. He’ll be watching for telltale signs that his players are still engaged.
“Body language matters and being able to reset from the previous play, go compete and execute on the next one,” Heupel said. “This is a game where every play makes a difference for all 11 that are on the field. You’re not going to win every battle, but you have to be able to reset to the next play.
“The ability to handle that, handle the coaching, not making the same mistake and continuing to progress..From scrimmage one to scrimmage two, a big tell is just the jump that those guys are able to make. Take some of the things that they saw in a real, live situation in the first scrimmage and apply it in scrimmage two. We’ve seen that from a bunch of those guys. There will be some young guys that in week one are going to play a bunch of minutes.
“There are going to be some young guys that will continue to earn that playing time as they go through the season, too. So, it’s a constant race against yourself to become the best that you can.”
